

Ask HN: Please Review my Website - dpeq
http://dpeq.net

======
pedalpete
Start with the good. 1) the site looks really nice and clean 2) your demo
clearly demonstrates what can be done

What could be improved 1) demo could/should be edited down to just the key
features, and really explaining why I would use it rather than going through
all the features step-by-step. It's good to have the step-by-step as an
instruction, but you haven't made your case of why I would use it 2) login
required? Why? you gotta be kinding me?

That leads directly to (what I think) is the bad

I'm not sure you did enough background on defining the need. What problem are
you answering. Not to say you haven't found a nice niche market. Very likely
you may have, but the way you have structured your site into these distinct
buckets of what I own/owned/want to own just doesn't click with me. Connecting
with photos and photographers (I suspect) is less about brand and product than
it is about photos. I don't care that this photo was shot on this type of
camera vs. that type (you even went down to model level???). I would think I
would be more interested in knowing how the shot was captured, what makes it
special, etc.

Furthermore, you've locked it all up so that I can't read the reviews/comments
unless I've signed-up, and then it really seems focused on what I would add to
my list, which means that you've locked out the biggest benefit which is the
opportunity for discovery.

I'm not a shutterbug, so maybe I don't understand how camera officianados
think,but I am a person, and something feels very wrong about your approach.

~~~
dpeq
Thanks a lot for your suggestions. You're most definitely right with the site
being too locked up and I guess this is also the reason why the signup rate of
visitors coming over the frontpage is rather low (in contrast to those who
have been invited by other members). So I guess it would be better just to
show on the frontpage what's going on inside?

Once they're in, users seem to feel quite well. The first thing they do is
actually list their equipment and then see what other members use. They also
come back quite regularly. I got the idea when I saw users on photo forums
creating very elaborate badges showing their equipment in their signature.
When you spend a lot of money for cameras and lenses, you're not only proud
but you also like to know what others use and chat about it.

~~~
pedalpete
Good to know that you are seeing that kind of thing, and my comment about the
equipment thing, you seem to be on top of it. With respect to the 'badges'
thing, that might be an opportunity to create a sort of game/score
environment. Similar to HN, though i think stackoverflow does a better job of
it. It gets people interested in who's saying what, what their qualifications
are, etc.

------
jws
First, when I got to this tab, after bulk opening all the interesting links,
my first reaction was that someone had their domain name hijacked. I'm not
sure what that was my reaction, but I think it is the layout of the "New &
Interesting" which looks about like a domain squatters link operation. Maybe
if it was somehow integrated with the billboard above it wouldn't look pasted
in.

Second, the billboard frightens and confuses me. Giant popups shoot out when I
roll over the buttons at the bottom, but I can't seem to click on the buttons.
The buttons hilight green to show they are active, but they won't click.

I see a screencast button, but I eschew those because I like to go at the
speed of reading.

I can't see enough without an account to bother creating an account.

I suspect many of your features require an identity to function, like listing
my equipment. Perhaps you could just create the identity as a cookie on me,
then when I decide to create an account associate it at that point. Sort of
"all strangers get an account", but you have to "create an account" to make it
permanent.

