

Failin.gs - ams1
http://failin.gs/

======
transmit101
Many peoples' personal weakpoint: Listening too much to what other people
think about them.

This website has all the attributes to become a viral Facebook/Twitter hit,
and it's clearly been designed to achieve this.

But why not give it a miss, and focus on what you're doing in your life
instead of on what other people think of you. Especially when they don't even
have the courage to say it to your face.

~~~
orblivion
Well, sometimes there is something that only other people can see. I think
there are some opinions about my traits that I happily ignore, I know what's
best for me, but certain things about me bother _me_ , not just others.
Particularly, being somewhat anxiety prone, things like, "am I worrying about
this too much or not enough?".

I'm actually quite glad this is up, I'd considered that something like it
would be useful.

EDIT: Oh wait I got it all wrong. This is asking your friends for anonymous
feedback? Yikes, no, I don't want to hear what they have to say. I thought
this was an anonymous Q/A thing. Like Vark for personality flaws.

~~~
houseabsolute
There is a saying that every man is a coin viewed from a fixed position. The
face of himself that he sees no one else can see, likewise, he sees the face
of everyone else that they cannot see. And thus, no man knows another as that
other believes himself to be.

------
thorax
In the old days of LiveJournal (decade ago) there was some brutal honesty meme
which was supposed to be 100% anonymous. I made like 50 (exaggeration)
different surveys and then made 50 different "private" posts of the link to
each individual friend. Of course to everyone it looked just like a friends-
only link and they assumed everybody was going to the same anonymous
/aggregated survey.

I told them all pretty quickly afterwards about my silliness and put only
mildly incriminating questions in the survey, just enough to make them worry
about the other memes they'd been filling out.

Of course I also confirmed that one friend was head over heels in love with
me. I so happen to be married to that darling girl nowadays.

Moral: If you're filling these out, don't assume it's 100% anonymous to the
person you're writing about. They could be sneaky.

~~~
stephencelis
No sneakiness here! While we track visitors and users in order to look out for
abuse, this data is not and will not be made available to profile users.

~~~
thorax
I think you misunderstood the exploit for identifying the anonymous comments.
It works with pretty much any survey where you can individualize
communications:

I create 20 accounts on your service. I put my picture on all of them. I send
out a different link/profile to each one of my 20 friends and track which one
went to which person.

I then compare notes to see who said what.

Note that it's also really easy to do this using a URL shortener service that
keeps track of times clicked, user agents, referrers, and IP addresses:

<http://➨.ws/anonymous_survey>

By using the timestamps you provide for the comments, I can tell which of my
friends most likely made each comment.

------
philwelch
This reminds me of the old Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin is selling "a
swift kick in the butt" for $1.00. Business is slow and Calvin says, "I don't
understand it, everybody I know needs what I'm selling!"

~~~
samwithans
Good call - <http://bit.ly/9BYtb9>

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stephencelis
I helped co-create this site and was surprised to find it linked here. It
started as a fun project with a friend: a humorous idea that, as the attention
it's gotten has shown, is apparently controversial, as well.

I have to say, though, that what's surprised me most about its reception is
that anonymity doesn't make users as vicious as many might think. I've been
pleased with how many "failings" posted are sweet compliments; playful inside
jokes; and well-worded, well-meaning suggestions.

If anyone would like to try it out, I've made a promo code, "HACKERNEWS". We'd
love any suggestions and/or feedback.

~~~
jaxn
I got an invite today. At first I thought "Oh crap, someone has something they
want to post about me!!!"

Then I remembered I requested an account last week :)

That initial invitation email kinda weirded me out. However, as someone who
has had a blog for going on 9 years, this is an interesting new way to play
with personal transparency.

Feel free to tell me I suck at leaving comments on HN, just post it here:
<http://failin.gs/profile/jaxn>

~~~
stephencelis
Thanks for joining! Please let us know what you think after using it a little
while. We'll leave you a note for your profile if we don't hear from you ;)

------
tarouter
I love the idea. It's very good for people who can take criticism. It's up to
you after all which criticism to ignore and which to take seriously. It should
be made easier for other to post opinions about you by integrating this into
some famous application (e.g. facebook app, blog widget, etc).

~~~
stephencelis
There's JavaScript embed code for blogs, and links for tweeting and posting to
Facebook, but we agree, and we'll be working (as we find time) on better
integration with other services.

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timinman
Possibly the unhealthy thing about this is the anonymity, and it might not be
very successful either, because of human nature.

