
Show HN: Stuff – An Alternative to Facebook Events - stuffhq
https://stuff.li
======
huangc10
The whole point of Facebook events is that it's already integrated with a
social network so it's easy to invite people.

I dislike the whole concept of Facebook but sorry, but I find this idea really
counter intuitive? Creating social events online but not through a social
network...

*edit, so I can provide some constructive criticism. Maybe integrate this with social networks such as Facebook or Twitter (which I guess kind of defeats your purpose of going against Facebook)?

~~~
jrochkind1
Facebook events is one of the only things keeping a lot of people I know on
facebook.

But, yeah, it's hard to go to something else cause of the friction.

What we really need is something that is as integrated into fb events as fb,
but _also_ allows people who aren't on fb to find and keep track of and RVSP
to events.

I think facebook API's don't really allow you to have that kind of integration
for a third-party thing though. I would assume this is intentional.

(I find out about a lot of events on fb not by searching for events, but by
facebook timeline telling me "your fb friend is interested/going to this
event. If you can figure out a way to approach that kind of experience with
your non-fb thing, it might help).

~~~
Semaphor
> Facebook events is one of the only things keeping a lot of people I know on
> facebook.

Yeah, it's true for me. I barely use messenger anymore (married the person I
wrote the most with), and even then I use it via Trillian. I open facebook
maybe 2-3 times per week to check events and that's it. But with all their
crappy UX, events is still better than alternatives to see what friends are
doing and what's going on locally.

~~~
jrochkind1
And I think it's _really hard_ for a contender like `stuff` to become a better
alternative for many people without the 'social network' features of facebook.
An easy way to see what events your friends are interested in, as a primary
one.

~~~
tenaciousDaniel
IDK, I think there's room for improvement in this area. I've had an idea
rolling around in my head for a couple of years but I've never pursued it:

I lived in NYC for a few years, and every so often I'd find myself wandering
around the city on a weekend afternoon, wondering what I should do. Ideally,
there'd be an app where I could simply open it up, look at a map, set it to
the current time or maybe within an hour or so, and easily see events near me.

That app just does not exist. You can get _kinda_ close with a few apps, but
not really. In this context, I don't care what my friends are doing, I just
want to find something cool period.

~~~
jrochkind1
I think that's because NYC is one of the few places that an app just like you
describe would make any sense. :)

In many places, the list of "things happening this hour on a weekend afternoon
within 10-20 minutes of where I am right now that I might possibly be
interested in" approaches zero.

On the other hand, if there _is_ a huge list of events happening close to you
soon at any given time, the problem is "that I might possibly be interested
in." The "things my friends expressed interest in" is useful not just because
my friends might be there (although that can be a plus, or a prompt to text
one of em and say hey you wanna go to this), but because if a buncha my
friends are interested in it, that makes it more likely it will be something
that will appeal to me, because my friends in aggregate are more likely than
random to be interested in things I am.

~~~
tenaciousDaniel
I'll give you another scenario. I was in Mississippi (virtually the opposite
of NYC) with my sister and her 2 children. We wanted to find things to do in
the area that was kid friendly but also relatively cheap.

This led me to spending something like 30-45 minutes trudging through various
websites, the local paper, etc. I eventually found about 3-5 different
options.

Simply broaden the definition of "things happening" and the number is
definitely not zero.

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wyre
I realized 3 years ago Events is one of the strongest features keeping people
on their Facebook accounts (besides Messenger). At least in towns with strong
music scenes and going to shows is important to individuals. I started
brainstorming features a competing service would have but unfortunately due to
my lack of web development experience it never came to fruition. I might still
have my notes somewhere. If I remember Ill look for them when I get home
later.

I think you have way to many words on your home page. This is a service
catering towards events so that is what I want to see when I first come to
your site. If I wanted words I would look them on your site, the service
should be able to speak for itself. Also, someone already mentioned it, but
your domain and your name aren‘t very good. Stuff makes me think im about to
be sold something. "How did you hear about this event?" "I found it on Stuff"
doesn't work very well imo.

Being able to follow event creators and venues to learn about uncoming shows,
and to follor my friends to know what events they are interested or going to.

