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Rate my Startup: Uzvy.com (grouping reloaded)

22 points by metastart ↗ HN
Hi Everyone.

The goal of Uzvy is to be an integrated, super-easy way to create groups (micro-communities) and manage all of them in a single page. Uzvy is essentially a tool for making private and public groups. We pitch Uzvy as being about interest networking--connecting with your specific interests.

We've found that the initial impression of our UI throws a lot of users off and is intimidating, but after about 10 minutes of using Uzvy many users "clicked" with it and enjoyed Uzvy'ing. (let us know what your experience/feelings are)

We'd love to hear all thoughts particularly how useful you find the service, how you'd use it, thoughts on the UI as it is, and any suggestions.

Thanks!! The Uzvy team!!

21 comments

[ 5.9 ms ] story [ 44.8 ms ] thread
wehriam
The design quality is poor. Aspects like the logo, compression artifacts in images, and alignment of main screens indicate work needs to be done.

The Uzvy groups did not seem to have information I am interested in.

The site stalled as I attempted to activate from email. (Following the http://www.uzvy.com/activate/XXXXXX link embedded in the email Uzvy sent.)

Given this experience, I don't find the service useful.

metastart
Sorry about the stalling...thanks for your comments.
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metastart
Sorry guys...we're on the mosso cloud and upgrading RAM immediately... scratch that--we got the RAM upgraded so it should work relatively smoothly! Sorry for the downtime.
jasonkester
Seriously? What kind of technology is behind this thing that a 3am PST HackerNewsing could bring it down? Even with the lowest spec cloud slice, no decently built web app should fold under a few thousand visitors.

My guess (from having various sites linked at the top of HN) is that you are seeing maybe 20 simultaneous visits right now. If it's having scaling problems with this light a load, that's a serious problem.

carbon8
"Seriously? What kind of technology is behind this thing that a 3am PST HackerNewsing could bring it down?"

Django, according to the about page.

techgiz
Design quality is pathetic !!! Although, I guess lot of hard-work must have gone in this, the end-result shows an amateurish attempt to try-and-do-something new. It takes a good 15/20 minutes to understand why I need a uzvy. Instant Gratification should be the key word while designing and developing sites like these. Plus, who has time to 'figure' out websites like Uvzy when I can get my needed service or information done seamlessly from other networking sites ?!!

I still wonder why the Uzvy team thinks its cool to write - "initial impression of our UI throws a lot of users off and is intimidating, but after about 10 minutes of using Uzvy many users "click" with it..."

When they should be treating this as a PROBLEM AREA !!!

metastart
Nice to see someone getting emotional outside of us.

We didn't think it was cool (actually mostly uncool) but were just relaying our observation to date. At this point, everything is up for potential change and thus a problem area to be honest until we get lots of users and activity so do share any thoughts, etc. on all aspects of the service. Thanks again!

jasonkester
No comment on the site itself, but this has to be the worst name for a startup I've seen this year. It's completely un-pronounceable, un-spellable, and un-rememberable.

I actually opened a new browser window, and attempted to type in your domain name immediately after reading it, and I still got it wrong.

Find a new name today.

movix
How many startups are frantically typing random 4 and five letter combinations into a domain name search box trying to come up with a name for their company? Without wishing to sound critical, that's exactly how this name looks, but I understand the problem.

Sometimes it works, but this one doesn't really. it's hard to pronounce, spell from memory and to even remember. I just looked on godaddy, and you can buy plenty of 4 and 5 letter domains, some of which are pretty cool for under $1000.

Your domain name is essentially your brand, no amount of cool features and nifty programming are get you around people not engaging with your brand. It's worth the investment to get something that works.

One other little thing is this - the red and yellow logo you have bottom right. I thought this was a Mac D logo at first glance and that immediately put me off, they own that colour combination and even without looking properly at the image, their brand is what's in my head. That's the power of branding for you. Obviously this is just a glance, but that's often all a visitor will give your site.

AnandKR
Looked decent. Although a little confusing, I think once you get used to it, one should be able to make most use of the website. UI probably could change. I somehow liked the name. Short and simple. Although not sure what it means. Atleast this website if far different than most of the other grouping website.
mattwdelong
I bet you will find your bounce rate considerably high. For me, if I can't find out the purpose of the website in the first 30 seconds, I am gone. I must admit I am not the most patient person I know, though I don't consider myself to be the most impatient person - somewhere around average.

My main concern would be the fact I don't see any viable uses?

tejus
I do like the name, but agree that the design could be a little better.
jawngee
Hmm.

Looks like a lot of hard work went into this. But all you've really done is put a web interface on a BBS, or implemented a poor version of USENET without the benefits and a few social thingies.

The design needs a do over.

The name is hard to pronounce, this hard to remember. The thing about names like vimeo, flickr, twitter is that they at least invoke a sense of what they are about. How did u get the name Uzvy? Oh ... Usenet.

Did you build this on top of NNTP?

metastart
No...we actually didn't...but interesting thought...does anyone still use NNTP??
zv
First page is actually good. It gives idea of what is your site about

What I didn't like is the name of site. Uzvy, uzvies, it just doesn't make sense.

Good thing is test console. Hate registering just to test out what site is about. Console really solves this.

Learning the user interface takes lots of time. You should take a look at usability.

Discussion board could have bigger font/spacing between lines, so it is easier to read on 30" monitor

When I read discussion board, I usually select the text I am reading. On your case it opens reply dialog.

Just my $0.02