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Show HN: Hoodsup, meet those you should meet (hoodsup.me)

15 points by ges ↗ HN
Hey HN,

I've been a long time HN reader and here is my first contribution.

Hoodsup.me is a chat-based matchmaking app built on top of your Facebook social graph. It matchmakes you with people who are geographically close to you and with whom you share common points. You can optionally activate your webcam to talk face-to-face with your partner. Think of it as a Sonar meets a genital-free Chatroulette.

I would love to get some feedback. It's only optimized for WebKit for now. No signup is required so just stop by and say hi! :)

Clickable link: <a href="http://hoodsup.me">http://hoodsup.me</a>

G

26 comments

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mrkmcknz
Alienated a lot of users with no Firefox compatibility.
chaosprophet
Second that. You might also want to change your wording on that message. I don't even know what your website does and it's already calling me 'not cool enough'? Sorry, that's an instant negative impact and I'd never return to your site. If you really want people to visit using a different browser, you should at the very least request them to do so politely.
ges
Yeah agree, just quickly drafted that message with no exterior feedback. Changing that. Thanks! :)
udp
What do you need that Firefox can't do? I get the same message in Opera.
ges
Nothing big, it's just a few css glitches I'm fixing
BobPalmer
Then you should have delayed, vs. alienating a huge section of the market (at least half, if you count FireFox, Opera, and IE9/10 together).

It would be one thing (and a lot easier to explain/understand) if it was because it's core functionality was based on a feature only implemented in Chrome - quite another if it is because the project simply is not finished.

ges
Yup agree. That's a side project so I took an extreme lean approach. But I'll definitely work on IE over the next days.
zalew
"Sorry, Hoodsup is not optimized for your browser yet. We're working hard to make it work soon. In the meantime, please use Chrome or Safari"

in the meantime, ctrl+W. bye.

nestlequ1k
I think for MVP sake it makes sense to make it work for people with modern browsers first. If it generates a passionate enough user base there, then they can put in the resources to make it compatible.

Sorry, webkit has won. Firefox and IE are slow, antiquated technologies. For an MVP product, it's just a waste of time to try to put in the dev effort to make things work across every browser. People who happen to be early adopters tend to be using Chrome exclusively (almost none use IE).

(i have no affiliation with Hoodsup)

mattdeboard
I dunno, from my kind of ignorant position, FF9 seems light years ahead of previous versions in terms of speed & UI. I actually switched from Chrom[e|ium] to FF a couple weeks ago and haven't regretted it.
aberkowitz
You're missing the point. The proper way to handle an allegedly unsupported browser is to degrade gracefully:

"I'm sorry, your browser may not be supported [Continue Anyway] [I'll Comeback Later]"

Otherwise, you permanently lose a lot of potentially users who have modern browsers.

sgdesign
Sorry, I'm not giving Facebook access to a site that hasn't even told me what it does…
mynegation
Works in mobile safari but does not work in UIWebView
BobPalmer
No Firefox... no IE9... No idea what it even does... Am I the only one getting tired of clicking ShowHN links to sites with no clear vision or at least some kind of descriptive teaser, and minimal compatibility with the browsers out there on the market in the name of MVP? More dissapointing that it's due to a few CSS gliches...

Advice: If you are intending to ride the initial wave of eyeballs from HN, best to get those kinds of kinks worked out first. I'm hard pressed to find an example of an idea where pushing it out unfinished justified the loss of initial traffic.

Like some other commentors, if I go to a site that will not grab my attention in two of the three browsers that I use in that initial click, I'm never going to go back to it again.

ges
Vision is here, product works great on WebKit and I'm working on cross-browser issues. It's a first iteration, the idea is just to get initial feedback for now and see what you guys enjoy and dislike about it. I should put together a proper landing page indeed. Thanks for the advice! :)
sdm
It should tell me what it does and why I want to open it in a supported browser. If your just going to block unsupported browsers, there is a lot friction to the user -- give them a reason to continue.
reledi
What about adding a random conversation starter? Maybe it's just me, but I've always found it awkward when a conversation is forced (i.e. two random people pushed into the same chat room, now talk).
ges
Agree, that's exactly the thing i found non engaging about chatroulette. That's why I put this Icebreak box to show you the common points you have with your partner.
mgkimsal
webcam doesn't work in chrome on osx. green light comes on for a bit, then goes away and I see "no activity". I 'allow'ed it via the flash popup, but it doesn't work.
ges
weird, i'm investigating on that
praxeologist
First thing you need is some sort of waiting room. I didn't have any time to even really add my name or anything and the same dude from Belgium keep coming up and then he uses the OMG! button and I close the window.
ges
Alright, just fixed the glitches and opened it for Firefox
true_religion
Out of curiosity, how hard was it to make that interactive tutorial? Did you make the arrows yourself?
ges
Just playing with different lightboxes and jquery. The arrows are images I hide/show.