

Ask HN: Need feedback on startup social learning site - bdmac97
http://tinyurl.com/no3ksz

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GeneralMaximus
Yes. Don't be afraid to post your _real_ URL here. A TinyURL looks
unprofessional, shady and gives the impression that you're not quite sure
about the success of your startup.

~~~
bdmac97
You are right I would love to post the real URL but HN seems to auto-reject
them even if the posts are weeks apart. I don't think it's too outlandish to
ask for a second round of feedback as long as you're not abusing/overdoing it.

I have made legitimate changes to the site as a direct result of the initial
feedback I got here. I simply want to see if the people that looked the first
time like the changes I have made and have any more feedback.

How else should I do this?

~~~
kajecounterhack
If every startup did this, News.YC would no longer be about news. Personally I
saw your site once, didn't quite like it, then was basically tricked into
clicking it again because of the URL. I don't appreciate that either. If you
want feedback, feedbackarmy.com is a good place, or start with your friends
and family. When your product is nearing release, _then_ ask News.YC. Or do
what you did -- see if it's a viable product by asking _once_ \-- but no more.

Any more _is_ overdoing it.

~~~
bdmac97
My appologies for tricking you into clicking it again.

I see many requests for feedback that appear to be early in a site's
lifecycle. Might it not make more sense for HN to just allow you to repost a
URL after a certain amount of time has elapsed? It could even add something to
the title indicating it's the n-th request for feedback. Start-ups are an
iterative process so to only get feedback one time is a bit short-sighted,
isn't it?

Is there another site that provides something like this? If not, maybe that's
something else I should create! :-)

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marram
Good start. Here is some feedback:

1\. What does "Flexible learning environment" mean? I don't think this phrase
adds any value.

2\. "Learn from people you know and trust": Not sure if the people I currently
know possess the best knowledge. I've been out of school for a few years.

You need to iterate over your landing page copy a bit more. Get some help from
friends or classmates.

3\. The text on the features page (/features) is too verbose. Most people
won't read all of it. Make it shorter and to the point. Also, more pictures or
screen shots would make it easier to understand.

4\. The typography of the word "Cafe" in the logo makes it hard to read. Black
on dark blue does not provide enough contrast, and the font is too faint to
make the logo memorable. So my advice is to: a. Choose a high contrast color
scheme and b. Choose a more prominent font for both words in your logo.

The logo also seems to be inconsistent across the pages. For example, it looks
different here: [http://www.cafecourses.com/courses/31-integrating-
authlogic-...](http://www.cafecourses.com/courses/31-integrating-authlogic-
with-rpxnow)

5\. The "Feedback" div on the left occludes some of the text on the features
page. I realize that I'm on a small laptop with 1024X768

6\. Hmm. Are these courses or tutorials? "Adding CAPTCHA to your site" sounds
like a one page tutorial.

7\. You need to iterate over the copy in the "About" page. It is hard to
follow, and can be structured better. For example: you should encourage people
to upmod great content, rather than vote down courses. Especially when most of
the content is written by you.

Best of luck.

------
rokhayakebe
Buddy,

I think you already asked for feedback a couple of times. You should improve
the site based on those then come back for a second review.

~~~
noodle
i suspect he doesn't want feedback, he wants users/eyeballs/traffic/SEO, and
has a clever way of getting it (ask for reviews).

~~~
bdmac97
No, what I REALLY want are suggestions on improvements on either:

a) the site/design/functionality b) the idea itself

The site is completely free and the few Adsense ads are not even breaking even
yet so it's definitely not about the money.

~~~
noodle
i appreciate this, but based on your participation and submission history,
your motives seem like they could be questionable.

~~~
bdmac97
I agree and certainly see how you might think that. I have mostly been a
reader up to this point (as I am on most blogs/forums I read).

I have now posted several (4 maybe? not sure how to see) requests for
feedback. The first time was amazing. The next few times (which were spread
apart to avoid seeming like spam) got almost no response.

I was unsure if it was a timing problem or what (memorial weekend, buried by
popular breaking news, etc.) so I have tried several additional times. I
thought that at least the people that were helpful the first time might like
to see that their suggestions were taken to heart and implemented in a very
timely manner (considering I'm a solo operation).

If you have a suggestion for some other site/forum that can provide the kind
of great feedback I got that first time, I would certainly appreciate it and
try there and simply continue reading here.

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bdmac97
In the interest of full disclosure the site that is linked is
<http://www.cafecourses.com>. I have asked for feedback previously.

I would have included the URL in a comment but HN does not even let the
original poster add a comment to their URL post until someone ELSE adds a
comment for them.

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AndrewWarner
My feedback:

Why does the site ask for my photo if I'm using Facebook to login?

There's a lot of text after I finish registering. I think it's confusing.

~~~
bdmac97
Thanks for the feedback. I have not finished fully integrating Facebook. I'm
using RPXNow and I think I can get to your profile pic through that somehow
but just haven't had a chance yet. It's certainly on my list of things to
improve.

As for the text after registering... are you referring to the "What Now?"
page? I've been trying desperately to minimize the amount of text on most
pages! :-(

------
aik
I would really like to see a video about what you offer, and a demo account
with some demo data so I can see the layout.

