

Ask HN: Review my project: SitesInCommon - natrius
http://alpha.sitesincommon.com/?

======
pedalpete
I can't say that this is the site that I've been looking for, but you might be
on to something.

However, you have a bit of a catch-22 with respect to the sign-up vs.
experience this without signing up.

I didn't sign-up, and therefore, you can't show me anything. You also don't
describe anything on your home page, so I don't know if sign-up means I'll
need to download a plug-in, no plugin, do I need to tell you how it works.

A good way to demo it for people is to maybe show how many people near them
visited your site? They don't need to see the person details. Maybe a 'here is
what's popular near you' list, or something like that. Just to get a bit of
interest going and show that you have some data.

I think a big thing you've done wrong on your site is the 'these people both
read ...'. I don't care what they read if I don't read it. Therefore, if you
can show me how it relates to me, that is likely a better avenue I think.

~~~
slater
Just seconding this: Show people _something_ , not a picture of 2 people and a
link to someone's blog, challenging me to sign up.

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phugoid
I don't like being lied to.

What's going on in my mind, within two seconds of the page load, is that
you've used a stock image on your front page, and you've generated "These
people both read Hacker News." using my HTTP referrer. So in fact these two
people don't read Hacker News.

I get the cleverness of the page. But cute girls in short shorts who have
nothing to do with the product have become a sort of turn-off. I feel like a
trout in an over-fished lake - lures are boring.

Show me two users who actually do read Hacker News, and you've got me on the
front page.

~~~
access_denied
Yeah me too. But... the page did _explain_ the concept of the whole project
very fast. Fast is essential. So it's a good concept, art-directionwise.

------
erikwiffin
The very first thing I did when I landed on your site was click the big blue
link. That took me to Gizmodo. You've already lost me as a user, because
Gizmodo is interesting, so I'm not inclined to hit the back button. Maybe what
you should do instead is have it link to a page inside your site about
Gizmodo. Maybe have it provide a map showing the number of people who read
Gizmodo by country/state/zip or something like that.

Also, I realize that you're still trying to get some data into your database,
but I would really appreciate being able to put in my zipcode to get an idea
of what I can do with the site after signing up.

~~~
natrius
Good point on the link. It points to our page for the given site now.

------
notaddicted
I like the idea.

Maybe you could:

\- Display the website that is the referrer

\- Use ip -> geo database to do quick matches with no signup

\-- i.e. just say: "4 news.ycombinator.com readers visited today"

I am creating an account now, but maybe my suggestions could give you a more
compelling frontpage.

~~~
natrius
_"Display the website that is the referrer"_

It's already doing that for some selected sites. It should've said Hacker News
for you.

------
omouse
Don't make the link clickable. You want the focus to be drawn towards the
slogan/question you have underneath and you want the user to sign up or login.
You could also display a few more sites-in-common underneath the sign up and
login buttons just to show that the thing actually works.

------
natrius
For the people who don't want to make an account, you can start exploring from
here: <http://alpha.sitesincommon.com/metros/24702816>

For now, getting you to sign up is kind of the idea. We need data.

~~~
amr
But to get people to sign up, you need to show them data or explain the
benefit of signing up. Read the rest of the comments on this page on how to
make people sign up. People will not sign up just because you ask them to.
Give them something.

------
qeorge
I've installed the userscript and I like it, but your homepage made me think
it was a different product. I thought it would scan my bookmarks or social
profiles for sites I visit, and match me up to other users that way (maybe it
does and I don't see it?).

Also, it would be nice to get more information before being presented with
Sign Up and Login as the only options (on the homepage). Its hard to choose
either without knowing how your product works and what value it will bring to
me.

I do like the locations on the HN comments though. Pretty cool.

One other thing: I have Greasemonkey, and very much appreciate your offering
the product as a Userscript. That said, a lot of people might not have GM, or
even know what it is. Perhaps package the script into an extension and offer
both options? (<http://arantius.com/misc/greasemonkey/script-compiler>)

Best of luck!

------
diN0bot
Small comment:

"These people all read Hacker News. But they don't know that. Yet."

I parsed this as "each of these people don't know that he or she reads--as in
will read--Hacker News." It sounded like an endorsement for Hacker News,
rather than explaining that these people don't know that the people around
them _also_ read HN.

------
crowbar
An interesting idea, though I have the problem of being in a rural area in
Western NC. Thus, my experience with the site is going to be limited. However,
the next county over is Asheville, which would have a greater chance of
meeting up with people who have similar interest. I know you can search by
metro area in the search, but it'd be nice to be able to add additional
counties or nearby areas for the username, either automatically (If the user
wants it) or manually.

This was also be of help to people who travel from one area or another a lot
(I go to Knoxville several times a month, for instance.)

But so far, I like the idea and I'm interested in seeing how it grows.

------
jsonscripter
As someone who cannot access any private email accounts at work, I cannot view
or review your site. Perhaps it should be more open.

