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I don't feel a "dark aura", but I do feel this story is irrelevant to your product's marketing page. I'd put this story away (maybe in a blog post) from newcomers who only want to figure out what's the app can do for them, not for you.

I agree, I think the story definitely belongs in a blog post. It's a good story, and you're building the company for a good cause, but it's not what you should put on your front page.

+1. I also feel this should belong to a blog post about the creator(s)/behind the scenes than on the front page showcasing your work. It looks like asking for sympathy votes that way.

I feel this way. It feels exploitative to me. This would fit better as a blog post after the product has gained a user base. It is definitely less likely to make me want to use it.

Hey, I don't disagree that it's important. But a first impression is a delicate time. I mean, I assume that's not the story you lead with when you meet someone socially, say in a bar. That isn't the worst model to use here. Get too serious too fast and you're liable to put some people off, is all I'm saying.

On the other hand, I'm too old and not well enough socially connected to be your likely target market, and it's been a hell of a long day. I could be making more of this than it merits; take it for whatever you find it to be worth.

Yeah. It's an important story and message, but it's not something you want on the homepage. That should be at least one more click deep. That should be its own page, maybe linked in the FAQ or something. I wouldn't have said "dark aura" but I'm struggling to come up with a better description.

How about association of the app's signifiers, especially the logo, with unpleasant emotional overtones? It's harder than necessary to reach most markets when you've inadvertently tied your brand to thoughts of sexual abuse and slavery. That seems like something you don't want to risk doing until potential and actual users have had time to build positive associations of their own first.

It might be creating a suggestion that will limit how people use the social network. Like, before reading the story someone might have thought it would be a good place to stream audio updates on concerts and parties happening around their city, but after reading they might feel that posting something lighthearted would be out of place or inappropriate. Definitely share the story, but consider how putting it on the home page will influence the type of content that people will create.

completely agree. I had the same reaction.

Honestly, it was a bit jarring to read a comic portraying you as some kind of 'anti-rape hero' at the bottom of a page about a weird app.

You didn't even tell us what happened to your friend! It seemed like you were just using her story to aggrandize yourself. What happened to her? How would she feel if she read this comic? Is she getting a slice of this pie too?

It just seemed kind of exploitative and in comic form...

It's also a very weird narrative.

If he is really so passionate about fighting sex trafficking, he should be building something that solves that problem, not just another social networking app and using that story to get attention.

I finished reading the cartoon and was like "wtf did i just read?" It felt like one of those viagra ad spam schemes you find in various comment sections on the internet where the commenter starts out writing something that sounds very relevant to the story, and in the end somehow segues the narrative into "buy viagra and cialis here https://blahblah"

She is doing well and gave me permission to share her story and this comic.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm definitely taking everything into consideration as far as where that comic should go

It's an app, not a charity. That back story certainly doesn't make me want to try the app.

I feel this way too, I would just remove this story or replace it with how you got the idea of making this app

I don't connect the "darkness" of the story to the app, no. I do agree that it is not a typical place to put a story like this, and I wonder how the friend feels about having what happened to her used in "your" story of starting a business. Can't really shake the feeling, because of its location, that the story is there to get me to try the app, which seems shifty. Worked, though, and I'm glad I read it since I wasn't aware of the charity.

My friend gave me full permission to use this story, but after seeing all of the feedback, I'm thinking of putting it into an FAQ.

Would you consider that a good spot for it?

Is the question frequently asked? Unless it is, which seems uncertain, I'd suggest it might be better placed on an "About Us" page, as others here have suggested, with the FAQ reserved for questions more directly relevant to users of the app.

It's tricky, after I googled you and your other projects like 7DollarYear I understand a bit more about why you have this up front.

But I agree with other commenters that bringing up this whole story on a page that is normally reserved to try and sell your product feels a bit exploitative, takes us through a dark emotional journey and we don't even learn about the end of your friend's story (so she feels like a prop)

Why not keep this in an "about us" page that explains more about the philanthropic model behind the company? For example, Salesforce.com follows the 1/1/1 model and Marc is super committed to giving being ingrained in the company culture. But you would never know by looking at their frontpage, you have to dig deeper into it to find out [0]

[0]: http://www.salesforce.org/pledge-1/

An About Us page is a great idea! Thanks! I'm thinking either that or an FAQ answering some of the questions we've gotten through Hacker News.

Also, I feel very exposed now that you know about the 7DollarYear :P

I just think it was ridiculous. "I want to be a tech billionare so I can help sexual abuse victims! Give me your money!".

I first saw this after you switched the default. My initial reaction was very positive, then the other page took something away from it.

For me I think it's a case of intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. The first page sounded like you were doing the app because it was a cool idea that will make people's lives better so you wanted to see it turn real. That's easy to get on board with.

Then the second page says "and I'm doing it all because I want to make a lot of money." Which you plan to use for a great purpose, but it still makes the app itself less appealing, because it emphasizes that you're not doing the app for its own sake.

The story is a good one, I just think you should link it less prominently and frame it as "x% of profits go to X and here's why," rather than "here's why I built the app."

If there's no legal framework enforcing the donations, I'd keep it very unobtrusive for now, so it doesn't seem like you're using an unenforceable promise as a selling point. Later you'll have a donation history you can talk about.

This is great feedback, thanks! I'm thinking of putting it into an FAQ page, would that work for you?

My worry is that if I put it into a blog post, eventually no one will see it due to the short term nature of blog post discovery.

That seems all right. Possibly the "about us" idea is even better.

A agree with it.

I think a more subtle way to go about this would be to say:

> We donate x% of our profits to Exodus Road. To find out more about who they are, and what this means to us, click HERE