6 ms·

Fwiw: I hadn't heard of you until I saw this post. I took a look at the website, and having seen that and read the article decided to sign up. I was immediatel

by Ryanmf 15y ago

Fwiw: I hadn't heard of you until I saw this post. I took a look at the website, and having seen that and read the article decided to sign up. I was immediately prompted to sign in with Facebook, and I closed the tab.

choxi 15y ago
Yep, there's a few people who have requested non-Facebook login. We're working on it :) If you'd like you can upvote that feature request here: http://niroka.uservoice.com/forums/136707-general http://niroka.uservoice.com/forums/136707-general
- ryanhuff 15y ago
  Don't take this the wrong way, but can you explain the thinking on requiring a Facebook login?
  - untog 15y ago
    I don't want to speak for them, but usually you use a Facebook login to save time. It isn't just a case of making a signup form, you've got confirmation e-mails, forgotten password functionality, secure password storage, etc. etc. None of it is insurmountable of course, but using Facebook saves a ton of time and lets you plug into a load of social features at the same time. Yes, some people will reject it but they're a small proportion of the average userbase. A site aimed a HN readers may have a somewhat different proportion, of course.
    - choxi 15y ago
      yep, you got it. that pretty much sums up why. although, at least with Rails, there's so many authentication gems that it's comparable to implement Facebook login versus email/password login.
    - ryanhuff 15y ago
      Thanks for the feedback. I am debating this very issue now for an iphone app, and the time savings of not having to build a registration system for v1 is very appealing.
    - meric 15y ago
      You use Facebook login to save your users' time (they don't have to sign up again), gives you access to your users' photos (those that click a like button), that you can display publicly to your other users. Making a signup form, setting up confirmation emails, forgotten password, secure password storage, takes only a good plugin and half a day, but it still wouldn't give you the social features facebook provide. Think not of the costs you will incur (they are likely to be small anyway, relatively speaking), but the benefits you can provide to your users.
      - asiekierka 15y ago
        Not everyone has a Facebook account.
        Robin_Message 15y ago
        And Siri doesn't work with Scottish accents — what's your point? (Mine is that most people do have a Facebook account, or can get one, and you have to have a cutoff on customers' demands somewhere. For example, it probably doesn't make business sense to support non-Facebook users before translating the whole thing into Chinese, Hindi and Russian, at least.)
        tjoff 15y ago
        Am I the only one that thinks it's sad that the opinion above seems to be widely accepted? People just don't have any respect for integrity anymore and they don't even realize that they don't care about it either. And who gives a sh*t about the non-typical user? Adapt to the typical user and just crap on everyone else. It's all about fast gains and nothing about quality. No one seems to have realized that you can have long-term gains by building decent software. Also, getting Scottish accents to work in Siri is probably a hassle (where you barely can do it without an accent). Implementing your own registration system is not. You have no excuse for relying on facebook only for logins and I loathe you for it. I might be a minority not worth taking into account but I have a hard time believing you value your users so little that you don't fix your own registration (relying on facebook says something about you and fortunately this is still considered something negative (even though most would use it anyway). Example: spotify).
  - choxi 15y ago
    Sure, we just wanted users to have a more social experience with our site. With Facebook login, you can show profile pictures and names, and eventually make it easier for friends to take classes together.
    - Domenic_S 15y ago
      > we just wanted users to have a more social experience with our site. This strikes me as bologna, because right now it's meaningless (see: "eventually" make it easier...). IMO it's perfectly reasonable to say that you didn't want to roll your own registration system.
      - choxi 15y ago
        Sure, I agree that's a valid reason. It wasn't our reason though, I've worked with Devise on Rails projects many times so implementing that would have been just as easy as implementing Facebook Connect. Honest. I like meric's response as well: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3179759 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3179759
        uxp 15y ago
        If you've already got all the functionality for Facebook Connect, it doesn't take a whole lot more to add in Google and/or Twitter Oauth. Giving your potential users a number of options is always a good thing.
      - tjoff 15y ago
        IMO it's not reasonable at all. It might be boring but it doesn't take much time at all and forcing your users to login with facebook is just lazy and irresponsible. A social experience might be nice but make sure it's optional, having only facebook as a means to login makes you look fraudulent.

