Definitely not a new idea—I remember something like this running through the dorms in 2000. Still, it's a good example of using the existing notoriety to pivot and the Facebook integration is certainly something we didn't have back then. In any event, good luck!
Yeah, be careful though. I remember an app like this on LiveJournal that went wild. Then they came back and told people they could buy the list of all the people who have a crush on them for something like $5. Lots of embarrassment ensued.
You get crushed. Now you crush everyone you know of the opposite gender to figure out who it was. You then email the person who crushed you. But she only crushed you to figure out who crushed her...
Maybe they crush on everybody (or only make/stay friends with people they have a crush on), but know that it's socially unacceptable to just admit that. There should really just be a "I'll take anybody" flag in the preferences.
To what extent are people warned about this? If there's not a symmetric restriction on adding - or at least a prominent warning in the interface for adding - I imagine a lot of people might not realize this strategy has problems until they stick themselves with it...
I'm really reluctant to bash someone else's project, and I think Breakup Notifier and its developer are AWESOME, seriously.
But I'm a little surprised that you pivoted from an original and successful idea to an unoriginal and derivative idea.
I must have seen half a dozen Facebook-powered crush sites like this, several of them on HN as a "review my startup". None have taken off. What's to stop me from crushing on everyone just to see who likes me?
Isn't the anonymous crush site sort of like the to do list app that every developer thinks they can improve on?
Perhaps a pivot to a straight up dating site/monetizing with dating ads might have made more sense.
People only get two free crushes then they have to pay. My guess is there are some kinds of crush caps as well.
There were sites before BreakUpNotifier that alerted you when relationship statuses changed, some that are still going. Just like there are a ton of dating sites, probably a lot more than the anonymous crush sites.
Will be interesting to see what happens. This definitely has legs given the following BreakUpNotifier created.
What's the problem? Most of the difference between success and failure is marketing. This is a great way to take advantage of the momentum of his previous application.
But I'm a little surprised that you pivoted from an original and successful idea to an unoriginal and derivative idea.
Your priorities are not aligned with the developer's, me feels. You are worried about being "original" and not derivative--both only tangently related to financial success, which is what the creator seems to be after(and good for him!).
It seems like the developer just gave up. I would have collected everyones email and told them that they will be notified when everything is fixed, or just have created the same service under a different name to challenge facebook to shut it down again.
Exactly. Foursquare was hardly the first service of its kind. I think most would agree this is potentially a great idea, but it's never caught on.
Why not? I'd bet one major reason is that almost nobody has even heard of the previous efforts. You've got to get the specifics right, and you've got to establish it as a popular thing to do. Then lots of fun may ensue.
Argh, I didn't really like to see the "Here's my new app" at 4/5 of the article. I understand that opportunist people like to leverage situations.. but I don't like the fact that this article has been ranked first on hacker news. I mean, the first reason I go on HN is because of the "Smart Filter". More precisely, I have trust in HN users that only good articles are shown. (Like I try to only upvote good articles thinking that other HN will like them). I'm disappointed.
There was a series of these back before facebook, and >50% ( I would guess somewhere in the 90+ range) were just traps that sent a list of your crushes to whoever set it up.
Isn't the first thing that happens that the person who someone has a crush on gets a request by the application "crush notifier" that it wants access? And isn't the second thing that happens nothing, because the person doesn't give access to the semi-creepy app? (I've got ten other apps wanting access already...)
You could always set this up for its current purpose then use the information to power the other to bring it back from the read. If you don't mind breaking their terms of service at any rate.
They had the exact same thing on a social networking site called 'orkut.com'. It's surprisingly owned by google, and I mean 'surprisingly' because that site belongs with the scum of the internet. Anyhoo, this idea is not at all original...
This is different "You can use nChooseTwo to anonymously suggest matches, and to see matches your friends have suggested for you!" You match potential couples on that, versus on http://crushnotifier.com you pick YOUR crushes. Both are good concepts.
I'm not sure if you accepted Facebook credits in your previous app, but if so I'm guessing this could be one of the reasons Facebook banned you - from what I rememeber of the credits API page, you're only allowed to use them on canvas applications, not ones that use Facebook connect.
52 comments
[ 5.7 ms ] story [ 92.5 ms ] threadYou get crushed. Now you crush everyone you know of the opposite gender to figure out who it was. You then email the person who crushed you. But she only crushed you to figure out who crushed her...
But I had something to add. A higher credit value will make people crush only (mostly?) on real crushes. Oh but this applies only to poor people :D.
But I'm a little surprised that you pivoted from an original and successful idea to an unoriginal and derivative idea.
I must have seen half a dozen Facebook-powered crush sites like this, several of them on HN as a "review my startup". None have taken off. What's to stop me from crushing on everyone just to see who likes me?
Isn't the anonymous crush site sort of like the to do list app that every developer thinks they can improve on?
Perhaps a pivot to a straight up dating site/monetizing with dating ads might have made more sense.
There were sites before BreakUpNotifier that alerted you when relationship statuses changed, some that are still going. Just like there are a ton of dating sites, probably a lot more than the anonymous crush sites.
Will be interesting to see what happens. This definitely has legs given the following BreakUpNotifier created.
But I'm a little surprised that you pivoted from an original and successful idea to an unoriginal and derivative idea.
Your priorities are not aligned with the developer's, me feels. You are worried about being "original" and not derivative--both only tangently related to financial success, which is what the creator seems to be after(and good for him!).
Why not? I'd bet one major reason is that almost nobody has even heard of the previous efforts. You've got to get the specifics right, and you've got to establish it as a popular thing to do. Then lots of fun may ensue.
The idea is, if someone really cares, the other party should be ok with them paying to find out.
Give the user 3 free guesses as to who may have a crush on them. Then ask them to buy credits for additional guesses ;)
When I tried this, we had users taking hundreds of guesses. We were trying in Thailand so implementing the whole payment/credits system was too much.
http://nchoosetwo.com