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Comment by Sumaso | Hacker News Reader

From the Authors website linked to by his P.S.

"App.net is building a better way to share your status."

What an immediate turn off! The first thing I think when I read this 'ugh not another status sharing service'. I think the author needs to rethink how he pitches his idea...

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Thanks for your feedback. We have had an internal conversation about copy in the header and are currently using Optimizely to test a few variations. We are definitely open to suggestions :)

What I want out of app.net would be a community building machine -- like most web forums used to be. In 2012, I don't know anyone personally that follows a classic forum anymore; I want that type of connection without the archaic style. Building community on my own website, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and/or Twitter can be exhausting, tedious, and time consuming. If app.net let me create a community and interact easily so that I can focus on producing content, I'd love it.

Just my two cents.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! We strongly believe what you want App.net to be is exactly what twitter could have been (http://daltoncaldwell.com/what-twitter-could-have-been). We are definitely thinking a lot about community building.

Before reading the postscript I thought it was an interesting, if not revolutionary, critique of ad services. Then I read the last line and realized the whole "article" was yet another ad for app.net. I felt like I had been tricked into reading a sales pitch, which irritates me and makes me less likely to join your project.

This blogpost was not intended to be another ad for App.net. Dalton's recent posts are a byproduct of his firm belief that the ad-supported business model is unsustainable. In fact, the footer was not originally included in the article. He decided to include a short sentence connecting his critique of ad services to our project after receiving feedback from the community. (http://twitter.com/johnsheehan/status/227816577607823360)

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