9 ms·
Show HN: FAQT – A lightweight, personal knowledge base
- tjosten 11y agoHow can a website / service be operated in 2015 without any contact or legal information? How am I supposed to use this for my personal information without being able to read the privacy statements or knowing who's operating the service to what purpose? Edit: To make the reason for my comment clear, there was no link in the footer like there is now at the time I wrote it.
- zyxley 11y agoNot to mention some jurisdictions requiring a privacy policy, like California.
- yitchelle 11y agohttp://www.faqt.co/terms-of-service.html http://www.faqt.co/terms-of-service.html may be enough?
- tjosten 11y agoThe link in the footer has just been added and wasn't there when I wrote my comment.
- zyxley 11y agoNope. Has to be linked from the homepage, among other requirements. http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=bpc&group=22001-23000&file=22575-22579 http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=bpc&group=...
- danieltillett 11y agoWhat is the consequences of ignoring this if you are outside of California?
- zyxley 11y agoIf any user of the service is in California, then the state can potentially take legal action against you. Whether this really matters to a particular company depends on where they are, but full-faith-and-credit means that at a minimum anyone based in the US has to worry about it.
- danieltillett 11y agoHas the State of California ever taken legal action against any company located outside of CA for not complying with this regulation or is it just another one of those laws that are on the book but are never enforced?
- 15155 11y agoBelieve it or not, the online world doesn't revolve around California or the European Union. One of the best "features" of the internet is that it is jurisdictionally grey. Otherwise, why not just subject the entire world to the stringent requirements of China?
- adambatkin 11y agoWhile it's true that it may not be a legal requirement (in some jurisdictions) to post a privacy policy, it's probably not a good idea to trust a service without one, particularly if said service is designed for posting potentially private personal information. In other words: They should post a privacy policy - not because it's a legal requirement (though it may be) - but because it's good business. And no one will trust them otherwise.
- Karunamon 11y agoSerious question: Do people treat privacy policies any different than EULA's? (To wit: Abstruse legalese that doesn't really tell anyone anything?) I can summarize 95% of privacy policies right here: * We won't sell your info (directly) * We "may" provide your info to third parties based on ill-defined criterion * We can change this at any time without telling you first * If we get bought (which is likely), this is all rendered invalid * If we break our word here, your recourse is precisely jack
- mirimir 11y agoI trust no privacy policy. Once something is online, it's no longer under my control. So it's either for public use, or it's securely encrypted.
- hyperpape 11y agoSo, good observation in the abstract, but: 1) you're responding to someone who said "some jurisdictions" 2) siavosh's Twitter profile suggests that they're in San Francisco.
- OldSchoolPro 11y agoI'm sure there a lot of strange requirements in random states of India, China, Russia, Egypt, etc as well.
- siavosh 11y agoYep, was meaning to add that in, added!
- jwr 11y agoAs someone who recently launched a service — among a zillion things you have to do to deploy a software application online this one seems markedly less important, especially if you are launching an MVP on a small budget. If your MVP won't fly, legal info won't help and is a waste of time and resources. If it will, you can always add it in the future. The percentage of people who will complain or not use the service at all without reading the Terms of Use first is… well, I have no idea what it is, but let's just say it won't move the needle. Contact information is more important, and easy to add, so it should be there.
- tommoor 11y agoThe frontpage design is nice, I can see the value - currently I'd use workflowy for small pieces of information like this. I think you're missing a trick by not having any of your example's linked to an actual FAQT - those 8 boxes should link to shared examples, even the link in the share field at the bottom 404's :(
- malexw 11y agoThis is great! A boss at an old job used to track little nuggets of information in a Word Doc he called his "Master" file. It had everything from bugs he had discovered with rare microcontrollers, to short reviews of meals he ordered at restaurants. (The idea behind the meals reviews is that the next time he went to the restaurant, he could look up what he had last time and decide if he wanted to have it again, or try something different) I never could get as hardcore into this 'knowledge logging' thing, but I've been interested in a tool like this for a while now.
- siavosh 11y agoThat's exactly what I did that led to this--a master google document that quickly became impossible to use or maintain. I wrote a quick blog post about it: http://blog.faqt.co/post/121242652146/a-note-app-to-replace-your-ziploc-bag http://blog.faqt.co/post/121242652146/a-note-app-to-replace-...
- malexw 11y agoWell, consider me a user. Is this a side-project for you, or are you going to build a company around it? Naturally, I'd like to know that if I enter my data in here, I'll be able to export a copy of it in the unfortunate event that you have to shut down the service.
