

Ask HN: Best way to set up family webapp? - edw519

As the family "geek", I have been drafted to set up our family website.  I am happy to get this going, but ONLY WITH existing offerings (I'm way too busy with my own work to start programming this.)<p>We have hundreds of family members all over the U.S.  Many in the 4th generation have no idea who the rest of us are and how we are related.  We would like to share messages, old photos (even some video), and plan our 100th anniversary reunion for 2010.<p>Ideally, I'd like to set something up so that the community can "take over".  I don't want to get stuck planning a family reunion and get stuck in between lots of differing opinions.  Previous attempts by others have never gotten off the ground.<p>I've already started a family tree at geni.com and I'm thinking of expanding that, unless there's a better approach.<p>Anyone here with similar needs?  What have you done?
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Network_Punk
<http://ramamia.com/> Was very good when I tried it, and I think it may
provide most of what you are looking for.

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jasonlbaptiste
Just came in to suggest it, but looks like Network_punk and my cofounder Mark
Bao brought it up already. If you have ANY questions, let us know:

email mark+I both get: founders@ramamia.com

my # if you need immediate support: 772.801.1058

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abyssknight
I had to do this once, and I can't agree more. Don't try to roll your own, and
don't try to roll out community software like phpnuke, mambo or joomla. Most
of the time, at least with my family, if it takes more than one depth into a
menu its too complicated. Email is something everyone can do, and it looks
like Posterous is doing a great job with that. Facebook does a decent job as
well, though the new interface is an abomination. Ning is pretty, well,
annoying. There's a bunch of menus and groups are almost indistinguishable
from users themselves. It needs to be easier.

Might be a good idea for a start up, actually... ;)

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obxerve
Posterous is great for this because it handles photos and videos simply and
effectively - a favorite for families. You cannot customise the look yet
though. It's much simpler than Ning so non net savvy users have less chance to
get lost. Good luck.

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riklomas
Would something like Ning.com be the kind of thing you're looking for?

Maybe, Posterous would be better, most people "get" email so it wouldn't be a
problem for your family to post to and you can set up email subscriptions for
the latest posts

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edw519
I don't know what ning is and I can't access from work, so I imagine other
family members may be blocked from their work, too.

Posterous looks like an interesting option because 99% of the people on the
list have email. Also, it has to be simple for them. I clicked on "Families
and Groups" to learn more and got an error. Is Posterous a yc company?

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riklomas
Ning is basically an out-of-the-box social network that anyone can set up

Yes, Posterous is a YC company. I'm not getting the families and groups error
that you're getting, here's the details you're missing:
<http://posterous.com/images/homepage2/whositfor4.gif>

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hariis
This web app sounds relevant <http://www.famundo.com/>

I haven't used it.

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piers
Or you could use BuddyPress - <http://buddypress.org/>

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KevinKaske
<http://famspam.com/>

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spoiledtechie
Costs money. No freemium Model....

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bayareaguy
Sounds like a neat project for Google App Engine.

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pclark
ning..?

