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Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

words4chrome.com

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Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#12

Post by walterbell »

georgiapeach wrote: post #7

Good luck getting traction. The web is littered with the corpses of "comment on any website" apps. The problem is that there are too many websites and too many incompatible "comment on any website" standards for any one of them to emerge as a clear leader. P.S. You list non-tracking as a differentiating feature, but how do you silence speech you don't like without tracking users?

W3C is tackling the compatibility issue.

http://www.w3.org/2014/04/annotation/

https://hypothes.is/blog/peer-review-annotation/

Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#13

Post by fivedogit »

fiatjaf wrote: post #9
RazorCrusade wrote: post #6

Cool, I've thought about something like this for ages, but lazy always prevails. The only thing I don't really agree with is: "Let’s face it. One major problem with embedded web comments is that everyone is invited to participate. They’re too open. The WORDS community, on the other hand, is necessarily comprised of people who (a) use Chrome and (b) desire a better commenting experience. Why else would they have insta…

I've thought about something like this for ages also. But lazy always prevails. Now, do you know something about a Google product from some years ago that did something like this, but was discontinued?

Here's my explanation of Google SideWiki... near the bottom.

http://www.words4chrome.com/eli5/

Q: “What happened to it?” A: “It had several problems. (1) sidebars are the worst (2) web site owners hated it, presenting a threat to Google’s core business, and (3) because Chrome had negligible market share in 2009, it had to function in all browsers at once, harming UX. Hence, the sidebar. And the name."

Also, it was open to everyone. Words is designed to select for -- um -- not everyone. Internet explorer users, for instance.

Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#14

Post by walterbell »

fiatjaf wrote: post #9
RazorCrusade wrote: post #6

Cool, I've thought about something like this for ages, but lazy always prevails. The only thing I don't really agree with is: "Let’s face it. One major problem with embedded web comments is that everyone is invited to participate. They’re too open. The WORDS community, on the other hand, is necessarily comprised of people who (a) use Chrome and (b) desire a better commenting experience. Why else would they have insta…

I've thought about something like this for ages also. But lazy always prevails. Now, do you know something about a Google product from some years ago that did something like this, but was discontinued?

Did you mean Google Wave? It was open-sourced as Apache Wave.

Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#15

Post by okonomiyaki3000 »

This is very sketchy. When I try to login with Facebook, it shows me chromless modal window with (what appears to be) a facebook login page. Except that I'm already currently logged in to facebook so this shouldn't be necessary. Sorry, I'm not going to hand you that info.

Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#16

Post by fiatjaf »

fivedogit wrote: post #13
fiatjaf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've thought about something like this for ages also. But lazy always prevails. Now, do you know something about a Google product from some years ago that did something like this, but was discontinued?

Here's my explanation of Google SideWiki... near the bottom. http://www.words4chrome.com/eli5/ Q: “What happened to it?” A: “It had several problems. (1) sidebars are the worst (2) web site owners hated it, presenting a threat to Google’s core business, and (3) because Chrome had negligible market share in 2009, it had to function in all browsers at once, harming UX. Hence, the sidebar. And the name." Also, it was op…

Precisely. I've been trying to remember that name for months.

Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#17

Post by fiatjaf »

okonomiyaki3000 wrote: post #15

This is very sketchy. When I try to login with Facebook, it shows me chromless modal window with (what appears to be) a facebook login page. Except that I'm already currently logged in to facebook so this shouldn't be necessary. Sorry, I'm not going to hand you that info.

The Google login window seems to be safe, but I'm intrigued about the how and the why.

Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#18

Post by fivedogit »

okonomiyaki3000 wrote: post #15

This is very sketchy. When I try to login with Facebook, it shows me chromless modal window with (what appears to be) a facebook login page. Except that I'm already currently logged in to facebook so this shouldn't be necessary. Sorry, I'm not going to hand you that info.

Historically, Chrome has not handled third party login very well, and one could argue that it still doesn't.

However, they recently took the chrome.identity package out of experimental mode and it's what I'm using for Oauth flow because it handles authentication in the browser, not in cookies and URLs.

I agree it looks sketchy and several of us have complained to Google to make it look a bit more legit. But you know how that goes.

If you're really concerned, crack open WireShark and take a look at the handshake yourself.

Re: Show HN: Words for Chrome – Smarter, safer web comments

#20

Post by greggman »

Consider removing the downvotes? Keep only the upvotes?

Downvoting IMO feels bad for the poster. They stop feeling like participating. They might have very good and insightful posts which might not be popular. The downvotes end up driving them away and all you're left with is an echo chamber of groupthink

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