- siavosh 11y agoThanks, we're hoping to build something lasting, but that's a fair question. A group of my co-workers, friends, and family use it everyday, and the last thing we'd do is disrespect that trust. I use the site everyday for my own work, and if we ever have to cease service, be sure that we'd have a free export function. It's an MVP right now, so there's plenty of things we'd like to add. Also feel free to reach out to us directly at hello@faqt.co
- jnbiche 11y ago> if we ever have to cease service, be sure that we'd have a free export function. ...and open up the source under a proper open-source license, I'd hope?
- buster 11y agoHow can something which is _personal_ and supposed to be _lightweigth_ a web site? Do i understand right that my data is hosted on their servers? Oh well...
- mfisher87 11y agoExactly what excited and then disappointed me. It's a great idea, but I think making it a service will make some people uncomfortable with natural use cases (ex: diary?) for a tool like this. I have been working on something (probably simpler than, but similar) like this that would be self-hosted, mostly because there's a lot of stuff I didn't want to store on Trello or other "cloud" knowledgebase tools. The markdown editing view from the product page is almost exactly what I was aiming for, so I really like it :)
- icewater0 11y agoHonestly I'm not even comfortable with my work interactions being stored on Slack. I would never use a service like this for personal info.
- jfreax 11y agoI think a web site is totally okay for this kind of application. Nowadays, I have always a browser open. But a self-hosted version, for people whom privacy is important, would be great. Are there any self-hosted alternatives? Especially with a nice markdown editor...
- greaterscope 11y agoI wrote a self-hosted tool that fills this need for me. Been using it since 2008. Content is written in markdown, though it doesn't have a fancy editor. Supports tagging and searching too. Since you mentioned self-hosted, I thought you might be interested. Screenshot: http://greaterscope.net/files/tracker.png http://greaterscope.net/files/tracker.png Github project: https://github.com/alanszlosek/tracker https://github.com/alanszlosek/tracker
- philtar 11y ago
- deanclatworthy 11y agoThis looks really nice. A small suggestion: Put a video, demo, screenshots or tour on the homepage. I found it kind of hard to visualize how the product actually looks and works from the information you have on your homepage. And a (well-meaning) question: why would I use this over say trello, or google docs?
- siavosh 11y agoGlad you asked, wrote about it here: http://blog.faqt.co/post/121242652146/a-note-app-to-replace-your-ziploc-bag http://blog.faqt.co/post/121242652146/a-note-app-to-replace-...
- ssriram 11y agoCool stuff. Would love to have "memorable urls" or wiki like [[Title becomes link]] syntax so I can build out a lightweight, personal faqtiki - Currently one needs to get the share link and do a [page](share url) to accomplish it (a multi-step non-memorable way)
- Gmo 11y agoSounds interesting ! And quite funny since I was looking for something similar last week (and didn't find anything really fitting what I want). A couple of questions : - do you have any kind of versioning/revision history ? Especially on the individuals "facts" - do you have a search function ? How does it work ? - Any kind of tagging system apart from the color code ? - any way to export the raw data ? - any plan of an API otherwise ? - like other have mentioned, it's a bit of a touchy area, I'm fine with hosting it if it means I can access it from anywhere and I know my data is not sold some way or some other, but my 3nd point would be at least one thing to worry less if it would ever go down. Which leads me on my last point : What's your business model ? PS: Anyone else @HN that knows of something similar ? (apart from evernote) Edited for styling
- ssriram 11y agonotepad.cc tiddlywiki.com keep.google.com ...
- walterbell 11y agohttp://alternativeto.net/software/tiddlywiki/ http://alternativeto.net/software/tiddlywiki/
- adnanh 11y agohttp://trello.com http://trello.com
- Gmo 11y agoI see trello more like a super TODO list, not so much as a repository of knowledge ! Does anyone use it that way ?
- siavosh 11y agoThanks, and good questions. Here's a first pass: - Not yet: But I'm a big fan of Rich Hickey's thoughts on data and time if that gives any clues on where I'd like to take it (http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Value-Values http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Value-Values) - Search function is very light just a client side search of the titles, but if people want it we'll probably build a server side full text search - We've been debating different tagging schemes and actually built one out already but decided not to include it in the MVP until we get more feedback (let us know hello@faqt.co) - Not yet, but we do want to build at least a minimal export functionality to give everyone peace of mind - No API plans - It's something we have to feel out, but it's followed closely my own use case where I need to store some information that I constantly refer to; self hosted is a thought but that automatically rules out most casual users. We'll see...
- dmix 11y agoYou really need a demo on the homepage. For ex: you should remove the need to signup to use it first, let them create a FAQ, then signup to save it to a particular account.