I think most people are subject to being categorised one of two ways.

CATEGORY 1 (Confident Achievers): Largely oblivious to their own flaws (This
won't easily help them because they'll challenge the answers). If the truth
does break in it can be very painful for this type of person.

CATEGORY 2 (Reflective Thinkers): All too aware of their own flaws (And this
won't help them; it will only make them feel more insecure).

I'd have to admit to being in the second category, and wouldn't for a second
believe it's superior to the first (just different).

Which category are you, or are there more categories?

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johnfn
I remember how reading that Facebook was engineered to give you the most
positive experience. This feels like the total opposite sort of thing.

I don't think it will be a huge success, though, because as much people say
that they want constructive criticism, what they really want to hear is how
great they are. Going to this site would just be disappointing and frustrating
for most people.

~~~
stephencelis
My friend (and the co-creator of the site) likes to point out that Facebook,
Twitter, et al., are ego-strokers, and he wanted to make an ego-buster.

I don't think either of us expected it to become as successful as it has
already. It's all just been a bonus.

------
jonathandeamer
Formspring, but in a different context. And that's no bad thing.

(See also: [http://jonathandeamer.com/2009/08/19/daily-booth-4chan-
impor...](http://jonathandeamer.com/2009/08/19/daily-booth-4chan-importance-
context-restrictions/))

------
kellishaver
This seems like it would be an all too entirely unpleasant experience. :( The
thing is, the way I see it, for me, the friends whose opinions I really trust
and value are the same friends who are going to straight-up tell me to my face
if I have some flaw that needs addressing, whether I want to hear it or not,
because they have my best interests at heart. As for everyone else's opinions,
or the nit-picky little things that we all tend to overlook in each other,
anyway, then I just don't see those as needing to be brought to the surface,
because it serves no good.

~~~
stephencelis
> the friends whose opinions I really trust and value are the same friends who
> are going to straight-up tell me to my face if I have some flaw that needs
> addressing, whether I want to hear it or not

This has been one of the biggest "why?"s we've gotten. I don't think it's that
simple, though. Telling a person their flaws requires timing, braveness, and
an open mind on the part of the listener.

In an ideal world, people would be receptive to honest criticism, and people
would be honest in what they feel is worth criticizing.

The site, though, provides a platform where the profile user is requesting
feedback that a good friend may not have thought worth bringing up, had never
had the right moment to bring up, or may have been afraid to bring up and hurt
the person's feelings (and their friendship). When the platform is there, it's
easier to break the ice.

------
dwohlfahrt
this site straight up weirds me out... that's all i got

~~~
Batsu
Agreed. It's strange to try to put a positive spin on everyone's shortcomings.

~~~
stephencelis
Well, it's certainly not for everyone, but shortcomings are only shortcomings
as long as you agree with them and don't care to work on them.

------
lucraft
Signed up to have a play around, and was happy because for once I managed to
get the "dan" username. Hooray!

Then I realized my profile was at failin.gs/profile/dan. And they
automatically picked up my gravatar. Yikes.

Deleted the account and rejoined with something more obscure....

~~~
justdep
Your gravatar is tied to your email address.

------
euroclydon
Well, I guess it's official, people have lost the capacity for introspection.

~~~
stephencelis
Not a substitute, but a complement.

------
charlesju
Great idea. I think I'm still too self-absorbed to actively ask for critiques
on my personal character though. Maybe I'll be mature (brave) enough to do
this in a couple more years.

~~~
stanleydrew
But this is perfect for the self-absorbed! It gets everyone thinking and
talking about you and your imperfections.

------
samwithans
What's stopping a person from creating a profile for someone (maybe someone
who's "unpopular")??

Seems like it could devolve into juicycampus.com for... everyone.

~~~
stephencelis
This is definitely a concern. We're working on a lot of anti-abuse features
that will roll out, though, before it leaves private beta.

------
xpaulbettsx
Small bug, times appear in GMT, not my local TZ...

~~~
stephencelis
Haven't had time to finish the JavaScript component to this. Working on it!

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mikeyur
Sounds like a personal single-purpose version of Rypple (<http://rypple.com/>)

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bdr
A startup that tried something like this: <http://hikkup.com/>

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csomar
I think I'll recognize all of my friends with their writing styles and
ideas...

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brandnewlow
Post up your worst enemies.

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pclark
love to try this. codes?

~~~
stephencelis
Try "HACKERNEWS".

------
shawn7400
This place is turning into Digg.

