Spacehey: A Space for Friends | Hacker News Reader

Spacehey: A Space for Friends

spacehey.com

56 pointstype015 comments

When trying to view a profile, I've been redirected to an interstitial page with this text:

> Please note that all Users on SpaceHey have full control over their Profiles and they are able to embed content from 3rd-party Servers. This means that in addition to the SpaceHey privacy policy, you are bound by the privacy policy of any third party content provider that the user may have embedded in their profile. By proceeding, you acknowledge this fact.

I appreciate the warning. At the same time I'm not comfortable accepting a privacy policy without being able to read it. It feels as if there should be another way to approach this.

You're not accepting the terms you can't see though, just acknowledging that you may need to on pages with user-generated content - the point is they don't know either.

Hi there! An - the creator of SpaceHey - here! Anyone on SpaceHey can customize their Profile with custom CSS & HTML Code. They can also embed content from a few whitelisted sites via iframe embeds - such as YouTube videos, Spotify songs or Soundcloud players. Because they can embed such content from 3rd-party providers (like youtube/spotify/...) those 3rd-party privacy policies come into effect too when visiting said profile (additionally to the SpaceHey privacy policy, which is always available). I don't know what content the users may embed - That's why I show this disclaimer the first time someone visits a Profile so they don't blindly visit a profile and wonder why data is loaded from youtube.com (or another embed provider). Do you have any ideas how I could make this better/more clear? I'd appreciate your input!

Hi An! I'm just a regular SpaceHey user, not someone with a tech background, but this explanation is much clearer than the disclaimer that comes up. Maybe word it like how you've explained it here instead of with tech/legal terms? Like it could say something with personality or sass, like: You're still on SpaceHey, but everyone is free to add elements from other sites (such as YouTube/ Spotify/...) so don't be surprised if you see content from a 3rd party. If you want to see the full privacy policy, click here, or if you want to see the whitelist of websites, click here.

I mean maybe not exactly that, but fake like you're talking to someone without a tech background. Maybe even show it to a friend or family member that doesn't so you can see if they actually understand what you mean and there's no confusion.

The best solution would be to detect which of the whitelisted sites have been embedded in the page and show appropriate links. You have a whitelist so effort would not be as much as if it was open for anyone

Or just remove the interstitial. We devs are seldom also lawyers, and we should treat the user with a sense of personal agency. Out of every person I've ever met, I'm the only person who reads contracts such as EULAs and PPs. That means that in my anecdotal pool of people I've met so far, I'd estimate the majority of everyone else does not benefit from these warnings. It is performative and has no function.

Isn't it wrong to say that you, as user, are bound by their privacy policy. That would be something the site itself is bound by.

Correct. Privacy policies constrict the rights of the site posting the policies. They never expand those rights.

I hope the Users have their consent form ducks neatly in a row.

Yeah that brings back memories. Great initiative!

There’s gotta be a better way to approach this than by showing an interstitial before showing a profile. It gives people an easy reason to not engage with your site.

Good old MySpace.

If you're curious and want to see a profile on SpaceHey, here's mine:

https://spacehey.com/benovermyer

Did you put your screen on an angle? haha

Anyway, hows your experience on Spacehey?

So cool!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com