- arcade 11y ago
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- mc_hammer 11y agoi tried the share link at the bottom of the page and it doesnt work. probably because im not logged in? Idk i was expecting a demo :) cheers. was looking for an app like this a few weeks back as well.
- captn3m0 11y agoFor those who are wondering how the styling looks, I signed up and copy-pasted a markdown sample here: https://app.faqt.co/share/k6hs7l https://app.faqt.co/share/k6hs7l This looks pretty cool. I think I'l be using this from now on. Features I'd like to see in the future: - custom domain (esp for teams, which I see is in the works) - Revision History - Exports/Backups - Searching - Raw markdown support. I often like to copy markdown from places, and this would come handy. Just a .md at the end of the route would do. - API support is always nice Also, while you are working at a team solution, you might want to take a look at this blog post [0] from xoxco, where they describe their knowledge base that integrates very well with slack. [0]: https://medium.com/why-not/our-slack-wiki-e4f6d23a3495 https://medium.com/why-not/our-slack-wiki-e4f6d23a3495
- shkkmo 11y agoYeah, I can't put the time in to enter stuff into a proprietary codebase until there is the ability to export or a api to allow me to write my own export.
- siavosh 11y agoThis is helpful, thanks for sharing. We've struggled with where to integrate with first as most integrations I've seen have been gratuitous, but #slack is a solid possibility. Curious about the API support, how would you use it?
- captn3m0 11y agoWhile I do have a _drafts directory for my blog under version control, editing it locally is a pain. What I'd like to do: - write the blog post drafts under a `Drafts` category at faqt - Run a script that fetches all drafts and commits them in my drafts repo when I run it That way, my repo stays updated, and I don't have to worry about copying-pasting updates there. I could even write a "publish-from-faqt-to-blog" script that detects a category change from "Drafts" to "Published" and handles that for me. Would you be considering front-matter yaml support. If you add that, tagging+searching things would become so much better. (Every doc gets its own set of properties). Also, if you give us an API, we can make more integrations ourselves. That is one of the main reasons behind Slack's success.
- Axsuul 11y agoCongrats on the launch! Your main competitor here is Evernote so I would highly recommend you implement a "Import from Evernote" feature, or at least tout it. I'm happy with Evernote but the main disgruntle I have is the lack of Markdown capability, which you're making very clear, and any other developer-friendly features. There could be a big opportunity here if you can segregate yourself from Evernote by niche-ing yourself towards developers and technical folk. There's definitely a void here.
- trilinear 11y agoGreat idea, and I would like to use such a service. One thing - you may want to address the issue of asking for a password on the home page registration form over a non-secure connection. It wasn't until I hunted for a secure form via the 'Login' link that I knew I could sign up without risk of my credentials being sniffed.
- mrwnmonm 11y ago"human knowledge is cumulative" implement this idea by encouraging users to make public posts, then other users could search through them and fork them, this will be very good
- tomhenderson 11y agoReally cool. A couple of things I'd like to see would be: - Change the window title to something other than 'Dashboard', and add a favicon. - Give me a way to get my data out. Dropbox syncing would be great - a folder for each category, and sync .md files into the folders. (Two way syncing would be even better)
- cad 11y agoFront page is not behind ssl and you can sign up from there. It's easy to change form action target to a malicious url with a simple mitm attack.
- johnmaguire2013 11y agoI like this. Critiques / suggestions: * Esc should close a modal (hit "+", then hit Esc) * On that note, more keyboard shortcuts would be great * #hashtags should be recognized and linked in notes, or some other way of easily linking concepts together should be available
- cad 11y agoa favicon would be nice. It's easier to locate the tab that way especially when it's pinned. (firefox users)
- fiatjaf 11y agoAnother "write your text here" and nothing more app. I'm not questioning the usefulness of this, but why do we have so many simple apps like these? People writing code to do the same thing over and over again, aren't you bored?
- detaro 11y agoBecause people have slightly differing taste and opinion about how such an app should work and what it should look like. And because it has a relatively clear scope, many people actually build them.
- cad 11y agoevernote kind of apps don't work. Except Google Keep. Keep kinda works.
- stephenson 11y agoThe only problem is that Google dont keep services alive.
- thefox 11y agoWhat warrant us that Faqt.co is still alive next week? Nothing. Every service on the Internet can be shut down. Google services are as long online as Google profit from them.
- stephenson 11y agoFaqt.co could as well yes, but google has quit a history of closing down small services. > Google services are as long online as Google profit from How do the profit from Keep?
