UrlRoulette
Consumer and social
random link sharing
SHOW HN2017
How HN took it
3 positive, 40 neutral or asking, 5 mixed, 27 critical, out of 75 comments about the project. Thread score -0.29.
Privacy: 0 for, 11 againstExecution: 0 for, 10 againstIdea: 2 for, 2 againstDesign: 0 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun, interesting idea for serendipity and discovery
From 3 comments
Nice idea. I love randomness and serendipity. There must be something more you can do with this concept though.
5_minutes on HNI submitted the video where I first learned about musician Maggie Rogers. I love it! https://youtu.be/G0u7lXy7pDg?t=18m13s
amorphid on HNJust did this, and got redirected to this post. Clever.
AdamJacobMuller on HN
Objections
Redirects to porn, scams and malware; unsafe to visit random links
From 5 comments
I used it a few times in a row, posting different ones of my bookmarks (for example, Isaac Asimov's Last Question and Last Answer stories), and at one point got my own link back.…
kuschku on HNI like this idea but there is a lot of porn. Can you block the porn?
zelah on HNInteresting idea, but it seems like it has the potential to get you into a lot of trouble. You don't know what kind of messed up stuff you are going to be redirected to.
bigly on HNIt's not safe to visit random URLs, especially URLs with parameters in them.
partycoder on HNThanks for the ransomware delivery service!
Jotra7 on HN
Captcha is tedious and slow
From 2 comments
I really struggled with your captcha. I had to solve 10 screens of images, it was very time-consuming and tedious.
buzz27 on HNThe captcha makes it extremely tedious, too slow, no fun at all.
kwhitefoot on HN
URL validation rejects valid sites
From 3 comments
Says my URL https://www.qkast.com is invalid.
egfx on HNI tried submitting my personal site, https://dmitri.shuralyov.com, and got: ``` URL seems to be invalid, please try again! ``` I tried with and without scheme, no luck. Is it a…
shurcooL on HNI tried to put my own website but it says url invalid... something must be broken (for repro: http://sklivvz.com/)
sklivvz1971 on HN
Requests
Block porn and known bad domains, URL shorteners
From 3 comments
I like this idea but there is a lot of porn. Can you block the porn?
zelah on HNThis is actually a good point, but I'd imagine people put down a porn website out of pure impulse when trying this service, so having their URL rejected with a friendly warning…
primitivesuave on HNSteven Black's hosts compilation [1] is a good start for what to disallow. For URL shorteners, you could disallow URLs that trigger an HTTP redirect (e.g. HTTP 301), or you could…
schmich on HN
Add a delay or preview before redirect
From 2 comments
Tried it a few times, submitted some general interest links from my bookmarks, only to be redirected to scam sites :( Interesting idea, but it's unrealistic to expect good…
ptr_void on HNDisplay the URL with a countdown and a prominent "no thanks" button. Redirect after the countdown if they don't opt out. A fair amount of sites you don't want to visit have…
tyingq on HN
Malware scanning of submitted URLs
From 1 comment
Well, that could happen on any website that you visit. IMO it does not make a difference whether you know the link before you click it or not, because you still don't know what…
mmathias on HN
Questions
Are links removed after a visitor gets one?
From 1 comment
Do links get removed after a visitor gets one or they stay in the pool?
my_ghola on HN
Alternatives named
Chatroulette-style random pairing and YouTube swap sites
From 2 comments
I made something similar for Youtube videos: http://youtubeswap.com . Lots of trolls, but it can be fun.
jamt9000 on HNThere was a remote dial-up modem service in the 80's called PC Pursuit [1] that let you make local phone calls with modems in other cities through Telenet's packet switching…
DonHopkins on HN