Post short messages to people nearby (anonymously). | Hacker News Reader

Post short messages to people nearby (anonymously).

minipost.me

25 pointsjohnrob32 comments

Tossing this prototype out there to see if people find it useful.

Firefox asked me to share my location and then I got this in the browser:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/home/johnrob/server/tornado/web.py", line 988, in _execute getattr(self, self.request.method.lower())(args, *kwargs) File "chat.py", line 30, in get self.do_get() File "chat.py", line 47, in do_get address = placefinder.lat_lon_to_zip(lat, lon) File "/home/johnrob/server/placefinder.py", line 20, in lat_lon_to_zip raise Exception("error looking up address for lat-lon: %s,%s" % (str(lat), str(lon))) Exception: error looking up address for lat-lon: 43.6525,-79.381667

Thanks for the stacktrace. Using yahoo for geocoding... need to investigate.

What I really want is to drop a message anywhere (long&lat). Anyone who ever comes to that location, or close to it, can read it. I can drop a message for the next guy who will come to my house, or the next gal about to hike this trail... Get it? ... Edit: Forgot to say, Awesome :).

Click the change link on the top right - you can put any address. Thanks!

There's an app for that. It's called Dropp

Tossing this prototype out there to see if people find it useful. Feedback appreciated!

For me the utility of something like this would be based around flirting... with that said, I think it has a lot of potential.

Entering a faulty address manually throws:

  Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/johnrob/server/tornado/web.py", line 988, in _execute
    getattr(self, self.request.method.lower())(*args, **kwargs)
  File "chat.py", line 33, in post
    self.do_post()
  File "chat.py", line 104, in do_post
    lat, lon, zip = placefinder.address_to_lat_lon(address)
  File "/home/johnrob/server/placefinder.py", line 9, in address_to_lat_lon
    lat = dom.getElementsByTagName('latitude')[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue
  IndexError: list index out of range

GeoIP would be a nice addition for browsers that don't share the location.

Needs a better error page. IP location is an obvious addition as well.

I had this same idea but was way too lazy to implement it. Well done. :-)

How hard are the borders of each locality? For example, if I exchange messages with someone a few miles away, a third party might only be able to see half the conversation if they're too far from one of us.

Or is it like a thousand chatrooms, and if I travel a short distance then I suddenly flip to a new chatroom?

In theory, each user could see a different set of posts. The posts are sorted by proximity to you. So, there are no locality borders (actually there may be some due to implementation details, but it's no the intention).

Sorted by proximity, that's interesting. That seems like it would make it very hard to follow/have a conversation or post a reply to any other post.

I always thought something like this would be good for answering questions like "hey there's lots of cars here, what are they all here for?". But even for that, I would have thought time was a more accurate indicator of relevance than (approximate) location.

How long do the posts last? I think it could become an interesting repository of local knowledge. Probably should have a voting system so best content goes to the top.

Not sure yet. Right now they last forever, although newer stuff will eventually supplant older stuff (and there's no way to 'see older posts' yet).

Also a search feature would be handy if there were enough posts in a given location.

Have you thought about touching up the UI? Seems like a more refined aesthetic might attract more repeat visits... PM if you are interested in help.

Definitely a todo item in the near term. Will let you know.

it's funny - a few people are opting to state their general area (Union Sqaure, Richmond, Downtown Brooklyn). And it seems like the most responses are from posts that are location-specific.

I know you're leaving it open ended - but if the general area is generating responses - maybe it could be included with the time stamp? "2 minutes ago, Union Square"

That's a very good idea. It would be nice to have some sense of where a post came from.

" Exception: error looking up address for lat-lon: 54.xxxxxx,24.xxxxxx"

Also, have you seen Squarechan? Does pretty much the same thing :-)

Wow, that is very similar! Will check that out later on.

These forms are open to injection. Not sanitized at all. Even for a prototype this is not good practice.

working on that... thanks.

Enter should press 'reply'. I love it, although my chat partner does not seem too interested in me =[.

I can easily fix issue 1 ;) Thanks!

Cool. I wanted to do something just like this, except the messages would decay over time.

wow it is so buggy, messages disappear, if you enter your adress manually it doesn't work, sometimes a <br> appears from nowhere in clear.

I like the idea though.

It thinks Beverly Hills, 90210 is near North Bay (SF).

Hmmm, your browser may not be finding your location properly. You can type in an address manually using the 'change' link in the upper right.

That was with manual entry (http://i.imgur.com/4gI5b.jpg). Several LA area zip codes seem to resolve to the North Bay - 90025, 90404.

What is the definition of "nearby"?

As far as a few miles away.

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