5 ms·

Webhook – demolishes Kickstarter target

43 points by collistaeed 12y ago

tedchs 12y ago
This project really needs a different name... "web hook" already means something, e.g. https://help.github.com/articles/creating-webhooks https://help.github.com/articles/creating-webhooks
unfunco 12y ago
Demolished might be a strong word. It's raised ≈50% more than what was expected but compared to Kickstarter baselines that's not super unusual. As an example, I kicked in a bit for this wallet (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supr/slim-the-thinnest-wallet-ever https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supr/slim-the-thinnest-...) that had a $10K target and raised $200K, that could potentially be described as demolishing the target.
thatthatis 12y ago
Namespaces people. Please respect them. Webhook is a thing that people google for information about all the time, and these jerks have just made finding information about webhooks, especially for any other CMS, twice as hard. Stop shitting in the internet tech namespace commons and spend another five minutes naming your things. Here's a handy rule, if you aren't 100% confident your project will be in the top 5 google results for your exact name search within two weeks of launch, you're probably shitting in the commons and should find another name.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
manuletroll 12y ago
The whole thing looks very nice but the fact that the resulting sites must be deployed on their servers is a deal-breaker for me.
- schrijver 12y ago
  Also, is it Open Source? It’s interesting to me that they can sell with a explanation that’s wildly technical, while not mentioning the license…
lukeholder 12y ago
> Can I self-host Webhook > No, but we get this question a lot and obviously want to provide it. Honest truth? We'd like to hire another engineer first. That way we can dedicate a resource to making it as good as our hosted solution. It's just not as simple as pushing to an S3 bucket. This is a deal breaker for me and I suggest most dev shops working for clients.
- monkeyprojects 12y ago
  I think that excuse is valid. Why support two very different type of support requests in the early days. I'm not sure I like the idea of another CMS but the idea of using kickstarter to build an initial client base is a good one.
vayarajesh 12y ago
I like the idea of building your own CMS but the idea of hosting on their servers might be the deal breaker. Although i think this can be a very nice open source project and change the idea of CMS which is been set by projects like wordpress/drupal etc.
mrmondo 12y ago
Love the idea but I'm personally not a fan of node mostly due to it's poor package management system.
- aenario 12y ago
  I am personaly a big fan of npm. What package management system do you consider better ?
  - StavrosK 12y ago
    I have had no luck trying to install npm packages whenever I needed something. It's always some sort of dependency or index or some other problem.
    - bhouston 12y ago
      I've had a fair bit of NPM installation issues as well and I am a big NodeJS supporter. Often their service is down. If you installed npm a long time ago, it likely doesn't work reliably with the service as it is now and you need to do an "npm install npm" to fix it. Generally, npm needs to get more professional and I think they are trying.
      - mrmondo 12y ago
        Not to mention that every language has it's own package manager and all of them have a different idea of how to implement one - total not invented here syndrome IMO
  - mrmondo 12y ago
    We've had so many problems with NPM and automating it. Broken dependencies, lack of local mirrors, slow downloads etc...
- _random_ 12y ago
  On the upside it uses just JavaScript which makes it open to unskilled script coders.
luckysh0t 12y ago
Not to be confused with webhooks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webhook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webhook
- bhouston 12y ago
  Yeah, this confused me significantly. I would have picked a different name.
netcan 12y ago
Kickstarter has a funny dynamic to it. I'm not sure I really understand what motivates people to back projects. This doesn't sound like a bad idea. There seems to be room for several CMS companies and the good ones do well. I'm surprised that people will kick in donations to fund what is essentially a company. I wonder if local brick and morter businesses could raise on kickstarter.
- iamlacroix 12y ago
  A cafe + restaurant here in Chicago [1] successfully launched via Kickstarter [2]. [1] http://winchesterchicago.com http://winchesterchicago.com [2] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2068767201/help-support-the-winchester https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2068767201/help-support...
- meritt 12y ago
  A locally owned pizza shop in Portland, OR successfully ran a campaign to move to a larger location. Backers got all sorts of pizza and schwag. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atomicpizza/atomic-pizza-is-moving-one-block https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atomicpizza/atomic-pizz...
theDustRoom 12y ago
Good beard!
pknight 12y ago
I don't totally get it. On one hand he's selling this idea that making a dream site can be easy (and it is if it's a very simple site, I guess). He's got 2 decades of experience that say there's more to creating a site than the tool that you're using. Then running the backend of usual cms systems is made to be hard. But if you know how to install node.js and you're talking about these other components and services like firebase, really that isn't any harder than running click and point software that installs all the backend for you for these other cms solutions. It's not a breakthrough leap in simplicity.
davecyen 12y ago
This is cool, and there's definitely a need for a better WordPress, but I feel like this setup flow is backwards. Ideally, the flow would be something like this: I go to webhooks.com. Create an account, then create a new project (newproject.webhooks.com). I can edit my site from my site's admin page (newproject.webhooks.com/admin), or as an advanced option, I can install the repo locally to fully edit the code. Am I missing something here? Don't understand why a user would want to install locally first. Also especially for a non-technical person, this creates barriers to get started.

