

Ask HN: Feedback on Hackthonia.com - andyangelos

Slowly launching http://hackathonia.com to help organize, promote, and capture hackathons.  Currently using with just one event, but would be awesome to gather feedback while continuing to improve the utility. Thanks.
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rlm
Too bad it doesn't work outside of the US (unless you somehow map the zip 2100
to a part of Copenhagen, Denmark).

I'm amazed how many sites completely disregard the international audience.

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andyangelos
So the theme is "let users know about conveniently located competitions."
definitely a possibility when more hackathons are using the site to organize.
Chicago today - the world next.

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Vindexus
I'd change this text: "Hackathonia is about bringing bright, motivated people
together to build amazing apps in competitive yet collaborative, team-based
competitions known as "Hackathons"."

I'd put something like:

"Hackathonia is a great way to find "Hackathons" near you. Hackathons bring
bright, motivated people together to build amazing apps in competitive yet
collaborative, team-based competitions."

That way you get to the meat of what you do faster.

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andyangelos
Great suggestion, Vindexus. Some of the text definitely needs to be less
verbose.

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abraham
Couple of quick thoughts:

Don't make me create yet another online account. Just about every hacker will
have an OpenID, Twitter, FB, or Google account.

Use square avatars. I can't imagine all that many people have 160x190px images
hanging around. Also use <http://en.gravatar.com/> as a default.

Include a more link in the "tweets tagged" box. Maybe to Google's realtime
search:
[http://www.google.com/search?q=%23SDCChi&tbo=1&tbs=r...](http://www.google.com/search?q=%23SDCChi&tbo=1&tbs=rltm:1)

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andyangelos
Doh! Did not realize the link would not function in the description, so here
it is again: <http://www.hackathonia.com>

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stcorbett
I know there are a lot of hackathons happening out there. Does Hackathonia aim
to be a platform to launch and run them? I think there could be some useful
tools around hackathons, helping organizers organize and promote them, helping
teams get involved in as many as they want to get involved with, or helping
sponsors find a hackathon to sponsor that suites their mission. From the page
you've got up now I'm not sure who you are aiming to help or how.

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TimCourtney
We're using Hackathonia to manage the Hackathon at SocialDevCamp Chicago and
we're excited at the progress. I think Hackathonia is a concept whose time has
come because it will help Hackathon organizers and participants manage
hackathons easily and build up clout over time. Pete's really passionate about
this and I couldn't be happier to see SDCChi as the inaugural event to test
this site.

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binarymax
Love the Concept and layout. I would definitely use it but, alas, I am not in
the USA and have nothing I can fit into 'Show near zip'. Any chance you could
internationalize it?

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aagha
Cool design and layout.

What's the radius you've set for your search? I put in an East Bay zip (in the
SF Bay Area) and nothing came up.

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agentargo
I love hackathons. With more content this could be something that I would use.
As far as feedback. Geolocating on the homepage for hackathons near the user
would be an instant way to demonstrate the usefulness. Just a thought.

