Show HN: I made a chat roulette for remote workers
remoteroulette.com
remoteroulette.com
1. This is a really neat idea. I love the creativity.
2. But for $5 you're not giving me a whole lot more than what I can get for myself on Reddit, HN, Social Media. What do I get exactly that I can't get by just asking on social media?
3. Call me wrong, I'm not actually sure how I feel on this. But it kind of slightly maybe smells like profiteering. Do you really need $5 per person? Does the price really need to go up if I don't act fast? (I'm anxious enough, thank you) Maybe make it free and ask for server donations?
4. The two bios on the front page feel so fakey fake fake that it turns me right off the service. Maybe that's just me.
5. I really _do not_ want to discourage you. I really hope this feedback is constructive enough.
I do like the idea, but I feel that a Discord chat with separate rooms where multiple people can hang out and find eachother again would be cheaper and more useful.
Edit: Actually, if someone feels like setting one up, just ping or reply here. I'd love to join and talk to all sorts of devs from all over who are remoting. My best coworker just had his last day today so doubly interesting personally.
Just created a brand new empty one, i'm setting it up, join whenever whoever
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22426063
At least the other sites have scheduling systems and calendars. This is literally paying someone 5$ to have a guy send you someone else's email address.
Unlike Chat Roulette, there's a financial consequence for getting banned and you would need to pay for a new account.
Based on what? I assumed they were real users because there was no indication otherwise. This is why we have words like "actor portrayal" displayed at the bottom of our screens when a person makes a claim about using a product and it's actually just a person reading a script.
Edit: And, of course, it's also a typical way we often talk about generic scenarios outside of advertising. Alice and Bob are not real people trying to establish secure communications. There is no specific Johnny who can't read, etc.
Money makes for an interesting barrier. For example, SomethingAwful charged $10 to sign-up and it basically weeded out all the trash and spam.
You could have a tier system. E.g. $5 for general meetings and $100 tier to talk to whatever person will pay $100 for this.
Not even sure how I feel about a free tier, but even a $0.01 fee paid in crypto would instantly transform the type of people you might encounter on the service.
He's literally just sending you e-mail addresses and expecting you to figure it out from there.
If it’s a barrier to entry against creeps, it’s got to be higher. Maybe a deposit of some kind?
Also - since you made the bizarre choice to directly reference it below the “50% off till Monday” tag - it’s coronavirus or COVID-19, not corona virus.
If they just put this sentence on their homepage the reaction on this thread would be totally different.
for anyone that wants something distantly close to this, but baked into slack.
Not mine; I'm just familiar with it from past employers.
Edit: Just found the homepage mock. "A first-of-its-kind virtual water cooler for freelancers and solopreneurs." It was invite only, too. At least at the start.
> scheduled them video chats
Does a service exist where you can programmatically schedule a video-chat/meeting for two parties?
I see more revenue opportunity for advertising, partnerships, and affiliate relationships than a flat membership fee.
You can have a premiere membership that has special features like improved vetting and ability to refine matching specifications, after a person ends up liking it, and it’s usage becomes routine. You should give users the opportunity to try, because again, its a novel assumption.
For the free tier, the 728X90 leaderboard above the chat screen would be highly valuable real estate.
Honestly, just having a Zoom call going for the entire day, with different breakout rooms and multi-person screenshare, would go a long way towards companionship. You don't even need your own platform! $15 / mo. for 100 people for a 24 hour long session :D
If it's something like that, and you have DevOps and Full-stack people signed up, and we can switch breakout rooms by host request, I think I'd sign up!
Instead we have a down-to-earth simple subscription to a centralized list of email addresses and an automatic pairing service. For 5$. What have become of our dreams...
Just kidding. I wish you success but I personally won't pay 5$ for this, even if it's my first time working from home too.
The point of stuff like what this thread is about is mostly silent companionship to help focus on a work-related task.
Engaging in active discussion, you're never going to get any work done that way.
I've been working remotely since July and honestly, the lack of social contact gets old fast.
I think there could be a demographic for this tool, but I'd wager not a lot of work will be done while connected to it.
https://likewise.am/2018/12/01/seven-tough-lessons-from-ten-...
https://likewise.am/2017/05/19/in-response-to-the-cult-of-re...
Edit: the point isn’t to promote my blog posts, it’s to say that I’m glad this aspect of remote work is finally being recognised in various ways — some good, some bad, but above all else, recognised.
It's not about meeting new people, in fact, socializing is discouraged, but it is about real people helping each other by just being there.
Some questions:
1. Is the price $5 for life? Or is that monthly fee?
2. Do you get to switch buddies if it doesn't work out?
Also, I enjoyed your interview on the IH Podcast.
You're awesome Pete!
lol. You're collecting PII but not stating uses, identity of the controller, nothing. Nope.