Opt-in notifications based on GeoIP to find out "Hey, my neighbor is having a
yard sale!" Obviously, having the option to create private events that don‘t
notify the neighborhood as well.

Being able to post on the events to ask questions would also be an important
feature.

Ill double check my notes later to see if there's anything I didnt mention.

~~~
stuffhq
Hi, thanks a lot for your feedback and time. Much appreciated. We have had
bunch of conversations re. call-to-actions vs. words vs. events. Initially we
had loads of events on the frontpage - and everyone just thought we were a new
version of Timeout without the option of creating your own private
invitations.

Feel free to drop me an email on simon@stuff.li if you want to chat further or
share notes.

Simon, Stuff.

------
jamestimmins
Very cool! I like seeing people find ways to innovate in areas of social that
are often just surrendered to FB.

Also, just an encouragement to take the strong opinions here with a grain of
salt. Obviously, you have a list of features you'd like to build at some
point, many of which are likely mentioned in the comments. But HN may not
overlap with your actual users very much, and is likely to have a different
list of "must haves" than most folks. Make sure you talk to non-techies!

------
dvt
Huge congrats on the release.

Stuff looks great, and my only minor suggestion would probably be to try to
reduce friction as much as possible. Show me how many people are attending an
event, let me RSVP without signing up (even if RSVPing doesn't _do_ anything),
etc.

There will 100% absolutely end up being a "winner" when it comes to events
when FB dies, so good luck!

~~~
stuffhq
Thanks a bunch. And thank you very much for your feedback. RSVPs does not
require you to sign up. We will add features like how many are attending and
messaging on invitations over the next two weeks. Stay tuned. Simon, Stuff.

------
trebor
One thing unanswered by your site (prior to signing up anyway) is what the
cost is, or how you make money. Also, your about page is just a copy of your
homepage content.

Other than those 2 things, it looks very nice. :)

~~~
stuffhq
Thanks you so much for the feedback. \- It is free; and I know we should be
more vocal about that. \- We will make money on the professional organisers at
some point. Looking into different models with a bunch of different
organisers.

~~~
Perceptes
It's probably worth making this clear up front. If I see that a service is
free, I assume advertisements as a business model, which I believe is
fundamentally at odds with any claims of privacy and transparency, which your
service also claims. If the users are not paying you, your financial incentive
to protect their privacy is not clear.

------
KerryJones
This is a great idea and events are one of the things holding me on to FB, but
the friction to signing up by not offering an option to OAuth (even for event
creators).

I don't want another email/account and potential leak in the future -- just
let me oauth with Google/FB/LinkedIn, etc.

~~~
stuffhq
We are looking into Google/Linkedin Oauth. Not fans of Facebook, though...
-Simon, Stuff.li

~~~
TheShrug
I understand that you are not fans of Facebook. But couldn't this be a good
opportunity to show Facebook users that there is an alternative out there? I'm
just not sure that restricting users who primarily use Facebook oauth does any
good, to me it feels like a wasted opportunity!

~~~
prophesi
I think the only reason to include FB OAuth is if it allowed such users to
integrate the service with FB Events (which, AFAIK, isn't possible with their
current API).

I'd say it's a given that FB users also use Google, and would be just as
likely to use either service's OAuth.

~~~
TheShrug
I think that's a safe assumption. Anecdotally though, I prefer to stick with
one service and if I was offered options that didn't include my primary choice
I might be reluctant to sign up. I just don't think that intentionally walling
out a group of potential users is a great idea if you're trying to expand your
audience.

I tried to quickly find some numbers on distribution between them. Although I
didn't find anything concrete, it seems to be Facebook > Google > LinkedIn. I
would actually love to know more about this. Maybe someone with more
experience has some more data?

------
cmancini
This looks great!

I like hosting small to medium events and even though it seems simple most
platforms are not effective:

-Most of my friends either don't use or don't regularly check Facebook

-PaperlessPost simply didn't deliver 80% of my invitations for last holiday season and almost ruined the party. Will never use them again for anything.

-Others just don't seem attractive/affordable/easy.

~~~
stuffhq
Awesome. Glad you like it. Feel free to drop me an email on simon@stuff.li -
happy to discuss further. \- Simon

------
daureg
It's look really slick! One thing that isn't clear to me though is whether
it's possible to update an event and send update notifications/email/whatever
to attendees?

