
Sublevel – A personal network - davidbarker
http://sublevel.net/about/
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voltagex_
So many words to say so little. What is this about? Is it closer to app.net or
to OwnCloud? Why would I choose this over Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger
or Medium?

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davidbarker
I'm not the site's creator, but having played around with it for an hour or
so, it seems to be a similar idea to the original Twitter (with additional
things like threaded replies, and without a character limit).

~~~
walterbell
Questions for the site's creator, about
[http://lucianmarin.com/archive/sublevel.html](http://lucianmarin.com/archive/sublevel.html)

> No JavaScript. Sublevel works with JavaScript disabled. Dumb phones
> supported. Sublevel works with Opera Mini. Responsive design. Sublevel works
> on any devices with a modern browser from smartphones to TVs.

Is the lack of Javascript motivated by security or minimalism?

> Different than Twitter. Sublevel is not a clone of Twitter like App.net
> neither trying to reinvent the wheel. There's no character limit, Sublevel
> is limited by design only.

Can you share more about the scalability of the backend?

> No API. Sublevel doesn't need an API, just better web browsers. Instead of
> an API, Sublevel will try to have an open database.

Do you mean CC-licensed, torrent delivered? That would support analytics, but
what's the Sublevel position on third-party web clients?

> No user tracking. Sublevel doesn't store any metadata associated with users
> or replies.

Does this mean HTTP metadata, e.g. IP address, browsers, etc? Are you saying
there are no web server logs ever written to flash/disk, or that these are
stripped of user-identifying information?

> Discoverable. Sublevel is using an explore page to keep people informed.
> Similar to HN, DN or Reddit.

> Clear searching. Sublevel lets you independently search for replies or
> people's usernames, bios, locations.

Is this mechanism intended for search by humans or apps? Is there any
difference from Twitter's search functionality?

> Just text. Sublevel won't provide support for images, videos, gifs, mp3s.
> Third-party services do a better job. Sublevel provides support for links,
> mentions and hashtags.

Is there support for mentions? The following bullet says they are not needed.

> Threaded conversations. Sublevel reply system is clear, there's no need for
> mentions. It lets you join in any conversation.

Without mentions, how would someone invite/address another user to join a
conversation?

> Less spam. Sublevel prevents spam using two features. First, it lets the
> parent of a reply to delete any children replies. Second, it lets people
> send just one reply, expecting answers back from the other participants in
> the conversation.

One reply per item? Can you reply to siblings of your reply?

> Powered by mini ads. Sublevel is free and the ads will never be intrusive,
> actually they look quite good.

Examples?

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im_dario
You cannot reply your own messages to add more info/context.

It is a nice idea but I think it would be great if it supported OEmbed and
Markdown.

That would make Sublevel more simple than Tumblr for publishing with a low
barrier like Twitter.

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walterbell
The quoted (>) text is from the sublevel founder's blog.

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im_dario
Haha, sorry, I meant in Sublevel, not in your comment. I replied on yours
because I felt it was related.

~~~
walterbell
:) Hopefully he reads & responds.

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prawn
Made me wonder about a Twitter-style social network where you were the only
human, and you knew it. Those that gradually followed and interacted with you
were all bots mimicking humans, but for once not spamming or with an ulterior
motive. Your content would never be seen by anyone else.

The bots would arrive to compliment, question and challenge you.

Would people care that they weren't real? Outside of the friends we know on
Twitter now, do we know which of the rest are definitely real anyway?

Sounds a bit crazy, but just wondering if people will reach a point where they
interact with bots and don't care if they give them what they want in terms of
attention and validation.

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valarauca1
What if the bots weren't bots and were actually people. Just every single
person would see every user with a randomized user name and no special 'user
layout', and no identifying profile information.

Everyone would think, and see that every other account on the site was bots.
The site would claim that every account you interact with is a bot, but in the
background they aren't, their all people.

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nfoz
> What if the bots weren't bots and were actually people. Just every single
> person would see every user with a randomized user name and no special 'user
> layout', and no identifying profile information.

So, the early Internet.

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comex
Or 4chan.

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dmix
They desperately need a copywriter. This is classic meaningless brand copy,
full of platitudes.

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serf
All I took away from from the page was the color codes for if I want to
advertise for them, whoever it/they is/was/plans to be.

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gregschlom
I came to the comments to see if somebody could explain what this thing is
about. Seems like I'm not the only one not getting it...

Feedback for the author: your marketing copy needs to explain clearly what
your product does.

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metabren
"Sublevel is to Twitter what Pinboard is to Delicious, Reddit to Digg, Linux
to Windows, Android to iOS, etc."

[http://lucianmarin.com/archive/sublevel.html](http://lucianmarin.com/archive/sublevel.html)

~~~
azinman2
So they want to be an permeant underdog (w/the exception of Reddit)? Or a more
geeky & less slick implementation?

Odd goal.

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ertdfgcb
They want to be a more powerful version for power users.

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chrislloyd
It said "All you have to do is just write." so I started typing something and
it didn't do anything.

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RossM
I like the advertising strategy - one unobtrusive ad for everyone, for a whole
week. The free charity ads are a nice touch too.

It's either going to stick in your head out of persistence (perhaps
subconsciously) or get mentally blocked (though I'd bet on the former).

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rdl
Even after reading the comments here too, I still have no idea what this is
supposed to be.

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olh
I am pretty sure this is satire.

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personjerry
I looked at the front page and got no info about what it actually and lost
interest.

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rjurney
The value is subconscious.

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eigenrick
"Sublevel is made for people like you"

No it isn't. I run Linux :(

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est
Need gravatar.

