
Show HN: Anonymously Ask a Black Person Anything via SMS - waynesutton
http://askablackperson.com/
======
gumby
This reminds me of the Berlin Jewish Museum's "Ask a Jew" project / exhibition
(most, though not all, of the people who objected were not jewish).

It raised lots of complicated ethical issues that were hashed out in the press
(and I could hear people talking about in cafés).

Here's an article about it in English:
[http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/ask-a-
jewish-p...](http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/ask-a-jewish-
person)

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huac
The creator's 'explanation': [http://socialwayne.com/2015/05/26/how-and-why-i-
built-anonym...](http://socialwayne.com/2015/05/26/how-and-why-i-built-
anonymously-ask-a-black-person-sms-platform-that-reached-almost-10000-page-
views-removed-from-product-hunt-in-48-hours-with-twilio/)

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leepowers
So - under "Recent Questions" \- is there a way to view the anonymous
responses to the anonymous questions? I have no questions to ask, but am
interested in browsing the answers to existing questions.

~~~
waynesutton
Hi, that's a great idea. We'll add it to the features list.

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csa
I really hope that this will be collected in a data set that can be used for
research. I think the analysis and observations will likely be eye-opening for
many non-black people.

~~~
nerdy
Frankly, I think we'd learn a lot more about non-blacks than we would about
blacks from the data.

~~~
andyidsinga
thats a great point - I was just thinking the same thing.

In any case, it might help improve society and reduce racism.

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ClassicFarris
How is it anonymous if I have to give you my number. Is there a way to text
from a web client?

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mirimir
Search "receive sms online" :)

Ed: And use the Tor browser.

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vezycash
@waynesutton you've got a potential product. Many businesses don't know how to
convert social media to sales. This however is simple

Repackage, repurpose your product for businesses.

Try testing small businesses e.g. Hotels, restaurants, schools to see if
they'll pay to have customers chat, ask questions or make reservations over
the internet.

However, you'd need a way to bring the cost of adding a new number down for
scaling purposes. You could add a routing code to each SMS to transparently
share one phone number amongst multiple businesses.

Hope you pivot instead of just shutting down

~~~
waynesutton
@vezycash thanks. We're back up and running since Friday and getting hundreds
of SMS.

Good idea.

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grizzles
Why doesn't it have a web interface?

I wanted to ask who the best new Black Comedians are, but I can't because I
don't have a US phone.

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Noctem
I'm not black, but Hannibal Buress is my favorite. Trevor Noah's stand-up is
rather good too.

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kw71
How does this generate revenue? Is there some secret to cashing in on
receiving SMS that I don't know about?

~~~
waynesutton
Hi we do plan on generating revenue but that's a long tall play. Traction,
growth then revenue.

~~~
kw71
Good Luck!

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forgottenacc56
What could you possibly want to ask specifically of a black person? What
difference does it make to what someone can tell you?

How about "ask a blonde person"?

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csa
> How about "ask a blonde person"?

I've played that role.

I lived in Japan for 8 years, some of it in provincial areas. I have blond
hair. You would be shocked at the number of questions I got about having blond
hair. The most common one was "Can I touch your hair?"

More thoughtful ones were about hair treatment (I was told that my hair is
quite fine by Japanese standards). While I didn't do anything special, and not
all blond or Japanese hair is the same, there seem to be some treatments that
differ based on the type of hair you have.

I am sure that my barber in Japan wished he had a Japanese version of "ask a
blonde person" when I first walked in the door, because my appointment
apparently caused him to stress out massively. I found this out later as my
Japanese got better and I became more integrated into the community.

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ryandvm
Are we really turning old Chappelle Show routines into startups now?

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remarkEon
I mean, @Wu_Tang_Finance is a pretty hilarious twitter handle, so why not.

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leesalminen
>>> "Luckly for you its free!"

Typo on home page.

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waynesutton
Thanks, fixed!

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deandredurr
Everything I always wanted to know

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curiously
"I have a black friend who wants to listen to music. What music do I play to
please him?"

WTF.

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pcpolice
The tone of the landing page is extremely racist. IMHO.

~~~
waynesutton
@pcpolice are you saying that from a black or non-black perspective. What
would you like to see changed?

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pcpolice
The examples just seem preposterous. Like a sibling post says, "I have a black
friend who wants to listen to music. What music do I play to please him?" \--
seriously? Would you say that about your friends? What about asking the person
in particular, as I'm sure this doesn't generalize to skin color? Or, "Who are
your top 5 rappers?" That's making quite an assumption. Or, "I'm having black
friends over for dinner, what should I cook?" Like, whatever you normally
cook, unless they are e.g. vegetarians or have allergies?

Yeah, in summary, I think the thing that bothers me most is what seems to be
gross generalization all over...

Having said all of that, I am not black.

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waynesutton
@pcpolice I certainly understand your point but these are actually questions
that people are asking. I mean we don't know who they are, what color, age,
etc. But that's what people are asking. I mean look at the twitter feed -
[https://twitter.com/aablackperson](https://twitter.com/aablackperson) All
questions from people

~~~
pcpolice
Fair enough, I guess the main point is that whoever is being asked (you, I
presume) is not offended :) At least, I hope you're not (maybe I can get a
non-anonymous question in this way :p)?

~~~
waynesutton
@pcpolice I've been in the internet/tech space for a long time. Developed a
think skin and unfortunately expected some of the not so good sms. I'm good.
It's a team of 9 answering questions and yes we're all black :)