43 points by collistaeed 12y ago

This project really needs a different name... "web hook" already means something, e.g. https://help.github.com/articles/creating-webhooks https://help.github.com/articles/creating-webhooks

unfunco 12y ago

Demolished might be a strong word. It's raised ≈50% more than what was expected but compared to Kickstarter baselines that's not super unusual. As an example, I kicked in a bit for this wallet (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supr/slim-the-thinnest-wallet-ever https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supr/slim-the-thinnest-...) that had a $10K target and raised $200K, that could potentially be described as demolishing the target.

thatthatis 12y ago

Namespaces people. Please respect them. Webhook is a thing that people google for information about all the time, and these jerks have just made finding information about webhooks, especially for any other CMS, twice as hard. Stop shitting in the internet tech namespace commons and spend another five minutes naming your things. Here's a handy rule, if you aren't 100% confident your project will be in the top 5 google results for your exact name search within two weeks of launch, you're probably shitting in the commons and should find another name.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

manuletroll 12y ago

The whole thing looks very nice but the fact that the resulting sites must be deployed on their servers is a deal-breaker for me.

schrijver 12y ago
Also, is it Open Source? It’s interesting to me that they can sell with a explanation that’s wildly technical, while not mentioning the license…

lukeholder 12y ago

> Can I self-host Webhook > No, but we get this question a lot and obviously want to provide it. Honest truth? We'd like to hire another engineer first. That way we can dedicate a resource to making it as good as our hosted solution. It's just not as simple as pushing to an S3 bucket. This is a deal breaker for me and I suggest most dev shops working for clients.

monkeyprojects 12y ago
I think that excuse is valid. Why support two very different type of support requests in the early days. I'm not sure I like the idea of another CMS but the idea of using kickstarter to build an initial client base is a good one.

vayarajesh 12y ago

I like the idea of building your own CMS but the idea of hosting on their servers might be the deal breaker. Although i think this can be a very nice open source project and change the idea of CMS which is been set by projects like wordpress/drupal etc.

mrmondo 12y ago

Love the idea but I'm personally not a fan of node mostly due to it's poor package management system.

aenario 12y ago
I am personaly a big fan of npm. What package management system do you consider better ?
- StavrosK 12y ago
  I have had no luck trying to install npm packages whenever I needed something. It's always some sort of dependency or index or some other problem.
  - bhouston 12y ago
    I've had a fair bit of NPM installation issues as well and I am a big NodeJS supporter. Often their service is down. If you installed npm a long time ago, it likely doesn't work reliably with the service as it is now and you need to do an "npm install npm" to fix it. Generally, npm needs to get more professional and I think they are trying.
    - mrmondo 12y ago
      Not to mention that every language has it's own package manager and all of them have a different idea of how to implement one - total not invented here syndrome IMO
- mrmondo 12y ago
  We've had so many problems with NPM and automating it. Broken dependencies, lack of local mirrors, slow downloads etc...
_random_ 12y ago
On the upside it uses just JavaScript which makes it open to unskilled script coders.

luckysh0t 12y ago

Not to be confused with webhooks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webhook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webhook

bhouston 12y ago
Yeah, this confused me significantly. I would have picked a different name.

netcan 12y ago

Kickstarter has a funny dynamic to it. I'm not sure I really understand what motivates people to back projects. This doesn't sound like a bad idea. There seems to be room for several CMS companies and the good ones do well. I'm surprised that people will kick in donations to fund what is essentially a company. I wonder if local brick and morter businesses could raise on kickstarter.

iamlacroix 12y ago
A cafe + restaurant here in Chicago [1] successfully launched via Kickstarter [2]. [1] http://winchesterchicago.com http://winchesterchicago.com [2] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2068767201/help-support-the-winchester https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2068767201/help-support...
meritt 12y ago
A locally owned pizza shop in Portland, OR successfully ran a campaign to move to a larger location. Backers got all sorts of pizza and schwag. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atomicpizza/atomic-pizza-is-moving-one-block https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atomicpizza/atomic-pizz...

theDustRoom 12y ago

Good beard!

pknight 12y ago

I don't totally get it. On one hand he's selling this idea that making a dream site can be easy (and it is if it's a very simple site, I guess). He's got 2 decades of experience that say there's more to creating a site than the tool that you're using. Then running the backend of usual cms systems is made to be hard. But if you know how to install node.js and you're talking about these other components and services like firebase, really that isn't any harder than running click and point software that installs all the backend for you for these other cms solutions. It's not a breakthrough leap in simplicity.

davecyen 12y ago

This is cool, and there's definitely a need for a better WordPress, but I feel like this setup flow is backwards. Ideally, the flow would be something like this: I go to webhooks.com. Create an account, then create a new project (newproject.webhooks.com). I can edit my site from my site's admin page (newproject.webhooks.com/admin), or as an advanced option, I can install the repo locally to fully edit the code. Am I missing something here? Don't understand why a user would want to install locally first. Also especially for a non-technical person, this creates barriers to get started.