~~~
stuffhq
Thank you - Really appreciate it...

The answer is YES! After editing/updating your invitation, you can tick a box
to send email updates to anyone sign-up to the event and everyone invited
through the platform.

-Simon, Stuff.

~~~
daureg
Awesome :)

------
newscracker
The “Totally free” at the end of the second paragraph would be better placed
at the end of the first paragraph. Right now the second paragraph is not very
readable on the background image, and I completely missed it while skimming. I
had to look at the “About” page and come back to realize it’s free.

Since it’s free, what’s the business model? Please state that clearly on the
homepage. I usually avoid anything that’s free and doesn’t seem to have a
business model (however hazy or crazy the model might sound to some).

Your privacy piece says “We are deleting data as soon as it is no longer
relevant.” Please expand on this. I didn’t understand what “no longer
relevant” means. Do you delete events after the date has passed? Or do you
delete the RSVPs alone? When exactly do the deletions happen? It’s fine if you
haven’t completely figured this out yet. But saying vague things isn’t a good
idea in general.

~~~
stuffhq
Thank you so much for your feedback. Much appreciated. Will work on the copy
and make it more clear. Especially on the privacy side. Also having a
dashboard in pipeline showing what data is stored for how long etc.

Future business model will be based on professional organisers paying for
services. We are currently looking into different directions based on the
conversations we have with different venues and companies. Hope this clear
things up.

-Simon, Stuff.

------
dewski
I would recommend putting the "Are you coming?" above the fold, if not the
very top of the page. I'm on a 27" monitor and had to scroll all the way to
the bottom. If you want to increase conversion you'll probably find that by
moving it above the image.

~~~
stuffhq
Thanks, tried to put it in a couple of different spots over the past weeks -
with pros and cons. Will give it another spin based on your feedback.

-Simon, Stuff.

------
zshift
I'm unable to create an account. Tried on both Chrome and Firefox. Here's the
console error from chrome when I click on "Create Profile"

``` generic.js?id=8ab332005e9019c3db72:1 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read
property 'checked' of null at hn.createUser
(generic.js?id=8ab332005e9019c3db72:1) at submit (eval at Ea
(generic.js?id=8ab332005e9019c3db72:1), <anonymous>:3:4149) at t
(generic.js?id=8ab332005e9019c3db72:1) at
HTMLFormElement.Fr.t._withTask.i._withTask
(generic.js?id=8ab332005e9019c3db72:1) ```

------
ken
Interesting. I like the idea of splitting events away from the rest of the
social network. Personally, I'd include surveys in that, like Doodle. Then I
can start with a group of people, figure out what time works for us all, and
then organize the event itself, all in the same place. It's odd to me that
Facebook and others don't really support this. Facebook does have groups and
surveys, but they don't work well at all for picking a date.

------
marcodave
Wish you the best! Events, at least for me, is still my main reason why I
still stick on Facebook. Hope you manage to gain a big enough traction to
erode that market.

~~~
prophesi
> Events, at least for me, is still my main reason why I still stick on
> Facebook.

Same. And it'll likely have to remain that way until I live in a larger city
where something like this can compete against FB's network effect; there is
hope, however, as FB loses the younger audience.

------
lucasverra
It looks more of a eventbrite alternative than FB events.

my 2 cts

------
wuliwong
I'm quite interested in this space, I have been for a while. In my experience,
one problem with Facebook events is that when people aren't on Facebook they
often just don't get invited. Would be great to see an alternative that got
traction. I wish suffhq luck!

------
ralusek
Social network calendar in similar vein:

[https://dockitcalendar.com/discover](https://dockitcalendar.com/discover)

Feel free to offer feedback, this is just a side project I tinker with that
I'd be happy to check in on if people are finding it useful.

~~~
ytjohn
That looks cool. It would be neat if it provided a time range, basically a
list of upcoming events. Clicking day after day for a week and not seeing
anything is no fun. If there is a way to specify "upcoming" or "next 7 days",
it's not obvious.

------
dblock
Huge fan of any effort that gets rid of FB events.

