

Show HN: Instawell, an anonymous community for our health + New API - iusable

My co-founder &amp; I wanted to log our health ups and downs, with each other, with strangers dealing with similar problems &amp; maybe even with medical professionals. We are very proud to share our brand new service - Instawell.<p>Instawell is an anonymous public network for sharing health issues and connecting with doctors.<p>You post an issue, track it, update it, and get simple feedback. You can invite a friend to share the issue, so you can both track something while remaining anonymous to everyone else. People can discover others dealing with the same issues and around them.<p>Instawell is offered as a service at https:&#x2F;&#x2F;api.instawell.com and as a web app at http:&#x2F;&#x2F;instawell.com. We are working to release our mobile web version next week, alongwith a private beta for our iOS + Android versions.<p>Get started with Instawell right away:<p>1: Create an identity<p>$ curl -ssl3 -k --data &quot;email=your@emailhere.com&amp;password=yourpass&quot; https:&#x2F;&#x2F;api.instawell.com&#x2F;v1&#x2F;users<p>2: Share your symptoms<p>$ curl -ssl3 -k --data &quot;mysymptoms=Feel Tired, Aching Head&quot; --header &quot;X-instawell-token: YOURTOKENHERE&quot; https:&#x2F;&#x2F;api.instawell.com&#x2F;v1&#x2F;sets&#x2F;<p>3: Track your sets<p>$ curl -ssl3 -k --header &quot;X-instawell-token: YOURTOKENHERE&quot; &quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;api.instawell.com&#x2F;v1&#x2F;sets&#x2F;&quot;<p>4: Do more on the web app.<p>There&#x27;s a lot of fun stuff we are working and very excited to hear back from the HN community. We &lt;3 Terminal but there are other sample code on the Docs link as well.<p>Web - http:&#x2F;&#x2F;instawell.com
Docs - http:&#x2F;&#x2F;docs.instawellapiv1.apiary.io&#x2F;
Blog - http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.instawell.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;53509254012&#x2F;public-api<p>Share how you are feeling today :)
======
iusable
Links - Web - [http://instawell.com](http://instawell.com)

Docs -
[http://docs.instawellapiv1.apiary.io/](http://docs.instawellapiv1.apiary.io/)

Blog - [http://blog.instawell.com/post/53509254012/public-
api](http://blog.instawell.com/post/53509254012/public-api)

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SHOwnsYou
I'm wondering if this is a solution in search of a problem.

There isn't much point to casually browsing the site right now - I can see
that someone else has achy feet, but I get no deeper insight; no comment
explaining their situation nor comments from others that may have been
similarly encumbered in the past.

Additionally, I only really share my health concerns with one person that
isn't a doctor, and she lives with me.

The faces seem like a distraction when sharing anonymously. Many of them don't
have an intuitive meaning, so I figure they're just for fun.

Also I couldn't figure out how to login or register on the site. I found out
it's not actually required to share a health status, but since you listed it
in the Show HN post, I looked around for it.

I do like the look and feel of the site - very straightforward and great
colors, fonts, and design.

~~~
iusable
Hey, thanks for posting :) The two of us were sitting here staring at our
Google Analytics & hoping you would comment too!

"There isn't much point to casually browsing the site right now" \- Correct,
we just came out of private beta, so the amount of data we have and what we
have done to visualize it is quite nascent.

Deeper insight - This is our biggest focus right now. People do have a way to
comment via the 'Add Update' button on their posts. But most of our testers
right now do this via the API so they aren't doing more than maintaining their
lists.

Face - Fun! I can share some conversion numbers on this. It almost doubled.
Especially the silly ones like the bird and the ManBat :P kinda help to
lighten the tone.

Login/Register - There's a big bold button to register once you post your
first symptom. And there's a less prominent login/register icon before you
post.

Design - Thank you, but even as you saw there's so much more to do especially
in the way of onboarding.

Best for Last - Problem -> Solution or Solution -> Problem. There are 3 use
cases this makes a ton of sense for. And we have to work hard to demo them as
soon as you come in! One of them is that when you and your girlfriend are
busy, how can you track each other's issues and get the casual help you may
need without taking a break from work or leaving the comfort of your couch.

Thank you for giving it a whirl and very useful feedback!

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NovemberWest
I wish I thought this were a good idea. Successful sites I have participated
in started with being aimed at a particular diagnosis. I wish I thought this
would work because it is clear to me that different diagnoses with symptoms in
common often have related underlying causes. Unfortunately, this looks too
nebulous to me. I hope I am wrong and I am routinely accused of erring in the
opposite direction and making sites that are "too niche." But that's what it
looks like to me.

PS Arguing with people who have given you feedback is not a great idea. It is
a super common thing, but it really isn't a great idea.

Best of luck.

~~~
iusable
Hey Thanks for checking us out :)

At the risk of arguing with you, I am surprised you thought we argued in the
previous comment reply. We thought SHOwnsYou was quite thoughtful in his
feedback and had gone through the app. And the response was meant to be
thoughtful as well. We genuinely found it useful and tried to emote that.

Just read it again and it still didn't read as argumentative.

I am not sure what the line in the sand is, just say 'thank you' I guess. :)

Thank you.

~~~
NovemberWest
And I didn't say you had argued with anyone. I just get tired of trying to
help people and getting fighty replies. I deleted my response to someone else
over that very recently.

Fwiw: I worked for an insurance company for over 5 years, ran an alternative
health site for a number of years which is being discontinued, and have
participated in various health sites over the years. I really hope you have
success with this. I just know it to be a tough space.

Peace.

PS I will add that it also goes over well on HN to upvote people if you
appreciate the reply. That seems to frequently get overlooked, though I try to
do it.

~~~
iusable
Dude, we need to talk! How can we make this happen?

~~~
NovemberWest
It's actually dudette. You can email me if you wish. But please do note I am
discontinuing my health site and bitter about the experience. So I am not
exactly an example of wild success.

Peace.

~~~
iusable
Oops, sorry!

Just dropped you a line. Thanks.