by Ryanmf 15y ago

choxi 15y ago

Yep, there's a few people who have requested non-Facebook login. We're working on it :) If you'd like you can upvote that feature request here: http://niroka.uservoice.com/forums/136707-general http://niroka.uservoice.com/forums/136707-general

ryanhuff 15y ago
Don't take this the wrong way, but can you explain the thinking on requiring a Facebook login?
- untog 15y ago
  I don't want to speak for them, but usually you use a Facebook login to save time. It isn't just a case of making a signup form, you've got confirmation e-mails, forgotten password functionality, secure password storage, etc. etc. None of it is insurmountable of course, but using Facebook saves a ton of time and lets you plug into a load of social features at the same time. Yes, some people will reject it but they're a small proportion of the average userbase. A site aimed a HN readers may have a somewhat different proportion, of course.
  - choxi 15y ago
    yep, you got it. that pretty much sums up why. although, at least with Rails, there's so many authentication gems that it's comparable to implement Facebook login versus email/password login.
  - ryanhuff 15y ago
    Thanks for the feedback. I am debating this very issue now for an iphone app, and the time savings of not having to build a registration system for v1 is very appealing.
  - meric 15y ago
    You use Facebook login to save your users' time (they don't have to sign up again), gives you access to your users' photos (those that click a like button), that you can display publicly to your other users. Making a signup form, setting up confirmation emails, forgotten password, secure password storage, takes only a good plugin and half a day, but it still wouldn't give you the social features facebook provide. Think not of the costs you will incur (they are likely to be small anyway, relatively speaking), but the benefits you can provide to your users.
    - asiekierka 15y ago
      Not everyone has a Facebook account.
      - Robin_Message 15y ago
        And Siri doesn't work with Scottish accents — what's your point? (Mine is that most people do have a Facebook account, or can get one, and you have to have a cutoff on customers' demands somewhere. For example, it probably doesn't make business sense to support non-Facebook users before translating the whole thing into Chinese, Hindi and Russian, at least.)
        tjoff 15y ago
        Am I the only one that thinks it's sad that the opinion above seems to be widely accepted? People just don't have any respect for integrity anymore and they don't even realize that they don't care about it either. And who gives a sh*t about the non-typical user? Adapt to the typical user and just crap on everyone else. It's all about fast gains and nothing about quality. No one seems to have realized that you can have long-term gains by building decent software. Also, getting Scottish accents to work in Siri is probably a hassle (where you barely can do it without an accent). Implementing your own registration system is not. You have no excuse for relying on facebook only for logins and I loathe you for it. I might be a minority not worth taking into account but I have a hard time believing you value your users so little that you don't fix your own registration (relying on facebook says something about you and fortunately this is still considered something negative (even though most would use it anyway). Example: spotify).
- choxi 15y ago
  Sure, we just wanted users to have a more social experience with our site. With Facebook login, you can show profile pictures and names, and eventually make it easier for friends to take classes together.
  - Domenic_S 15y ago
    > we just wanted users to have a more social experience with our site. This strikes me as bologna, because right now it's meaningless (see: "eventually" make it easier...). IMO it's perfectly reasonable to say that you didn't want to roll your own registration system.
    - choxi 15y ago
      Sure, I agree that's a valid reason. It wasn't our reason though, I've worked with Devise on Rails projects many times so implementing that would have been just as easy as implementing Facebook Connect. Honest. I like meric's response as well: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3179759 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3179759
      - uxp 15y ago
        If you've already got all the functionality for Facebook Connect, it doesn't take a whole lot more to add in Google and/or Twitter Oauth. Giving your potential users a number of options is always a good thing.
    - tjoff 15y ago
      IMO it's not reasonable at all. It might be boring but it doesn't take much time at all and forcing your users to login with facebook is just lazy and irresponsible. A social experience might be nice but make sure it's optional, having only facebook as a means to login makes you look fraudulent.