My biggest feature request in this space is around address book and inviting
new people to a larger event. I want something that can, for example, check my
email or other contacts and surface anyone I've been connected with since the
last party.

Btw, I no longer have a facebook account and only held on to it for events,
until I didn't. Now when I don't get invited to events personally I just think
it wasn't worth it in the first place. Haven't tried the site for an invite
yet, will do my next one on it. Been using paperlesspost. It's fine.

~~~
stuffhq
Thanks for the feedback. We are looking into different opportunities - and
weighing pros vs. cons on functionality and privacy. But one thing is sure, we
will do our best to create something you will rather use than Facebook, Evite,
Paperless post etc :-)

Simon, Stuff.

------
nikolay
There already a bunch of event management services such as evite, etc. Why is
evite not a thing anymore? Because is not on Facebook. Even if people flee
Facebook, it's still the best platform. Most of our events are on Facebook and
are the most successful. It's not just about the contacts, it's also that once
a confirm I'm attending an event, my friends see it, and learn about that
event. You can't simulate this via email.

------
below43
I recommend testing your responsive site on smaller mobiles (I’m on an iPhone
SE and your site is too wide for the screen)

Edit: it’s the “Create Invitation Now” button pushing the width out too much.

~~~
stuffhq
Thank you. I've spotted a few views that needs some love. Will have it fixed
by Friday. Thank you for the heads-up. -Simon, Stuff.

------
slashink
Actually just yesterday i thought to myself: "How I wish someone built an
alternative to FB Events" and here it is.

Really sweet!

------
lquist
Genuine question: Did customers ask you to make this? I ask because to me (and
it appears others in this thread) Events is one of FB’s best features because
they own the social graph and I have no interest in a competing product unless
if you own a better or equivalent graph.

------
haberdasher
That's totally Brooklyn Bridge Park in the photo, not Governor's island.

~~~
stuffhq
I've managed to pull together the design team to change it. They were not
proud. Screenshot is updated - might require a "fresh" browser. Simon, Stuff.

~~~
haberdasher
Hey Simon, nbd - just a nit. Keep at it!

------
kaycebasques
I like where you’re thinking is at. I see the opportunity. Best of luck!

------
bojanbabic
I love Events/Local, but would get off it in a heartbeat.

I've looked at your app. Only Copenhagen and New York events are available. Do
you plan to extend to other cities soon?

~~~
stuffhq
Copenhagen and New York are just the very first cities we are covering. We
will slowly extend over the next months. Just remember that public events can
still be created outside these cities. -Simon, Stuff.

------
kl_r
The website defaults to Danish for me, coming from a Swedish IP.

~~~
stuffhq
Heja Sverige. My wife is Swedish. She told me you guys were ok with Danish ;-)
Language switch is in the footer. Alternatively hit
[https://stuff.li/en](https://stuff.li/en) directly.

Simon, Stuff.

~~~
rlv-dan
We can mostly understand it when reading but it really is not a good idea to
default to danish for a multitude of reasons.

------
yellow-gold
The link to your privacy page is broken on the about page.

[https://stuff.li/en/about](https://stuff.li/en/about)

~~~
stuffhq
Thank you for the heads-up. Link has been changed. Simon, Stuff.

------
alphagrep12345
What's the difference between this and Eventbrite?

~~~
hernantz
Eventbrite or meetup.com

------
bruhbruhbruh
I'm confused by your event time fields, are they 24hr? I tried to enter in
2:33pm to 2:33pm and got validation errors.

~~~
stuffhq
Time fields are 24hr. I don't have any issues entering 2:33pm/2:33pm in
Chrome/Safari. Could you please try again and send me a screenshot on
simon@stuff.li so we could have it resolved. Thank you. Simon, Stuff.

------
EGreg
I was going to show something similar, I think there is a huge space for it.
But been done a lot of times. Google “The uphill battle of social event
sharing” published by one of our advisors in 2009 or so.

Maybe make it and sell it to festivals, like this:

[https://davosapp.com](https://davosapp.com)

------
hiei
Is there an option to create an event without an account?

~~~
stuffhq
No, unfortunately not. Creating and managing an invitation requires a login.
Guests are not required to create a profile, though. -Simon, Stuff.

------
exolymph
Bookmarked for the next time I plan a get-together!

