whatever happened to chatrooms btw?
WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
81–90 of 132 posts
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok! All of this is my gut-feel with no data behind it. Caveat emptor. Here goes nothing Yippeekayay The single device strategy is to keep the whatsapp network a network of people - no bots and no spam. They are still trying to destroy Kik, Line and Viber. The war is not over ( http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/how-many-people-use-c... ) Bots and spam would be just the reason for people to switch. As it is, spam…
You can build bots for Whatsapp. There used to be lots of libraries and samples on github before the DCMA takedown. There were libraries in C/C++, PHP, JS and Python. Here in Brazil we do have Whatsapp and SMS spam. Whatsapp spam is rare but it happens and it will only grow.
Of course you _can_ but whatsapp is actively trying to prevent you from building those bots, and they may succeed well enough in their goal to have a measurable impact.
It is easy for us to say that a growth of whatsapp spam is inevitable but I would bet a key part of whatsapp strategy is to take that down to as close to nothing as possible. In comparison on fb and instagram spam is embraced. I think that is part of the reason why we see whatsapp taking a different direction than other seemingly similar social networking companies.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect that the reason is that WhatsApp wants to make sure that the person behind using the web client is really the person behind the number. This is same reason Whatsapp has no api. They don't want the bot problem that tinder has. People think the value of Whatsapp is that it is so pervasive. That's a big part of the value, but so much of the value is that whatsapp knows who you really are. You might have a few…
There are phones here supporting two, three and even four SIM cards. People will do crazy stunts with multiple accounts for everything. Also there are whatsapp bots, they are just not available on github anymore due to DMCA takedowns. You can still google for yosup, coseme and others to get libraries that allow you to build bots, third-party clients and stuff.
Yes, I am familiar with libraries and considered building an app on the back of whatsapp until the DMCA takedowns. The fact that whatsapp is fighting against bots is part of the reason there is so little spam on whatsapp.
Yes, people do crazy thing with accounts, and in many parts of the world there are good reasons to have multiple SIMs. People will have 1 IG for sexy photos and another for their family, etc. But there is far less motivation to do that with whatsapp, line, viber, kik, etc. The reason for the difference in motivation is that your whatsapp messages are explicitly shared with individuals rather than with groups so there is no need to partition messages by accounts. The main reason for have two whatsapp accounts is the old joke about having two SIM cards: "one for your wife, and one for your girlfriend".
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#84The web doesn't understand WhatsApp.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#85This web client, even in it's current horrific form, is something I really needed. Many a times I find myself working on my laptop, with the phone carelessly lying somewhere else in the room. It's a pain to go find it when a new message arrives. The bottomline is, I guess WhatsApp doesn't need a Web Client to compete with other services. If you've been to India, you will realize how pervasive WhatsApp is, with or wit…
I am 100% agreed with what you said.
But I have problem with the way they have implemented it as of now. I mean to use it via web I need to scan the qr code every time.
Plus my phone needs to stay connected to internet. In India you can easily find lots of whatsapp users who wishes to use whatsapp via PC just because they dont have net pack on their phone.
Hope they remove this restriction soon.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#86It also works in Opera, fyi.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn't needed to go these route. Telegram for example has clients for most platforms and a web client that works in every browser and doesn't require your phone to be connected to the internet for it to work.
Telegram is a bad counter-example for various reasons. LINE has a desktop client that works well though
There's a Telegram desktop client... for mac at least.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#88> Your phone needs to stay connected to the internet for our web client to work... What? Is this true? I can't think of a reason why their devs would ever need the users phone to be online.
WhatsApp does not store messages on their servers. It's a clean passthrough from one device to the next. They only hold onto message until all clients in the group text or one-on-one text have received the sent message. So, if you have two clients using the same phone number, the system wouldn't know when it is able to delete the message. Right now the single phone receives the message and simply passes it up to the…
I believe you're wrong. This is how WhatsApp USED to work before they were acquired by Facebook. Remember how messages used to stay in the waiting (clock) state and you could delete them if the recipient wasn't online? Well now the first tick appears immediately because there's an intermediate server storing them for delivery and they can't be deleted from the client. It's similar to what Microsoft did to Skype.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#89Can it be a money issue? Remembering that WhatsApp is not free, the 1$ for a year of service should be how they make money (I think they did a very good job there because no one that I know remembers that). Maybe the on-line phone solution suits them technically and economically, because they don't want to provide you with an alternative client that you might use for free. As they say this is simply and extension of…
I don't think it's that no-one remembers that, but I don't think WhatsApp actually enforces this seriously. I have never paid for the service and each time the deadline for doing so approached, it had been extended.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn't needed to go these route. Telegram for example has clients for most platforms and a web client that works in every browser and doesn't require your phone to be connected to the internet for it to work.
Telegram is a bad counter-example for various reasons. LINE has a desktop client that works well though
What are those reasons?