Show HN: AskAlexis, an SMS advice service for guys | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: AskAlexis, an SMS advice service for guys

askalexis.io

Great idea. my 2 cents:

1 - you HAVE to say something on whether this is a bot or a human. when I was single I would have happily paid for unbiased professional advice from a real person of the opposite sex on what to say / behave in a date. Once married, I think the notion of my wife finding me texting a woman named Alexis is going to have the opposite effect ;)

2 - no validation on the form. I just pressed the button and saw a yellow banner saying "Finding Alexis...". It still does that. (no timeout handling either)

3 - no about, no FAQ, no address, no phone number, no company name, no support email. I'm not going to give you my phone number, sorry

Again, this is a great idea, but a little too Minimal to be a Viable Product in my humble opinion... (fast forward 3 months, this is a YC company with a valuation of 1 billion and I look like an idiot... but I think the above 3 will help it get there sooner...)

EDIT: favicon - this is silly, but everyone has it...

I'm not entirely sure why this is explicitly gender-specific, given the unisex example questions.

I think it's based on columns from men's magazines where readers send questions to a relationship, sex, or dating expert, and get them answered in the next issue. The premise is this: "Hey, you're a clueless _guy_ and I'm a _girl_. You have questions about girls, and I am obviously qualified to answer them because I am also a girl and I have a modern + sexy + feminine name like Alexis."

This is an interesting comment because Alexis is historically a gender-neutral name: http://www.behindthename.com/name/alexis

You're right. But can we still agree that it's modern and sexy? /s

Main point is that it's all based off the "takes one to know one" idea, in which one woman answers questions from men about all other women.

In the thread below she quickly introduces herself as Lexi, which is not only a more feminine name, but also perhaps an allusion to a lex-er, as in lex and yacc?

It may be a deliberate move to allow one later to expand into advice about men for women without charging the brand name.

I suppose AskAlexis is a catchier name than AskAdamKochanowicz.

I upvoted the GP. I had the same puzzlement.

> "Hey, you're a clueless _guy_ and I'm a _girl_. You have questions about girls, and I am obviously qualified to answer them because I am also a girl..."

That doesn't follow (that you need a girl to answer, or that any girl is qualified), and in fact is insulting.

No imprint, no privacy policy, nothing. But I should submit my cell number? Seriously?

Magic had a barebones page with no privacy policy too (and still does, surprisingly), yet thousands of people gave them their cell number.

That's not a good thing, but still.

Sorry for being so outdated, but what is this "Magic"?

It is a text message service that purports to handle just about any request you make (food delivery, whatever), they just tack on a fee to the price. They had to limit to a wait list, as the demand exploded.

Site: http://getmagicnow.com

HN Dicussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9087819

How do you now, that thousands of people provided their cell number? Did they make those figures public?

I had a go.

