

Ask YC: Feedback on my community website - MrFantsyPants
http://www.villagetoolbox.com/

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alex_c
A few very quick points:

\- The front page doesn't feel "alive". It looks like a static page. You can
show the newest communities, or how many people are using it, or anything you
can think of to make the site look active and loved by many people. (it's also
easy to overdo it and make a horribly busy front page... it's a fine balance).

\- Related to the first point, consider using geolocation to show something
relevant to users right away. It might not be accurate enough, or it might not
be helpful until you have a lot of communities already, but I think it would
be a great help if you can get it right.

\- Could be because I'm not part of the target audience, but it seems a bit
abstract. "Use VillageToolbox to help organize, strengthen and build your
community. Creating an account and starting a new community is free, and opens
a world of possibilities for you and your neighbours. Use the wiki as your
homepage" is fairly abstract and doesn't actually tell me that much. "and for
keeping track of community events. Tools are available for sharing skills,
tools and finding sitters for your house, pets or kids." is better.

\- Same as above, the sample community presents me with a lot of text, but
nothing really gripping.

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sgrove
Just a quick note, but I was surprised that I had to delete the "City or Zip
Code" text inside the search box. Would be a bit of polish to make it clear
whenever I click on it the first time.

Also, as mentioned by alex_c, the front page seems very static, give me
something that's showing the most recent activities/postings on the site
perhaps.

And finally, I even read your about section, and I'm not entirely sure what it
is you do, and why I would be interested. You may want to review your about
text, share it with people who have never heard of your site, and ask them to
describe, in their own words, what it is you do, and to give you an example of
what it might be good for. If they don't answer well enough, you'll know you
need to revise your description.

I agree with most of the other feedback as well.

Good luck with it.

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wastedbrains
I feel it is almost part of my responcibility at this site to help review
other start ups. So I try to check out all the feedback on X posts.

I just don't have a need for this one at the time but could see how it would
be useful. So I just tried to look around and notice whatever I could.

* The find groups in this location should empty and be ready for you to type a zip after you click in it * If it finds no results (which it didn't for my location 80304) perhaps don't show an empty map but show a "sorry but here are our most active locations" Sometimes it is cool to look at locations I used to live or my family/friends live. * are there any example communities to look at? I tried zooming all the way out and couldn't find anything? Do you have to log in to see existing groups?

That is about all I could see for now since I couldn't get in further... nice
clean design easy to follow and start searching for communities... Good luck

~~~
MrFantsyPants
There is a sample community ( <http://sample.villagetoolbox.com> ) that is
linked from the from page. I'll also link it from the search results page.

Thanks for the feedback

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kingnothing
Some initial thoughts:

There's an extra 1/10th of the "Log in" button in Opera 9.62.

I don't like how the box on the right side of the home page looks like a
pushed in button. The front page doesn't stand up and scream that you're
offering something I want -- try updating the design. CSS Zen Garden is a
great resource for inspiration.

Sounds like you have an interesting idea there. Have you thought about selling
the service instead of offering it for free? I'd imagine you could get home
owners associations and other similar organizations to pay for access.

~~~
MrFantsyPants
I have, I've played with various different ideas for generating revenue, but I
think anything that charges for a community or for membership is doomed to
fail. I'm going after hyper-local advertising. Members of a community can buy
a banner ad for $4/month, and there's a nifty banner ad creator to make it
easy.

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trickjarrett
I don't have time to do an in depth review but here are my first two notes:

1) On the front page, you have text in a field I need to put text in. Instead
of having me delete it, use some javascript to clear the field 'onfocus' you
can find the code easily online, it'll make for a better user experience.

2) I entered my zip and up comes a map of my city. Now I'm lost. The map is
blank. I'm assuming there will be markers when you have communities to show.
But there's no obvious guidance as to what's going on now.

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chaostheory
I don't see any visual examples (or a tour) of why I would want to create a
community website.

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MrFantsyPants
I've been building this in my spare time for the last year or so. It's time to
go into open beta, but I'd love to hear what the HN community thinks of it. (I
know, you're probably not my target demographic, but, hey)

------
wesley
This may be because I'm not logged in, but you don't show me any buttons to
create a new community. Especially when there are zero communities in my area,
such a link would be beneficial.

~~~
MrFantsyPants
Good point. It's gotta be easy. Is it acceptable just explain that they need
to create an account first, or would it be valuable to you if I allow creating
an account and community on one form?

~~~
emmett
The main point is there needs to be a big fat "Create a community" button on
the front page, even if that leads you to a "First, create an account" screen.

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okeumeni
I looked at the sample community and went: wow a village toolbox with no
tools. I think you should spend more time thinking of tools for the community
not just a message board and sending emails to people, something like ning
does.

This bring me to the question, if you want to build a community site how are
going to be different from ning, collectiveX? Is it worth the effort of trying
to compete with these guys?

~~~
MrFantsyPants
My reasoning for building this was that our community had a need for an online
presence, and none of the tools were quite right. The main differentiator come
from the assumption that the community members are neighbours, often with a
pre-existing relationship. The tool share and skill share start to leverage
that.

------
foulmouthboy
You're suffering from a bit of a ghost town. I think more people would rather
join and help build a community than be the first person to actually start a
community.

Is there an existing community that's working the way you want it to? It might
make more sense to start regionally and build from there a la Craigslist or
Facebook.

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guruz
it's not clear for me (from Europe) if or that this site is US-focused. Maybe
that should be made clear in the ZIP code edit field.

------
eli_s
I like your idea. My personal gut feeling is that there is still lots of room
for innovation and money to be made in the local online market.

I think you need to find a way of getting people to come back to the site even
before there are many(any) others using it. Some tool that is useful in its
own right that will encourage people to sign up and keep visiting. From then
on the community aspect will become a bonus as the site grows.

Also the design is quite unappealing - maybe paying a designer a few hundred
dollars for a PSD would be a good idea.

