Second day impressions
Hey there, it's been 24 hours since I've been fiddling with this website, I have to admit I wasn't expecting myself to want to write this, but now I do, so here it goes.
The good:
- the interface is amazing - it really looks nice and slick; this has never been a decisive argument for me, but now that I've used this for quite some time, it truly is enjoyable;
- the community is extremely friendly; ever since I created my account I was greeted by /u/Splitfish, who stalked me back after apparently the system had me stalk him automatically (interesting mechanic, I have to admit);
- really enjoying how there isn't a clear separation between tribes, you can post the same link in several tribes at once;
- the leveling system is motivating me to post things; I enjoy how it feels when I get the message about the new level privileges;
The worrisome:
- I haven't heard any word from the admins; and I KNOW I don't have to worry about it, but being as paranoid as I am, I am afraid that they might choose to abandon this site once traffic really becomes an issue and they realize that turning it into profit becomes excessively difficult (I remember that is the problem that Reddit had a few years back);
- this has more to do with me being stupid, I think: I am not sure what the home tab is supposed to show me (I think it's comments from users I've followed and some random articles);
Some issues I have encountered:
This is where I'd be more tempted to post some things that have been bothering me generally since I've been on the site:
- I do not receive any notification for comment replies (I have to constantly click on the news feed to see who replies to my comments);
- the picture display is a bit of a mess - example;
- I cannot change the type of content once I post (this has caused me to have several articles posted as "unspecified") - not sure how relevant it is, but I guess it's pretty troublesome.
More of the good:
- people are starting to actively participate on the site; I had been mostly lurking on Reddit, but the community here is really making me want to get involved, I hope to see more of this, in order to help this place grow, we really need to contribute with opinions where we know we can add something to the conversation.
Sorry about the wall of text! Have a great day ahead.
9 years ago by bogdan
with
26 comments
Join the Discussion
Hi /u/bogdan, I read through your feedback and would just like to say that it's a pleasure having you join our little community!
Assurances:
I assure you, and I speak for everyone on the team that we are on here a lot more than we care to admit (I know, I'm horrible for just lurking). We actually spend countless hours coming up with solutions to our self inflicted screwups, but we also streamline functionality and are always working to improve our interface design. We have been working at this for just over 3 years and can say with absolute certainty that Snapzu is our passion, really, we just meet up and work on making this place better, and then get drunk afterwards, and sometimes chat about how awesome it would be to see this place do really well. Well maybe not drunk, maybe buzzed, a slight buzz, I mean just enough to sit back, relax and dream a little.... oh who am I kidding, we drink like fish, but on the weekends!
There is no way in hell we are going to shutter this place because we feel its not making a profit. We might put up a way for people to contribute in splitting the hosting/dev bill but we aren't really interested in selling out for some crappy advertising money. Really though, Snapzu has been online since 2012, and during this time we have not put up a single ad, so we hope this says something about our intentions.
Bugs
Yep, we screwed up (how embarrassing)! You listed a few issues that we are looking to resolve in our next release. We hope you stick around for that, as there are some great things coming along with the bug fixes! I also want to point out that if you do experience a bug please email John at support @ snapzu .com and give a detailed encounter, we will make every effort to get back to you within 24 hours!
Really Bogdan, we appreciate such great feedback and thanks for taking the time to play that wonderful geekstrument!
This is more of an amazing reply than I'd ever hoped to read. I'm sold!
Same here. People with real jobs who want to do the right thing.
That's great to hear. I just joined and already absolutely love it here.
Open, mature, and honest reply. Having been about a little it's rare to see such a reply, I am sold as well.
Is there a tribe for discussion of bugs, feature requests, ideas etc.? I've found (and subscribed to) /t/snapzu, but I'm not sure if that's the right place.
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Just wait till you get a taste of that sweet sweet VC money... we'll see what you say then. Whatsapp and their 50 employees got bought for 19 billion... I'd sell out in a heart beat for a piece of that.
No need to be sorry it's a honest piece of feedback. I myself kinda miss comment notifications maybe it's something that can be included in the next release if more people want it (heck there could be a way todo it that i haven't discovered yet)
I get comment notifications, they slide down from the top bar (the square icon with 3 vertical lines)
Dooooooohhh if it's white there's a notification and just pressing it shows all of them. I feel stupid now
Sometimes I've had it not show white. It's strange, I figured out how it worked fairly fast, but then it broke the rules that I made up for how it was working. Either it updates to white and doesn't follow through when clicking to another page.
I have the same gripe about the snap type being unchangeable as well. I can live with it like that but sometimes you just forget.
It's the only thing you can't change in a snap once you've published it. Find a better source? Change the main link. Error in the headline? Fix that, no extra charge. Snap type, though, that you've got to get right the first time.
Never be sorry about feedback :). Feedback is what will make this site better. I'll go through and comment on some of your feedback. The good: - I love the interface as well. Some people get turned off by the information overload (which is why I think at signup there should be the option of a "Snapzu Lite" type skin). It really gets better the more you use it to because you see new features that make the site better. - I'm glad you like the community. Its what made me stay at first.
The worrisome: - The admins are there, don't worry. They are similar to the reddit admins in that they are sort of hands off unless there is a dire need in the community. But they are there, and you can PM them at /u/teamsnapzu if you have concerns or anything. - Home tab is your feed of content from the people you are following (snapzu automatically had you follow people). If you click on peoples profiles and click follow, then their posts will show up there (as well as your own).
Issues: -That is strange about comment replies notifications. You are clicking on your notification history (to the left of the magnifying glass), not your home page, right? -Yaaa, the image display could use some improving. -Hmmm, never forgoten to tag (at least that I remember). Definitely something to talk to the admins about.
/u/picklefingers you're the man. Period.
Thanks :). I'm just trying to help out where I can.
One small thing I noticed:
As seen here, there are two snaps that I posted. One is from 4 minutes ago, and one is from 3 months ago.
Might be good to better differentiate between the two, haha.
Oh ya, I was just thinking about that today when I looked at /t/newtribes. I was thinking, "oh, this is really active. 2 minutes ago?". NOPE
Yes, this is blush worthy. It will be fixed shortly, I promise!
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Would like to add to your feedback since people seem to be reading this thread
* please put a much more prominent contact us button on the page. It took me way too long to figure out who to send bug reports too.
* I know you guys will have a mobile app soon but please fix rendering on iPhone safari. Everything is so small and I have to slide this page around to get stuff in view.
* Publish an api!!!
Spent some time poking around your js code last night.
* your littering the global namespace with all your function declarations. It's considered a bad practice due to possibility of collisions. Put everything under a single global object.
* 99% of your ui code is Dom building in jquery. This isn't going to scale as you build more features. Pick a modern js framework. Angular. React. Jsblocks. Etc etc. I promise you future you is going to regret all these jquery calls.