6 ms·

Is email not sufficient to communicate with family, work associates, etc.?

by ed312 10y ago

derekp7 10y ago
I've thought about building something that gives a social network type experience that is built on top of email. Any status update would get sent out to an email list of your connections, and all the emails could be put in a specific mail folder using standard rules. A front end app would then scan that folder and give you a personalized page that represents the latest status based on what it sees in that folder. The raw messages themselves may contain various control messages (such as "friend requests" and "drop requests", but otherwise can be directly viewable too. But the main interface would be from a front-end app that runs on the user's PC or mobile device.
- gavinpc 10y ago
  I love this idea (if only for the motivation behind it). How would your "normal" mail client filter out the messages that are for this app? People have lots of different mail clients which they might not be able (or willing) to configure. Or would you expect a dedicated address.
  - softawre 10y ago
    The problem, of course, is who builds/maintains this, how do they get paid, and how do you pay the server fees.
    - derekp7 10y ago
      The app would run on the user's local PC or phone, and it would access data directly from their mailbox (and create a local DB from that data). So no backend server to worry about.
      - gavinpc 10y ago
        Without a third-party managing associations, how do you maintain that "friendship" is consensual? In other words, how do you prevent "I have your email address" from meaning "you're my friend now."
        derekp7 10y ago
        When you send a friend request to someone, their stuff is shared with you only if they accept the request on their end. If they reject the friend request, then anything coming from you that they don't want can be handled as spam (the client side software would just filter the content itself in that case).
  - derekp7 10y ago
    Almost all email clients have some sort of filtering. And the email messages would all have a keyword in the subject line, so filtering could be accomplished by that (or via an x-header). The app itself could automatically create the filters for various web hosted email systems too.
- Natanael_L 10y ago
  I recall (but can't find) having seen a social network built on Keybase.io's encrypted filesystem (KBFS), where your public data is signed stored in your public folder, and your private data is encrypted and shared with only those you choose. Everything is based on files.
- SalimoS 10y ago
  I'm sure you are talking about mailing list :)
pjc50 10y ago
Email is also under marketing surveillance, unless you refuse to correspond with anyone using gmail. I've known only one person willing to go to those lengths to make a point.
- Joof 10y ago
  If you have a good alternative email I'd be down for that at least. Hosting your own turns out to be surprisingly difficult.
  - mnw21cam 10y ago
    Make that surprisingly easy. Been doing it for more than a decade now, just on my house ADSL connection. It helps that a friend has agreed to host a backup MX.
    - Joof 10y ago
      Really? My email tended to be blacklisted and treated as spam and I had poor filters and search. Help me out here lol.
      - mnw21cam 10y ago
        If you send email directly from your machine by looking up MX records from a home ADSL line, then yes this will happen. Instead, you should send your mail via your ISP's outgoing SMTP server, using the mail submission port number 587. Your ISP should provide this service, and you will probably have to authenticate using your username/password associated with your internet connection.
abawany 10y ago
It is pretty good but they are directed messages and I think people look for something where they can check on their own terms what a person is up to. I recently opened an account on Diaspora using the sechat.org pod. It has been a fun experience so far. The network effects mean that moving your friends over to it will be another matter. But it has been fun to use.
rickycook 10y ago
slack and facebook exist because many people view email as insufficient also, it's email. yes, it's highly insufficient

Is email not sufficient to communicate with family, work associates, etc.?

by ed312 10y ago

Is email not sufficient to communicate with family, work associates, etc.?

I've thought about building something that gives a social network type experience that is built on top of email. Any status update would get sent out to an email list of your connections, and all the emails could be put in a specific mail folder using standard rules. A front end app would then scan that folder and give you a personalized page that represents the latest status based on what it sees in that folder. The raw messages themselves may contain various control messages (such as "friend requests" and "drop requests", but otherwise can be directly viewable too. But the main interface would be from a front-end app that runs on the user's PC or mobile device.

gavinpc 10y ago
I love this idea (if only for the motivation behind it). How would your "normal" mail client filter out the messages that are for this app? People have lots of different mail clients which they might not be able (or willing) to configure. Or would you expect a dedicated address.
- softawre 10y ago
  The problem, of course, is who builds/maintains this, how do they get paid, and how do you pay the server fees.
  - derekp7 10y ago
    The app would run on the user's local PC or phone, and it would access data directly from their mailbox (and create a local DB from that data). So no backend server to worry about.
    - gavinpc 10y ago
      Without a third-party managing associations, how do you maintain that "friendship" is consensual? In other words, how do you prevent "I have your email address" from meaning "you're my friend now."
      - derekp7 10y ago
        When you send a friend request to someone, their stuff is shared with you only if they accept the request on their end. If they reject the friend request, then anything coming from you that they don't want can be handled as spam (the client side software would just filter the content itself in that case).
- derekp7 10y ago
  Almost all email clients have some sort of filtering. And the email messages would all have a keyword in the subject line, so filtering could be accomplished by that (or via an x-header). The app itself could automatically create the filters for various web hosted email systems too.
Natanael_L 10y ago
I recall (but can't find) having seen a social network built on Keybase.io's encrypted filesystem (KBFS), where your public data is signed stored in your public folder, and your private data is encrypted and shared with only those you choose. Everything is based on files.
SalimoS 10y ago
I'm sure you are talking about mailing list :)

pjc50 10y ago

Email is also under marketing surveillance, unless you refuse to correspond with anyone using gmail. I've known only one person willing to go to those lengths to make a point.

Joof 10y ago
If you have a good alternative email I'd be down for that at least. Hosting your own turns out to be surprisingly difficult.
- mnw21cam 10y ago
  Make that surprisingly easy. Been doing it for more than a decade now, just on my house ADSL connection. It helps that a friend has agreed to host a backup MX.
  - Joof 10y ago
    Really? My email tended to be blacklisted and treated as spam and I had poor filters and search. Help me out here lol.
    - mnw21cam 10y ago
      If you send email directly from your machine by looking up MX records from a home ADSL line, then yes this will happen. Instead, you should send your mail via your ISP's outgoing SMTP server, using the mail submission port number 587. Your ISP should provide this service, and you will probably have to authenticate using your username/password associated with your internet connection.

abawany 10y ago

It is pretty good but they are directed messages and I think people look for something where they can check on their own terms what a person is up to. I recently opened an account on Diaspora using the sechat.org pod. It has been a fun experience so far. The network effects mean that moving your friends over to it will be another matter. But it has been fun to use.

rickycook 10y ago

slack and facebook exist because many people view email as insufficient also, it's email. yes, it's highly insufficient