2 ms·

10 min walkthrough/registration process versus a <1 min registration. Think whatever of it but people appreciate convenience over everything.

rglullis 6y ago
"Look, mom/dad/wife/brother/friends, I know that WhatsApp is easier and everyone else is using it and it you already know it and it is super convenient. But I don't want to use it anymore for a bunch of different reasons. If you want to talk to me, I can help you get set up on this app and we can talk. I know it sounds like a pain in the ass, but I am willing to help you with whatever issue you have. Just please don't ask me to sacrifice my freedom for your convenience." 100% conversion rate. Stop with excuses and Just. Ask. Them. In fact even if I have no paying customers at all for communick I wouldn't still shut it down just so my friends and family can continue using it.
- dividedbyzero 6y ago
  100% conversion rate with those you can apply sufficient pressure on, perhaps. Who'd want to lose contact with a son, brother, father over something like that? But it's a hassle, even if you don't see it that way. Over the years I myself have been converted to Signal, Telegram (encrypted chats), Threema, some kind of encrypted IRC and OTR on at least two other messengers, Google Wave, Google Talk, Viber, ... can't remember them all. I have no idea anymore what person prefers which app and since most of those people weren't the very best of friends, contact to almost all of them has effectively ceased (in part because those specific people don't often start conversations themselves), which is a pity, but it's simply really bothersome to cater to everyone's preferences, and I absolutely can't and won't switch to $other_app fully myself, because I really value being able to talk to all my acquaintances and friends and relatives and being able to stay in touch with new ones easily and frictionlessly, and pretty much everyone is on Whatsapp, and all I need is a phone number. If some people categorically don't value other people who don't use their preferred app, that totally weirds me out. Their choice, but not one I'm willing to make, especially since that notion of freedom I gain feels like a very, very abstract kind of freedom in a world where billions use Whatsapp for next to anything and all sorts of devices, apps and websites from all sorts of brands and sources phone home lots and lots of data, which also means eschewing Whatsapp doesn't matter a thing unless I make dozens of other painfull choices like opting out of all mainstream social media, complex privacy-centric browser setups that need constant attention to not fall behind, no mainstream phone (possibly no smartphone at all), no smart devices at all, Linux exclusively, etc. pp., otherwise I'll just leak data like a sieve elsewhere. Given that I gain what feels like very little, life just feels too short for this.
  - rglullis 6y ago
    Of course it is a hassle! I never claimed otherwise. But it is a hassle worth fighting for and this is what I try to show when I am helping them getting started with something else. > If some people categorically don't value other people who don't use their preferred app, that totally weirds me out. Who said anything about judging/not valuing other people by their preferred app? I am not claiming exclusivity. I still have WhatsApp on my phone for contacts and groups who are not close enough to me for me to ask them to use a different app. The point I am trying to make is that if everyone (including privacy-sensitive, tech-savvy people) keep this apathy in regards to their digital hygiene, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and there is no way we will ever get out of this mess. I presume anyone on Hacker News can and know how to do better, and we should be the ones in the front lines fighting for more open systems instead of passively waiting for some magical benevolent entity to save us from Big Tech.

rglullis 6y ago

"Look, mom/dad/wife/brother/friends, I know that WhatsApp is easier and everyone else is using it and it you already know it and it is super convenient. But I don't want to use it anymore for a bunch of different reasons. If you want to talk to me, I can help you get set up on this app and we can talk. I know it sounds like a pain in the ass, but I am willing to help you with whatever issue you have. Just please don't ask me to sacrifice my freedom for your convenience." 100% conversion rate. Stop with excuses and Just. Ask. Them. In fact even if I have no paying customers at all for communick I wouldn't still shut it down just so my friends and family can continue using it.

dividedbyzero 6y ago
100% conversion rate with those you can apply sufficient pressure on, perhaps. Who'd want to lose contact with a son, brother, father over something like that? But it's a hassle, even if you don't see it that way. Over the years I myself have been converted to Signal, Telegram (encrypted chats), Threema, some kind of encrypted IRC and OTR on at least two other messengers, Google Wave, Google Talk, Viber, ... can't remember them all. I have no idea anymore what person prefers which app and since most of those people weren't the very best of friends, contact to almost all of them has effectively ceased (in part because those specific people don't often start conversations themselves), which is a pity, but it's simply really bothersome to cater to everyone's preferences, and I absolutely can't and won't switch to $other_app fully myself, because I really value being able to talk to all my acquaintances and friends and relatives and being able to stay in touch with new ones easily and frictionlessly, and pretty much everyone is on Whatsapp, and all I need is a phone number. If some people categorically don't value other people who don't use their preferred app, that totally weirds me out. Their choice, but not one I'm willing to make, especially since that notion of freedom I gain feels like a very, very abstract kind of freedom in a world where billions use Whatsapp for next to anything and all sorts of devices, apps and websites from all sorts of brands and sources phone home lots and lots of data, which also means eschewing Whatsapp doesn't matter a thing unless I make dozens of other painfull choices like opting out of all mainstream social media, complex privacy-centric browser setups that need constant attention to not fall behind, no mainstream phone (possibly no smartphone at all), no smart devices at all, Linux exclusively, etc. pp., otherwise I'll just leak data like a sieve elsewhere. Given that I gain what feels like very little, life just feels too short for this.
- rglullis 6y ago
  Of course it is a hassle! I never claimed otherwise. But it is a hassle worth fighting for and this is what I try to show when I am helping them getting started with something else. > If some people categorically don't value other people who don't use their preferred app, that totally weirds me out. Who said anything about judging/not valuing other people by their preferred app? I am not claiming exclusivity. I still have WhatsApp on my phone for contacts and groups who are not close enough to me for me to ask them to use a different app. The point I am trying to make is that if everyone (including privacy-sensitive, tech-savvy people) keep this apathy in regards to their digital hygiene, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and there is no way we will ever get out of this mess. I presume anyone on Hacker News can and know how to do better, and we should be the ones in the front lines fighting for more open systems instead of passively waiting for some magical benevolent entity to save us from Big Tech.