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Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

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Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

#61

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

feross wrote: post #2

Hey folks! I built Virus Cafe to help you make a friend in 2 minutes! My goal is to help people stuck indoors because of COVID-19 (or police curfews) to make meaningful connections with strangers. Here's how it works: 1. You are matched with a random partner for a video chat 2. You're given a deep question to discuss. You have 2 minutes! 3. The only rule is: no small talk! Small talk is the worst and I'm on a mission…

> Small talk is the worst and I'm on a mission to eradicate it.

To me small talk is the lubricant that makes conversations flow smooth with strangers. You can hear inflections and humor and irony all in a relatively safe, unemotional topic. Also, since your philosophical side is not needed, your emotional intelligence can be more engaged. For example, just by seeing how someone responds to a comment on the weather, you can learn about the person and maybe even find a shared bond(even if it is one as small as you both dislike hot, humid weather). Finally, especially needed in this divided time, it serves to humanize one to the other. So, I guess I am a fan of small talk.

Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

#62

Post by brokensegue »

nicc wrote: post #28
Garlef wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is easy to misread the implied context of your statement as protestors = looters = antifa. Which is of course not true. These are three seperate groups of people and the only subset relation that holds true (using a definition of `protestors` as simply participants) is protestors > looters. And I guess they constitute only a small percentage. Additionally: Not everyone who would signify themselves as part…

I hope it's Antifa (a terrorist organization), and not regular kids that go out and beat up old ladies.

antifa has not been designated as a terrorist organization. it's not even an organization (but an umbrella term for lots of loosely collected organizations).

Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

#64

Post by Raed667 »

feross wrote: post #16
swyx wrote: post #15

tried matching with 3 people, all took one look at my face and peaced lol nice app though! love the small touches with the emojis and sounds!

That's a bummer! I think I'll implement a penalty for leaving in the middle of a chat. Will auto-ban folks who do that too much. Thoughts?

Maybe not ban right away, but how about longer waiting times between calls?

Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

#65

Post by tempestn »

ReactiveJelly wrote: post #36
feross wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm okay with losing users. I only want users who enjoy long discussions about deep questions. That's the target audience of the app. If you have no standards, you devolve into ChatRoulette. More users, but very little value.

I'm glad you're aiming for a different niche because I was gonna say the exact same thing. I had one awkward conversation and then one person quit in the first second. Omegle was the same for text. Either I'd quit when I saw "ASL?" or they'd quit when I replied.

I miss the old ICQ random chats. Found a bunch of people on there up for real conversation, and there was very little of the empty 'ASL??' nonsense back then.

Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

#68

Post by nicc »

abiogenesis wrote: post #55
nicc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't write I don't like it, mostly think being more neutral and removing political statements might be better. As for the Police, that was one guy. What percentage of cops kill innocent people, vs. save you from the bad guys (I was saved by cops twice, for instance). Also looks like the guy is going to be held at a higher standard and will get a harsh punishment. Is looting and burning down stores that in many ca…

> What percentage of cops kill innocent people, vs. save you from the bad guys Pretty low I suppose. The point is, we should take every precaution to keep the former as low as possible, preferably zero. The people are not seeing this effort at the moment.

So, you beat up old ladies and burn stores to do that?

I don't think anyone wants police killing people, but this is crazy and useless.

Also, was there not a pandemic where people were being chased eith drones to social distance? What happened to that?

Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

#69

Post by nicc »

brokensegue wrote: post #62
nicc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope it's Antifa (a terrorist organization), and not regular kids that go out and beat up old ladies.

antifa has not been designated as a terrorist organization. it's not even an organization (but an umbrella term for lots of loosely collected organizations).

I thought it was, the other day?

Re: Show HN: Virus Cafe – Make a friend in 2 minutes

#70

Post by throwaway391003 »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #61
feross wrote: post #2

Hey folks! I built Virus Cafe to help you make a friend in 2 minutes! My goal is to help people stuck indoors because of COVID-19 (or police curfews) to make meaningful connections with strangers. Here's how it works: 1. You are matched with a random partner for a video chat 2. You're given a deep question to discuss. You have 2 minutes! 3. The only rule is: no small talk! Small talk is the worst and I'm on a mission…

> Small talk is the worst and I'm on a mission to eradicate it. To me small talk is the lubricant that makes conversations flow smooth with strangers. You can hear inflections and humor and irony all in a relatively safe, unemotional topic. Also, since your philosophical side is not needed, your emotional intelligence can be more engaged. For example, just by seeing how someone responds to a comment on the weather, y…

Ya very well put. It's very awkward to jump into big questions with a stranger. That's the point of small talk.
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