I’ve been scrolling around and I’m wondering what sort of projects everyone here is working on? I have not worked on anything in awhile but I wanna see more projects and maybe that’ll change haha

  • noughtnaut
    7·
    1 day ago

    A dating app that takes users seriously. Respect their filters, don’t price gauge, eschew dark patterns, that jazz. It’s nearing something production ready, but I’m still fretting over where (geographically) to launch and how to get to sufficient user density without spending a cartload of cash on marketing. I also find it difficult to strike a balance between even mentioning this project, and not being seen as spamming product placement in unwanted communities.

    • Cyn@infosec.pubOPEnglish
      4·
      1 day ago

      “takes users seriously. Respect their filters, don’t price gauge, eschew dark patterns, that jazz”

      Is all this true because “you have a goal” or “we have strict rules”? because that’s how most dating platforms start but when they grow the new people in the project don’t care about the founders goal and it slowly enshittifies. That being said if its actually designed to give the users real control so they can prevent the enshittifcation then I’m very interested

      “I’m still fretting over where (geographically) to launch”

      If its an app why does there need to be a geo restricted launch? if there’s a valid reason id say launch in the closest capital to you

      “how to get to sufficient user density without spending a cartload of cash on marketing”

      Unfortunately money does buy fame. it’ll take ages to organically grow but using/creating a network will help (easier said then done)

      “not being seen as spamming product placement in unwanted communities”

      I feel that, its very dependent innit. you just gotta mention it without sounding like a shill tbh

      • noughtnaut
        2·
        15 hours ago

        Thank you for the interest. Sorry to leave you hanging there, Cyn. (Funny, I knew a Cyn once.)

        Not sure I follow your distinction between goal and rules there. It is certainly based on values and ideology more than a vision to become rich off of it. Some examples of how values look in concrete terms:

        • filters are bidirectional, so if for instance your filter says “no smokers” then you obviously won’t see any smokers - but also, your profile won’t be shown to other users who are smokers;
        • if you’ve set a geographical range (say, 50km), we won’t sneak in users who are thousands of km away from you (and certainly no ads in your feed);
        • you’d pay a fixed price to get access to everything for 30 days. Furthermore, you are free to pause/resume your account if, for instance, you only want to be active on the weekends or every other week, and those 30 days will only “tick” on active days;
        • I want to support people of every ilk, I’m doing research on how to make minorities feel seen, safe, and supported;
        • in fact I’m doing several kinds of research and meta-research to find out what actually works for users wrt. getting quality matches (as opposed to what works for user retention and addictiveness);
        • I want to specifically recreate a lot of the liked features that other apps have lost over the last few years, such as quizzes and photo phomts;
        • the entire thing will be developed and hosted from within the EU. It’s easier to leave the app than to sign up for it. There’s a one-click “hand over my data” GDPR button. I would rather close the whole thing down than ever sell out to Match Group.

        I know, this is just words on a screen but still, those are my values.

        About the geo restriction, good question. The plan isn’t to actively restrict users, but to launch with a focus in one area (say, Amsterdam). The thing is, it can make a lot of sense to host a little tool on github and have six people find it useful - but for a matchmaking app, what you really need is user density and in that regard it helps to focus on a smaller area to begin with. Six users on each and every continent aren’t going to find great matches.

        I like my account. I like the communities I’m in. I’d hate to be seen as a sleazy ad-monger or product peddler. I’d rather go slow and learn where such “hey by the way” conversation is not just acceptable but even encouraged.

        • Cyn@infosec.pubOPEnglish
          1·
          4 hours ago

          no worries, I understand you have strong values as do most founders. What I was referring was its unlikely any of these values will hold in the future if you don’t design your system in a way combat discrimination and censorship. anything that can be used to exploit or influence people will eventually be used to do so I think and a dating app is very personal/private.

          about the geo restriction, If you launched worldwide and get six people scattered around the globe then launching locally wont change the density at all. it’ll just give you a smaller scope of those 6 scattered people. (maybe 2 or 3 instead)