

Rate my startup: AFAR Connect - erickhill
http://www.afar.com

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erickhill
Hey Guys,

We're a small startup in SF focused on the experiential traveler. We've built
a Q&A community where we match you (psycho-graphics, interests, knowledge,
aversion to risk) to other locals and travelers. You ask a question and we'll
map it to someone with a like-minded sense about travel. We also route
questions we think you might be a good fit to answer for others in the
community. Thanks in advance!

<http://www.afar.com>

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khafra
This is cool! I've tried to do this sort of thing before by asking people with
a high OKCupid "friend" percentage in the city I'll be visiting, but I'm
always afraid it comes off as disingenuously concealing romantic interest
instead of just wanting advice from locals.

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jcr
I don't know if this will really help, but since you mentioned quora-like
discussions about travel, the following might be an interesting discussion.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2040132>

Opinions vary. And sometimes they are not written as carefully and politely as
possible to avoid offending others. My exchange with HN user 'petercooper'
could have been written a lot better but as you'll see, it seems offense was
taken.

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petervandijck
I like the hunch.com-like quiz, but the site itself feels very corporate,
somehow, in its design. Also, I started with the quiz, but soon got bored and
left. That may be a common problem.

~~~
erickhill
Thanks for the feedback, Peter. Do you ever use Q&A sites like Quora, for
instance? It requires a little bit of effort for us to pull some basic info,
but the real magic comes from the current community that's being grown inside
(assuming you want to talk about travel).

~~~
petervandijck
Yes, I use Quora. They didn't make me go through an endless questionnaire
before showing me the goods (content).

Not sure what you mean by "It requires a little bit of effort for us to pull
some basic info"?

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nopinsight
I really like the idea and hope you guys will succeed. Here are some specific
suggestions:

* Allow the user to customize Q&A list they see, perhaps through filtering tags.

* Indicate somehow about the number of questions still ahead. Some sort of progress bar might help. As of now, some people may not have the patience.

* Leave out some questions from the signup form. Ask them later, eg put location box at the top of the question list.

Hope this helps and congrats for the launch!

~~~
erickhill
Thanks for the feedback, nopinsight. Technically, the "filter" should get
smarter based on the more activity you do (answering questions about specific
locations, etc.) but yeah - calling out "here are my main areas of knowledge"
somehow would clean up the list, especially as the community grows. Thanks
again!

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jcr
Your "Try a Risk–Free Issue" link is resulting in an error.

[https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/AF/AFA/Error.jsp?cds_mag_code=AFA...](https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/AF/AFA/Error.jsp?cds_mag_code=AFA&id=1296087037309)

    
    
      Error
      Sorry, the page you're looking for has moved, or is no longer in service. Please select a different customer service option.

~~~
erickhill
Odd, I just clicked it and it worked for me.
[https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/AF/AFA/Connect_freetrial-
US-v2.js...](https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/AF/AFA/Connect_freetrial-
US-v2.jsp?cds_page_id=94158&cds_mag_code=AFA&id=1296087809448&lsid=10261823294030389&vid=1)

