Study mode

I tried your formulation on the ChatGPT homepage in incognito mode (to rule out personalization for me). It said 2, so it's possible you saw that as well. I tried the same experiment again (new incognito mode, same phrasing) and it said 3.

That made me curious if phrasing made a difference and how often it would go wrong.

I tried 5 times with my own phrasing ("So, how many Rs in strawberry?") and got 5 times 3 as an answer.

I tried 5 times with your phrasing ("How many 'r's are in strawberry?") and also got 5 times 3 as an answer.

So 2 is an answer that can be given, but seems to be rare. At least in my tests.

One thing mentions a lot is that our understanding of Crusades is heavily influenced by 19th century colonialism. "Our understanding" being both the modern West and modern Islamic understanding.

It's also completely and totally wrong.

Just because a bunch of Christians and bunch of Muslims fought, does not mean it's a crusade. And just as there were no Crusades in the 19th century (with one teeny-tiny exception) there were no Crusades in the 9th century.

What's most relevant this conversation is that ChatGPT would be opening itself to lots of criticism if it started talking about 9th Century Crusades.

There are simply too many reputable documents saying "the first crusade began in ..." or "the concept of crusading evolved in Spain ..."

I'm reaching into my memory from college, but I recall crusading was mostly a Norman-Franco led thing (plenty of exceptions, of course).

Papal foreign policy was based around one very simple principal: avoid all concentrations of power.

Crusading was useful when it supported that principal, and harmful when it degraded it.

So the ideal papal crusade was one that was poorly managed, unlikely to succeed, but messed up the established political order just enough that all the kingdoms were weakened.

Which is exactly what the crusades looked like.

- Find relevant subreddits on Reddit and post about the tool in an authentic way (not promotional, but a "here's what I built" style).

- Do a Show HN. Look at other people's successful ones to get an idea of the tone/style that works.

- ProductHunt (read this for suggestions on how to do it well: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-successfully-launc...)

- Content marketing: do SEO keyword research and create pages/posts that target promising keywords. This product in particular probably has a lot of potential with this strategy, since you can use the tool itself to create interesting content which also shows off the features.

- YouTube: similar to above, but find relevant videos from other creators that are doing well and try to create your own videos in a similar style, looping in the product where it makes sense. Like with reddit and HN, better to be authentic and not promotional.

- Media: reach out to popular blogs and publications that cover learning tools.

If you have any cash available to invest (even a small amount), you can also try:

- Reach out to influencers on YouTube, X, TikTok, etc. either directly or via promotion marketplaces. You'll likely have to pay, but it can be high ROI since you already have a paid plan.

- Similarly, you can try ads on reddit, adwords, facebook, X, etc. and see if any of them offer immediate positive ROI.

Depending on your goals, you could also consider applying to YC. It will give you a significant marketing boost if you get in, but requires thinking in terms of how to build a big business, which isn't for everyone. The product might be good enough to give you a shot, if you're interested in that route, but it would also probably help your chances to try some organic marketing strategies first to prove that you can do it. Also helps if you have a cofounder.

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On a different note, the new audio playback controls are great! Would be nice to also have them on mobile :) My preferred way to consume these courses would be on mobile, like an audio book or podcast.

Main conceptual issue I've been having with other marketing (e.g. influencer) is that there isn't a well-defined audience to market this to. Usually edtech targets students/schools and Periplus doesn't fit there too well. Need to find what works I guess.

I'll spend more time on it from now on :). Thanks again.

re: mobile playback controls -> on it