  Alexis: Hey, I’m Alexis. I’m here with the answers you need to level up your lifestyle.
    Send me questions anytime about dating, style, food/wine, entertainment… all of it.
    I’m your secret weapon! 08:42
  Me: I'm stuck in the cockpit of the fighter jet I was flying. I've crashed on the border
    between Hungary and Slovakia. I only speak English. How should I proceed? 08:46
  Alexis: Okay, this is a new one. 08:46
  Alexis: Give me a couple minutes to think about that. By the way, you can call me Lexi,
    what can I call you? 08:46
  Me: You can call me James. 08:56
  Me: I would ask you to send for help, but my mission is secret. I have rations for a
    couple of days, but it's hard to drink while hanging upside down by straps. 09:00
  Alexis: Bummer. 09:01
  Alexis: Undo the straps. 09:02
  Me: Also I don't want to ruin my tuxedo. 09:02
  Me: The mechanism seems to have jammed. 09:03
  Alexis: Sweet, you have a tux too? Your life is exciting. 09:05
  Alexis: Er, was up until now. 09:05
  Alexis: Have you tried your pen? It's also a scaffolding hook and ultra high powered
    laser. 09:06
  Me: I've tried using the laser in my watch to cut the straps, but it seems to have
    been broken in the crash. 09:08
  Alexis: James how did you get this far with such bad luck? 09:08
  Me: Ah, the pen... Great, the straps are cut. I can hear footsteps. I'll have to be
    quiet for a minute. 09:09
  Alexis: Should I stop texting you? It might ding. 09:09
  Alexis: Oops 09:09
  Alexis: Are you dead? 09:10
  Me: They must have heard me tumbling out of the straps onto the cockpit roof.
    I've been apprehended and am in the back of a van. 09:10
  Alexis: It's weird that they didn't take your phone away. 09:11
  Me: I distracted them with my bonhomie. 09:11
  Alexis: Use one of your gadgets. 09:12
  Me: It sounds like Hungarian they're speaking. I think they said they're taking me
    to 'the palace'. Is there a palace near here? 09:12
  Alexis: Idk. Where are you? 09:13
  Me: Somewhere on the border between Hungary and Slovakia. 09:13
  Alexis: You're in luck! They're taking you to the Four Seasons
    https://www.google.com/maps/place/Four+Seasons+Hotel+Gresham+Palace+Budapest
  Me: Will I be in time for dinner, and if so, what wine should I order? 09:17
  Alexis: How much are you looking to spend? Red? 09:20
  Me: Red, of course, I'm sure they're not savages! I'm sure cost won't be an issue. 09:25
  Alexis: Chateau Haut-Bailly Pessac-Leognan 2004 09:27
  Alexis: classic aromas of scorched earth, sweet black currants, cherries, and a hint
    of pain grille. Light on its feet, but substantially flavored 09:27
  Me: Thank you, I knocked on the cab and (in my best Hungarian) asked the driver to
    telephone ahead and check it's in the cellar. You've been a great help! 09:30
  Alexis: You got it. Don't forget to explode something and walk away from it slowly
    without looking back. 09:31
  Me: Yippee ki yay, good sir, as I believe you say over the pond. 09:39

This exchange, if legitimate, seems to strongly indicate that this service is not automated. Either that or huge strides forward have been made in chatterbots...

The exchange is legitimate, but I'm not actually James Bond.

Is it free? No hint of pricing

I don't see an about page, is this entirely automated on the Alexis end? Could I send a picture of two outfits and ask which looks better? Does it have location-aware suggestions?

This appears to be a copy of Magic (apparently "Magic for X" is now a market category?), so it is likely unautomated.

There's also a reason you haven't heard about Magic in weeks.

Thanks. I'm not really in the loop; why haven't we heard about Magic in weeks?

From what I've heard, people gave up at the waitlist. The unit economics do not make sense either: the CEO said that they break even overall, which is unsustainable when you consider cost of human capital/oppertunity cost. http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/27/catch-a-tiger-by-the-toe/

However, from their Twitter account, Magic is apparently not dead. https://twitter.com/tweetmagicnow

Following that link, I found an ad for customer service reps for $20/hour in Mountain View. http://www.higherme.com/jobs/135

Is that a livable wage?

From their site: "Initial hires start at $15/hour, with the opportunity to move up to $20/hour quickly!"

The median income in Mountain View is around $55K - $20 an hour salaried is roughly $42240.. but customer service tends to be below average salary in any area. Many earn less.

Magic is supposed to do stuff for you, acquiring goods and services. This just sends SMS responses, so it's more like ChaCha. Though ChaCha has a broader focus than clueless men who need generic date plans from a stranger.

Wasn't the Amazon Echo service also voiced as "Ask Alexis" (the phrase used to activate it, like "OK Google", or "Siri")

Echo used "Alexa" as the activation word.

For middlebrow comments, please see below:

Cool story bro.

Oh, an automated SMS chat number? How very original... If it were the early 2000's.

Y'know, I heard this sort of comment when I got into email newsletters back in 2010. Now every damn site seems to have email newsletter signup boxes, lol.

Well this makes sense because women are strange alien creatures that are impossible to understand.

But how can I know that I will have my question answered by an actual woman? If a guy responds to my question it might seem reasonable to me but I would risk causing the woman to become angry or confused...

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