Haven
Web and SaaS
private sharing website
SHOW HN2021
547points
227comments
#38of 2,533 in 2021
Top 2%of 2021 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
22 positive, 62 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 35 critical, out of 123 comments about the project. Thread score -0.09.
Idea: 12 for, 13 againstPrivacy: 3 for, 11 againstDesign: 3 for, 5 againstDocs: 0 for, 4 againstExecution: 1 for, 2 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
Good idea for private family sharing without public exposure
From 2 comments
Love the idea. We've got kids and try to keep their likenesses off the public / data-slurping internet (Google, FB/WA/Insta, etc) by sending photos to friends and family via…
kareemm on HNThis is a bloody brilliant idea! I think the privacy aspect, i.e. creating a wall around the content in the way you have done here is what has been the missing piece between…
krmmalik on HN
Honest open-source plus hosted business model
From 1 comment
Brilliant idea and nice, honest business model it seems: Share the code, offer hosted solution for a reasonable price. The only thing I can't remember seing covered is data…
eitland on HN
Objections
Self-hosting is too hard for average users
From 2 comments
Four of five years ago I had exactly the same idea! It's as if you have somehow read it from my brain! Now here's the thing: I even started working on it but then I started…
perakojotgenije on HNA private blog for sharing photos is great, but the suggestion it's a Facebook replacement is questionable. People now use Facebook not only for photo sharing/status updates, but…
twoslide on HN
Account and password management is hard for older relatives
From 2 comments
The problem I have with this is that it makes people create and manage an account. My 90 year old grandmother is not gonna manage that. I made a little hack for wordpress that…
justinph on HNIve tried to give family members access to private sites, but do you think they remember their login user/pw? Nope. That is the hard problem. Each person should have a…
z3t4 on HN
Not a true Facebook replacement; groups and network effects are missing
From 2 comments
A private blog for sharing photos is great, but the suggestion it's a Facebook replacement is questionable. People now use Facebook not only for photo sharing/status updates, but…
twoslide on HN...there is no facebook replacement. You can't replicate social groups via software. Facebook is not anything special other than most people use it, so the network effects are…
andrewzah on HN
Requests
Data export feature
From 1 comment
Brilliant idea and nice, honest business model it seems: Share the code, offer hosted solution for a reasonable price. The only thing I can't remember seing covered is data…
eitland on HN
Clear photo and storage size limits for hosted plan
From 1 comment
Sounds good - and looks interesting. I have two wishes/requests for my use: - Clear size limits for photo/audio/video content in your hosted solution. And clarify if/how they are…
gnud on HN
Different visitor groups or access levels
From 1 comment
Sounds good - and looks interesting. I have two wishes/requests for my use: - Clear size limits for photo/audio/video content in your hosted solution. And clarify if/how they are…
gnud on HN
Questions
Why use this instead of WordPress, Ghost or a private blog
From 2 comments
Just to play Devil's advocate, why would I use this over a private WordPress/Ghost/WriteFreely blog?
bovermyer on HNDoesn't every open source blog software allow you to self-host? How is your solution superior to the battle-tested Wordpress or dozens of other options?
bufferoverflow on HN
Which license will the code use
From 1 comment
mawise, Where you thinking of sharing your code under an MIT license similar to Rails or something else? I looked for a LICENSE file, but didn't find one:…
joewils on HN
Alternatives named
WordPress, Ghost, WriteFreely
From 2 comments
Just to play Devil's advocate, why would I use this over a private WordPress/Ghost/WriteFreely blog?
bovermyer on HNNot bad, but for self-hosted blog I would use https://ghost.org/ - much more features and nicer UI.
paulcarroty on HN
Mastodon or Pleroma single-user instance
From 2 comments
...there is no facebook replacement. You can't replicate social groups via software. Facebook is not anything special other than most people use it, so the network effects are…
andrewzah on HNMy family needs a private place like this. I put a non-federated Pleroma instance on a free tier Google Cloud VM. Pleroma is a lightweight alternative to Mastodon and it requires…
sasquacz on HN
Beaker browser
From 1 comment
I am using the Beaker browser to share baby photos with my relatives- it's a great motivator to adopt decentralized tech :) https://beakerbrowser.com/
dasanchez on HN
Band and Substack private option
From 2 comments
If you want a Facebook replacement (at least for groups) use Band: https://band.us My wife is using it for a group she was running on facebook and loves it. As for Haven: the…
rumblestrut on HNReading this made me wonder if one could use Substack in a similar way, and it appears that they do have a 'private' option that is available for free or paid authors. [1] I…
gnicholas on HN