TheFridge network for Y Combinator Winter 2011 Applicants | Hacker News Reader

TheFridge network for Y Combinator Winter 2011 Applicants

frid.ge

20 pointsdzlobin6 comments

It's not 100% clear what TheFridge is to me, and I would prefer not to create an account up front unless I have a better understanding of the services it provides and the purpose of this YC "fridge".

How does this differ from the Hacker News Facebook group? And what value does a fridge provide over a group?

On the home page, it says "Just for your friends". Facebook is just for my friends. Sure, I have some people that I no longer keep in touch with, but I would not post anything on FB that I wouldn't feel comfortable with whether they are my closest friends or not. Putting content online is like peeing in a pool, once you let it out there you can't take it back.

"Safe from my mom and boss." I block content from co-workers and family members using Facebook's privacy controls.

"Share photos, videos, and status updates only with your friends." I do this with Facebook already.

Also, I don't understand what "Keeping your friends fresher" means. Doesn't really explain the service.

I tried parsing every part of the homepage to understand why I should create an account. Maybe I'm just not in the target market. Is this targeted for people that don't have Facebook? I'm sure there is some value to this service, but it might be good to put a video demo somewhere.

The Fridge is Not Facebook. That's really all it is. A bunch of people distrust Facebook or don't know how to use the privacy settings on it, and those people can hang out in the Fridge.

What purpose the YC "fridge" serves beats me too. I do, however, find the service useful. And I think "Simple Private Social Networks" says it all: it tells me that I can communicate with a specific group through an interface similar to that of FB, but keep it private.

Sure, you can add settings that make you 100 % certain that no photos you upload will ever be seen by anyone outside a specific group of people (can you, really?). Are you certain that other members of the same group will "behave"? Encapsulating it in a "fridge" gives me some level of comfort. And you can use the full FB feature set with a limited audience. You can also communicate with a group, but not add everyone in the group as a friend on FB.

For me it's simple, I like to keep Facebook strictly for personal life. I think this fills a niche for "ad hoc" social networks where you don't want to reveal too much about yourself.

I don't mean to be cynical, but when I go to that site and see the blue color scheme with that logo, I start imagining cold, frigid, freezing, wintry...

It's just not the feelings that make me want to sign up and share memories with friends.

Hopefully I'm more of an outlier though, because competition for Facebook would be great.

This web app is seriously awesome. I already see myself creating ad hoc social networks for all kinds of events. (first time I try it out, no affiliation)

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