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Haha, nothing to stop the junk except the "Next" button. Maybe some auto-rating based on time spent in a pairing session? Assumption being longer sessions mean useful work is getting done, but quick skips mean some doofus was showing his junk.

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I'm thinking something a little less random might serve this idea better. Perhaps more or less like a room, where you could see multiple people all at once. Could make public or private rooms. I'd also almost say don't even allow web cam, just strictly desktop streaming. But, I could also see how seeing faces could be helpful, too. Perhaps it could have Picture-in-Picture, and you could swap between your desktop or you face being big, and the other being small in the corner. Some tutorial videos do this - it has their desktop with their face in the bottom right.

I just don't think much would get done if you were just on there finding people that may or may not have anything in common.

Yeah, it wouldn't be totally random. You'd profile yourself for what you know already, and for each project you ask for a pair on, what you want help with. Then you rate people on how well they helped you.

I think the face vs. desktop thing should be A/B tested. It could go either way.

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