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BTW I did a Show HN for Quod a couple of days ago but it didn't get much attention - any feedback is appreciated.

Shank 8y ago
I really like the concept, though I think the initial stage might benefit from surfacing content from "top" websites as opposed to just votes. It's much more important to catch misinformation in larger, well known media sources, than it is to catch it on a random forum, for example. That's just my opinion, though.
- newman8r 8y ago
  Yeah that's a good point, I hadn't even thought about sorting it that way. It would definitely be better to prioritize content from CNN or Washington Post over a reddit post. I'll probably implement something like that very soon.
  - Shank 8y ago
    > It would definitely be better to prioritize content from CNN or Washington Post over a reddit post. I would just like to point out that while totally unintentional, you just rattled off only left-wing sites. You absolutely need to make sure that, when listing off examples, you are being neutral in these examples. Even if you are a neutral third party, it may not look that way to people if you only list off certain news sources. Being neutral is critical to being trusted in a situation a site with responsibility like this. I want to see you succeed -- not get labeled as "attacking" one or the other side.
    - newman8r 8y ago
      You're absolutely right, we all have inherent biases and my goal with Quod is to create an environment where anyone can contribute regardless of political affiliation. Some of the problems with other fact checking sites is that they have small editorial panels, so bias can be an issue. Ideally, if Quod succeeds, my personal politics would not impact the site in any way whatsoever. Most of the initial reports on Quod were my own (since nobody else is going to report them) and I did try to grab a fairly equal amount of posts from the left and right. Anyway your feedback is appreciated and I agree that as an operator of the service I should try to act as a neutral party and I will keep that in mind going forward.
cabaalis 8y ago
Is this going to be like a snopes? Congrats on getting it up and running. Feedback: on my phone the header takes up a full third of the screen. I'm seeing this more often these days. The headline is at about 50% mark, and it would be less confusing IMO if the headline were within the top quarter of the screen. Galaxy s8
- newman8r 8y ago
  Yeah this is similar to snopes but will be mostly crowdsourced. Snopes has a small editorial panel but Quod allows anyone to submit misinformation. Thanks for the info on the header, will definitely get that fixed. I haven't had much feedback yet so this kind of stuff is extremely helpful.
matte_black 8y ago
What time of day did you submit? Did you tell other members ahead of time when you would post so they could upvote? What headline did you use?
- newman8r 8y ago
  Surprisingly no, and this is a solo venture so I don't even have a business partner to upvote it. I would have preferred my actual Show HN get popular because then people would actually be signing up.
  - detaro 8y ago
    FWIW, it's fine to try submitting it again, as long as you don't do it over and over. One thing you did "wrong" is submitting it as a text post, not a link: Those tend to get less interactions, and I believe are even penalized in the ranking algorithm (I could be wrong on that one though)
    - newman8r 8y ago
      Next time I'll definitely submit the direct URL, thanks for the tip.

I really like the concept, though I think the initial stage might benefit from surfacing content from "top" websites as opposed to just votes. It's much more important to catch misinformation in larger, well known media sources, than it is to catch it on a random forum, for example. That's just my opinion, though.

newman8r 8y ago
Yeah that's a good point, I hadn't even thought about sorting it that way. It would definitely be better to prioritize content from CNN or Washington Post over a reddit post. I'll probably implement something like that very soon.
- Shank 8y ago
  > It would definitely be better to prioritize content from CNN or Washington Post over a reddit post. I would just like to point out that while totally unintentional, you just rattled off only left-wing sites. You absolutely need to make sure that, when listing off examples, you are being neutral in these examples. Even if you are a neutral third party, it may not look that way to people if you only list off certain news sources. Being neutral is critical to being trusted in a situation a site with responsibility like this. I want to see you succeed -- not get labeled as "attacking" one or the other side.
  - newman8r 8y ago
    You're absolutely right, we all have inherent biases and my goal with Quod is to create an environment where anyone can contribute regardless of political affiliation. Some of the problems with other fact checking sites is that they have small editorial panels, so bias can be an issue. Ideally, if Quod succeeds, my personal politics would not impact the site in any way whatsoever. Most of the initial reports on Quod were my own (since nobody else is going to report them) and I did try to grab a fairly equal amount of posts from the left and right. Anyway your feedback is appreciated and I agree that as an operator of the service I should try to act as a neutral party and I will keep that in mind going forward.

cabaalis 8y ago

Is this going to be like a snopes? Congrats on getting it up and running. Feedback: on my phone the header takes up a full third of the screen. I'm seeing this more often these days. The headline is at about 50% mark, and it would be less confusing IMO if the headline were within the top quarter of the screen. Galaxy s8

newman8r 8y ago
Yeah this is similar to snopes but will be mostly crowdsourced. Snopes has a small editorial panel but Quod allows anyone to submit misinformation. Thanks for the info on the header, will definitely get that fixed. I haven't had much feedback yet so this kind of stuff is extremely helpful.

matte_black 8y ago

What time of day did you submit? Did you tell other members ahead of time when you would post so they could upvote? What headline did you use?

newman8r 8y ago
Surprisingly no, and this is a solo venture so I don't even have a business partner to upvote it. I would have preferred my actual Show HN get popular because then people would actually be signing up.
- detaro 8y ago
  FWIW, it's fine to try submitting it again, as long as you don't do it over and over. One thing you did "wrong" is submitting it as a text post, not a link: Those tend to get less interactions, and I believe are even penalized in the ranking algorithm (I could be wrong on that one though)
  - newman8r 8y ago
    Next time I'll definitely submit the direct URL, thanks for the tip.