Sublevel – A personal network | Hacker News Reader

Sublevel – A personal network

sublevel.net

31 pointsdavidbarker29 comments

So many words to say so little. What is this about? Is it closer to app.net or to OwnCloud? Why would I choose this over Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger or Medium?

Something something emergent interactional value?

Ah, it's a cross between Twitter and tumblr. Looks to have a stream of threaded conversations

I'm not the site's creator, but having played around with it for an hour or so, it seems to be a similar idea to the original Twitter (with additional things like threaded replies, and without a character limit).

Questions for the site's creator, about http://lucianmarin.com/archive/sublevel.html

> No JavaScript. Sublevel works with JavaScript disabled. Dumb phones supported. Sublevel works with Opera Mini. Responsive design. Sublevel works on any devices with a modern browser from smartphones to TVs.

Is the lack of Javascript motivated by security or minimalism?

> Different than Twitter. Sublevel is not a clone of Twitter like App.net neither trying to reinvent the wheel. There's no character limit, Sublevel is limited by design only.

Can you share more about the scalability of the backend?

> No API. Sublevel doesn't need an API, just better web browsers. Instead of an API, Sublevel will try to have an open database.

Do you mean CC-licensed, torrent delivered? That would support analytics, but what's the Sublevel position on third-party web clients?

> No user tracking. Sublevel doesn't store any metadata associated with users or replies.

Does this mean HTTP metadata, e.g. IP address, browsers, etc? Are you saying there are no web server logs ever written to flash/disk, or that these are stripped of user-identifying information?

> Discoverable. Sublevel is using an explore page to keep people informed. Similar to HN, DN or Reddit.

> Clear searching. Sublevel lets you independently search for replies or people's usernames, bios, locations.

Is this mechanism intended for search by humans or apps? Is there any difference from Twitter's search functionality?

> Just text. Sublevel won't provide support for images, videos, gifs, mp3s. Third-party services do a better job. Sublevel provides support for links, mentions and hashtags.

Is there support for mentions? The following bullet says they are not needed.

> Threaded conversations. Sublevel reply system is clear, there's no need for mentions. It lets you join in any conversation.

Without mentions, how would someone invite/address another user to join a conversation?

> Less spam. Sublevel prevents spam using two features. First, it lets the parent of a reply to delete any children replies. Second, it lets people send just one reply, expecting answers back from the other participants in the conversation.

One reply per item? Can you reply to siblings of your reply?

> Powered by mini ads. Sublevel is free and the ads will never be intrusive, actually they look quite good.

Examples?

You cannot reply your own messages to add more info/context.

It is a nice idea but I think it would be great if it supported OEmbed and Markdown.

That would make Sublevel more simple than Tumblr for publishing with a low barrier like Twitter.

The quoted (>) text is from the sublevel founder's blog.

Haha, sorry, I meant in Sublevel, not in your comment. I replied on yours because I felt it was related.

:) Hopefully he reads & responds.

Made me wonder about a Twitter-style social network where you were the only human, and you knew it. Those that gradually followed and interacted with you were all bots mimicking humans, but for once not spamming or with an ulterior motive. Your content would never be seen by anyone else.

The bots would arrive to compliment, question and challenge you.

Would people care that they weren't real? Outside of the friends we know on Twitter now, do we know which of the rest are definitely real anyway?

Sounds a bit crazy, but just wondering if people will reach a point where they interact with bots and don't care if they give them what they want in terms of attention and validation.

What if the bots weren't bots and were actually people. Just every single person would see every user with a randomized user name and no special 'user layout', and no identifying profile information.

Everyone would think, and see that every other account on the site was bots. The site would claim that every account you interact with is a bot, but in the background they aren't, their all people.

> What if the bots weren't bots and were actually people. Just every single person would see every user with a randomized user name and no special 'user layout', and no identifying profile information.

So, the early Internet.

Or 4chan.

This was mildly explored in the game Journey: http://thatgamecompany.com/games/journey/

They desperately need a copywriter. This is classic meaningless brand copy, full of platitudes.

All I took away from from the page was the color codes for if I want to advertise for them, whoever it/they is/was/plans to be.

I came to the comments to see if somebody could explain what this thing is about. Seems like I'm not the only one not getting it...

Feedback for the author: your marketing copy needs to explain clearly what your product does.

"Sublevel is to Twitter what Pinboard is to Delicious, Reddit to Digg, Linux to Windows, Android to iOS, etc."

http://lucianmarin.com/archive/sublevel.html

Thank you! Should be linked on sublevel.net

So they want to be an permeant underdog (w/the exception of Reddit)? Or a more geeky & less slick implementation?

Odd goal.

They want to be a more powerful version for power users.

It said "All you have to do is just write." so I started typing something and it didn't do anything.

I like the advertising strategy - one unobtrusive ad for everyone, for a whole week. The free charity ads are a nice touch too.

It's either going to stick in your head out of persistence (perhaps subconsciously) or get mentally blocked (though I'd bet on the former).

Even after reading the comments here too, I still have no idea what this is supposed to be.

I am pretty sure this is satire.

I looked at the front page and got no info about what it actually and lost interest.

The value is subconscious.

"Sublevel is made for people like you"

No it isn't. I run Linux :(

Need gravatar.

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