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Show HN: Eltrot, a web app to have structured debates with results

2 points by jandehaan 6y ago

jandehaan 6y ago
I started developing this web app when I was frustrated with the combination of groups chats and various polling websites to make decisions. It is supposed to make it easier to reach a decision in medium sized groups (i.e. on the order of 10 to 100 people) by ensuring that everyone gets a chance to propose solutions and have their arguments heard, while still making a decision in time. To encourage a constructive discussion, arguments that more than half of all participants deem irrelevant or factually wrong are not shown when voting. You might say that Eltrot’s goal is to get a messy group chat closer to a well-led meeting. I recently noticed that Eltrot is in some ways similar to Kialo (discussion here [1]), which also provides a platform for online-discussion, though it seems to be more focused on understanding both sides of political issues. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17486077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17486077
solus_factor 6y ago
Can't try it - it shows a red triangle with ! in it and a Retry button which does nothing.
- jandehaan 6y ago
  I’m sorry, I just noticed that as well, that should be fixed in five minutes. Edit: As far as I can tell, the issue is fixed now.
  - solus_factor 6y ago
    Tried it, here are some first impressions: - On the page where you start a debate it's not clear how to save it and not obvious that you need to move to Schedule. A big green NEXT>> button at the bottom would help. - Can't the debate be started right away? It's sort of cumbersome to think about all the dates and then wait, and also can't really test anything right now. - The design looks slick, nice that it's not one of the overused templates. Hard to say anything about the process itself since can't test it until it starts.
    - jandehaan 6y ago
      Thanks for your feedback! - You’re right, especially on small screens it is unclear how to proceed, since the buttons at the top might not be visible. - The reason for the delay is that when others are invited, they need some time to accept the invitation. It is possible to start the debate after just one minute by entering appropriate dates and times, but as you said, that is a bit cumbersome right now – I’ll try to make that screen easier to use, perhaps it would be easier to enter how long each stage should take.
summitsummit 6y ago
would be neat to see an active demo rather than creating everything from scratch, which i'm certainly not doing.

2 points by jandehaan 6y ago

I started developing this web app when I was frustrated with the combination of groups chats and various polling websites to make decisions. It is supposed to make it easier to reach a decision in medium sized groups (i.e. on the order of 10 to 100 people) by ensuring that everyone gets a chance to propose solutions and have their arguments heard, while still making a decision in time. To encourage a constructive discussion, arguments that more than half of all participants deem irrelevant or factually wrong are not shown when voting. You might say that Eltrot’s goal is to get a messy group chat closer to a well-led meeting. I recently noticed that Eltrot is in some ways similar to Kialo (discussion here [1]), which also provides a platform for online-discussion, though it seems to be more focused on understanding both sides of political issues. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17486077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17486077

solus_factor 6y ago

Can't try it - it shows a red triangle with ! in it and a Retry button which does nothing.

jandehaan 6y ago
I’m sorry, I just noticed that as well, that should be fixed in five minutes. Edit: As far as I can tell, the issue is fixed now.
- solus_factor 6y ago
  Tried it, here are some first impressions: - On the page where you start a debate it's not clear how to save it and not obvious that you need to move to Schedule. A big green NEXT>> button at the bottom would help. - Can't the debate be started right away? It's sort of cumbersome to think about all the dates and then wait, and also can't really test anything right now. - The design looks slick, nice that it's not one of the overused templates. Hard to say anything about the process itself since can't test it until it starts.
  - jandehaan 6y ago
    Thanks for your feedback! - You’re right, especially on small screens it is unclear how to proceed, since the buttons at the top might not be visible. - The reason for the delay is that when others are invited, they need some time to accept the invitation. It is possible to start the debate after just one minute by entering appropriate dates and times, but as you said, that is a bit cumbersome right now – I’ll try to make that screen easier to use, perhaps it would be easier to enter how long each stage should take.

summitsummit 6y ago

would be neat to see an active demo rather than creating everything from scratch, which i'm certainly not doing.