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Hey I'm working on exactly this with https://histre.com/ https://histre.com/

shigeo 6y ago
Nice idea! Some cheapshots: 1. The comments aspect of this doesn't really jump out at me from the landing page. 2. The words "knowledge base" scare most people. 3. "You will be our customer and we promise to treat you the way we’d like to be treated too… with respect" is much more ominous with ellipsis than it would be with an em dash or a colon.
- kirubakaran 6y ago
  Thank you. Great points. I'll fix that.
armitron 6y ago
We've had enough problems stemming from the powerful parasitic middlemen that have ruined the Internet, we don't need more of them. Why would I ever give you my data? Because you promise not to sell it? Sorry that's not going to fly.
- kirubakaran 6y ago
  I understand. Thanks for the feedback. I think about this too. I'm not an anonymous person. I've been a Hacker News user since the very beginning. I share my contact info in my profile. My reputation is my livelihood. I've never done anything shady and don't intend to start now :-) So I'd like to believe that people see that judge for themselves whether to trust me or not. Knowing who is behind a product, at least for me personally, makes a difference. Just a couple of days ago I started a Youtube channel to openly talk about my thoughts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHkgOonAQd5haT8HHJhpg6g https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHkgOonAQd5haT8HHJhpg6g But yeah I hear your concerns, and I respect your decision to not use my app.
  - kls 6y ago
    The problem is the change with success. Page and Brin where once idealistic hackers and even came up with a catch phrase of "Don't be evil", fast forward and it did not work and the reality is it probably had very little to do with them. Success and size whittle away at idealistic visions. You need to put together a framework before you are successful, on how you are going to enforce that your core values reflect with success and size and it has to have teeth. I am confident you are a good person and you are idealistic. The problem is, that you won't always be steering the ship.
    - kirubakaran 6y ago
      Yes, that's a great point. Is a strong privacy policy the solution? I do have one in place. I'm happy to put in stronger commitments. Another thing to highlight here: Histre is a paid product. I'm bootstrapping it. I think that it is the "free" products that go the adtech route. By charging the users, I'm making it clear that it is their money that supports Histre.
      - kls 6y ago
        I would say a legal poison pill, something that builds a framework that the company is dissolved if the core tenants are violated, or that all digital assets are forfeited to a no-profit privacy group.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        panopticon 6y ago
        I know very little about this kind of stuff, but is there anything that would prevent a controlling party from striking the poison pill provisions from the bylaws? Usually poison pills are to trip up parties without controlling interest, so I'm curious what kind of legal framework would making something like that unchangeable.
      - hansvm 6y ago

Nice idea! Some cheapshots: 1. The comments aspect of this doesn't really jump out at me from the landing page. 2. The words "knowledge base" scare most people. 3. "You will be our customer and we promise to treat you the way we’d like to be treated too… with respect" is much more ominous with ellipsis than it would be with an em dash or a colon.

kirubakaran 6y ago
Thank you. Great points. I'll fix that.

armitron 6y ago

We've had enough problems stemming from the powerful parasitic middlemen that have ruined the Internet, we don't need more of them. Why would I ever give you my data? Because you promise not to sell it? Sorry that's not going to fly.

kirubakaran 6y ago
I understand. Thanks for the feedback. I think about this too. I'm not an anonymous person. I've been a Hacker News user since the very beginning. I share my contact info in my profile. My reputation is my livelihood. I've never done anything shady and don't intend to start now :-) So I'd like to believe that people see that judge for themselves whether to trust me or not. Knowing who is behind a product, at least for me personally, makes a difference. Just a couple of days ago I started a Youtube channel to openly talk about my thoughts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHkgOonAQd5haT8HHJhpg6g https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHkgOonAQd5haT8HHJhpg6g But yeah I hear your concerns, and I respect your decision to not use my app.
- kls 6y ago
  The problem is the change with success. Page and Brin where once idealistic hackers and even came up with a catch phrase of "Don't be evil", fast forward and it did not work and the reality is it probably had very little to do with them. Success and size whittle away at idealistic visions. You need to put together a framework before you are successful, on how you are going to enforce that your core values reflect with success and size and it has to have teeth. I am confident you are a good person and you are idealistic. The problem is, that you won't always be steering the ship.
  - kirubakaran 6y ago
    Yes, that's a great point. Is a strong privacy policy the solution? I do have one in place. I'm happy to put in stronger commitments. Another thing to highlight here: Histre is a paid product. I'm bootstrapping it. I think that it is the "free" products that go the adtech route. By charging the users, I'm making it clear that it is their money that supports Histre.
    - kls 6y ago
      I would say a legal poison pill, something that builds a framework that the company is dissolved if the core tenants are violated, or that all digital assets are forfeited to a no-profit privacy group.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - panopticon 6y ago
        I know very little about this kind of stuff, but is there anything that would prevent a controlling party from striking the poison pill provisions from the bylaws? Usually poison pills are to trip up parties without controlling interest, so I'm curious what kind of legal framework would making something like that unchangeable.
    - hansvm 6y ago