- icebraining 11y agoFaqt.co could as well yes, but google has quit a history of closing down small services. After years of service, and with months of warning and a tool to export your data. Keep's predecessor (Notebook) lasted 6 years. Reader lasted 8. Orkut lasted 10. How many startups live for that long? How many don't suddenly shut down, leaving you stranded?
- cad 11y agoOk since nobody asked.. What is the tech stack behind?
- redcalx 11y agoI installed dokuwiki on a raspberry pi and forwarded port 80 through my router so I can access it from anywhere and send links to others. Oh and there's a dns entry setup using duckdns.org, which is free, although I did send them a small donation (in bitcoin!).
- geppetto 11y agoSame here: dokuwiki on a cubieboard and dynamic dns. Very pleased with that solution!
- FilterSweep 11y agoThis looks great but it's 100% a UI sell.
- listic 11y agoFor some reason, I have expected it to be installable on my own hardware, not SaaS. That's the kind of personal I am looking for right now.
- zsupalla 11y agosiavosh, this looks great - I think this would be super useful for a team (especially with slack integration), are you or will you be looking for beta testers for a corporate solution?
- siavosh 11y agoDefinitely, please send us your contact information: hello@faqt.co
- livid 11y agoDO NOT USE IT FOR ANYTHING IMPORTANT. It just can't save Unicode characters, anything Unicode will turn to question mark ???????? junk.
- siavosh 11y agoHi Livid, just sent you an email. Unicode is now supported, thanks again for pointing this out.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- 4684499 11y agoI don't know how you guys think of this, but putting personal stuff into the cloud, aka others' computer, without encryption is not looking so personal to me.
- mkramlich 11y agoor.. brain plus text notes (vi, git, dropbox/rsynch, etc.)
- hypersyntax 11y agoFor those looking for an opensource / self hosted alternative, for the past year i've been using MarkdownPages. https://github.com/unicate/markdownpages https://github.com/unicate/markdownpages Backend is just a folder full of markdown files and has search as well. See http://unicate.ch/markdownpages http://unicate.ch/markdownpages Password: demo
- johnmaguire2013 11y agoI like this. Critiques / suggestions: * Esc should close a modal (hit "+", then hit Esc) * On that note, more keyboard shortcuts would be great * #hashtags should be recognized and linked in notes, or some other way of easily linking concepts together should be available
- weaksauce 11y agofor those interested in an even more lightweight version of this and have zsh open all the time, I wrote a small zsh function that has proven to be invaluable. basically all you do is type mm <tab> and then it lists all your files inside the personal "man" folder inside your home directory. basically ~/man/manpages/filename and you can create files easily that was too. by just typing `mm newfilename` and it will open up vi to that new file. no server at all and it works just dandy for notes and the like. https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b751aee935dd7892e049 https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b751aee935dd7892e049 edit: you could probably make it a git directory and have a daemon watching that folder for changes and when changes happen you could have it commit that. just a thought.
- weaksauce 11y agoI can't edit it anymore but you need to edit your .zshrc file and put that in there. It's probably pretty basic but I thought I should say it. also, this is a good script to show as a template if you wanted to add your own basic tab completion to zsh.
- jchampem 11y agoI'm developing a small tool that covers the same use case. There is not as much features, but it's open source and self hosted. https://github.com/jchampemont/notedown https://github.com/jchampemont/notedown
- perfunctory 11y agoSo, given that it's free, what is the business model?
- ecthiender 11y agoHaven't people been doing this for a long time? Maintaining and categorizing their pieces of personal knowledge - in files? I personally don't understand, why such a tool need to exist. I thought humanity solved this problem the day we started to write down things. From stones, to papyrus, to personal diaries, and now to personal files on personal disks on personal laptops/desktops. I don't understand, why suddenly someone would want to put their personal knowledge base on someone else's database (the cloud - their servers - whatever)! Why is this even worth it? Just because you can render your knowledge pretty (with nice font, big and bold headers and images)?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- dmcswain 11y agoNice! And here's a speech interface that lets FAQT users load notes by voice command from Chrome, Android, or Android Wear. (Voice commands, like FAQT notes, can be shared.) https://goo.gl/1VwtE1 https://goo.gl/1VwtE1
- dmcswain 11y agoFAQT from a smartwatch: https://goo.gl/OBz6tA https://goo.gl/OBz6tA
- aagha 11y agoWhat's the benefit of this over something like Google Keep or Evernote? One thing I think could be interesting is if you let me own my data; not in A ToS, but actually let me host my data: Either in my own MySQL instance or Google Drive/Dropbox[0]. [0]Yes, I understand that with a service like Drive/Dropbox I don't own my data.