~~~
chengas123
You should really setup an SSH tunnel to use your home server as a proxy with
FoxyProxy: [http://lifehacker.com/software/ssh/geek-to-live--encrypt-
you...](http://lifehacker.com/software/ssh/geek-to-live--encrypt-your-web-
browsing-session-with-an-ssh-socks-proxy-237227.php)

~~~
chime
VERY BAD ADVICE! If the IT Dept. has disabled access to webmail, they have
done so for a reason and the employee has most probably signed a paper stating
they will not try to bypass or circumvent such blocks. If I find any of my
employees accessing their gmail or Hotmail from work using tunnels or even
web-based VPNs, despite the fact that I have blocked all webmail (thanks
OpenDNS), they will be shown the door. This has nothing to do with me being a
BOFH but rather because of the highly-sensitive nature of our business -
pharmaceutical manufacturing.

------
anigbrowl
It's OK for me, but you want a fair bit of personal information. Do you need
to know my age? No. Add a privacy policy.

------
rudyfink
Better feedback seems to be something that is needed. After or as you input
sites there should be feedback from the site. Right now I just feel like this
was a way to give you data on sites that I like. I'd like to feel that there
is more going on.

------
icey
Before I sign up, how do you store passwords?

Can you make email optional?

~~~
natrius
Hashed, salted. The email address isn't checked, so if you really don't want
to give it out, put in garbage with an '@'.

[http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-
authentication/tree/m...](http://github.com/technoweenie/restful-
authentication/tree/master)

------
ScottWhigham
Down for me - 404 not found

------
quizbiz
I want a way to find and contact everyone (those that want to be contacted)
that comes to Hacker News on a regular basis in Atlanta.

That being said your site is very slow loading. Our fault?

~~~
natrius
The eventual goal is to have comment threads on the meetups, and you'd be able
to choose if you wanted to receive new comments as an email. Do you think
there'd be a use case beyond meetups for contacting everyone?

The site was loading slowly because our score updating scripts were bogging
things down. We hadn't had a chance to test them with actual data... The site
should be responsive now.

------
timothychung
Please let us know what to expect in the front page.

It is kind of scary not knowing what to expect but need to sign up for your
service.

------
wglb
It only is letting me add one site.

------
known
Interesting idea. I subscribed.

------
Tichy
Why is signing up required?

------
edw519
Anyone here from Pittsburgh?

(If anyone here answers me, then I probably don't need your site. OTOH, if no
one responds, then maybe you're on to something.)

~~~
wglb
Well, you have three responses, three answers, that is, at least one of them
wrong. Your question probably meant "If no one responds YES ..."

Chicago area here

------
TheSOB88
Awesome idea. Lame that nobody's really signed up yet, though. Here are some
suggestions:

First, get a new name. It should be something short/clever. SitesInCommon is a
bit cumbersome to say, probably because of the fact that it's three words.
Words usually imply stops between them, making it verbally funky.

Your style is not that styley. Reminds me of the New York Times, which is
probably not what you want to associate with. That's business, this is meeting
people (presumably) for friendship. You, probably, were already going to fix
this.

Your add script is buggy. Of four sites added, it froze my Firefox 3.0.10
twice. On XP. (I'm just telling you those in case you need to reproduce.)
Then, it doesn't add them to the bottom and gets rid of the add button.
Perhaps you can add an add suggested sites thing on the profile page for ease
of use?

What you really need to attract the users is some kind of side use that they
can use as soon as they've entered sites. Maybe you can let them rank specific
pages within their sites? I've always wanted to do that. Tagging and searching
for webcomic archives is also something I've wanted to do. These aren't your
original goal, but I think they could help bring in users and make the site
much more fun to use.

Finally, I can't figure out how to make your site work! I.e., I can't figure
out where it tells me who lives around me and reads the same sites.

------
codemechanic
interesting idea.

