Rabblr
Consumer and social
website chat overlay
SHOW HN2012
How HN took it
3 positive, 13 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 11 critical, out of 30 comments about the project. Thread score -0.25.
Idea: 2 for, 7 againstExecution: 1 for, 4 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
Cool idea and fascinating concept
From 3 comments
This is actually tremendously fascinating, and has a lot of potential. It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen on HN. 10 other HN users are on it now. (Tried nytimes.com,…
crazygringo on HNWhat I've always wanted is HN with a chatroom attached to each submission instead of a comments page. That would be fun.
revorad on HNAt first, my thoughts were wow, that's simple and potentially really powerful. Then I opened it up.. and even on HN, the chat was a hard to follow trail of throw away comments.…
dazbradbury on HN
Objections
Chicken and egg problem; needs many users to be useful
From 3 comments
This has been tried a dozen times. The chicken and egg problem is especially hard in real time. And in general, chat is dead. It's boring. The web has more to offer than it did…
bdr on HNI like this idea, but here's a word of warning: ICQ actually had software that did this about a hundred years ago. It was a stand alone app you would download, and you could chat…
lars on HN+1 ...more importantly, it's probably the only way to beat the chicken/egg problem mentioned above.
dlf on HN
Anonymous chat degenerates into trolling and spam
From 2 comments
Chat is NOT dead. See campfire for example which even is a quite new chat tool. In fact, entire companies (including my own) are using chat for all their internal communication…
jachwe on HNThis was interesting and pretty cool MVP. I provided a whole bunch of suggestions. However it wasn't long before it degenerated into a cesspool. I really don't understand how…
vlod on HN
Chat is hard to follow and moderate
From 2 comments
At first, my thoughts were wow, that's simple and potentially really powerful. Then I opened it up.. and even on HN, the chat was a hard to follow trail of throw away comments.…
dazbradbury on HNThis is actually tremendously fascinating, and has a lot of potential. It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen on HN. 10 other HN users are on it now. (Tried nytimes.com,…
crazygringo on HN
Buggy on some browsers and sites, such as IE9 layout issues
From 2 comments
On the latest chrome stable. I've gotten multiple errors trying to do this. Error: TypeError: Cannot call method 'track' of undefined Error: Error: INVALID_STATE_ERR Error: You…
lsiebert on HNIt seems to be problematic on IE9 on Win 7. The chat window is left at the bottom of the page, and if I scroll up, the chat window remains at the bottom of the page. Thus,…
codedivine on HN
Requests
Chat history so newcomers can see earlier messages
From 2 comments
This is actually tremendously fascinating, and has a lot of potential. It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen on HN. 10 other HN users are on it now. (Tried nytimes.com,…
crazygringo on HNchat history would be good.. my chat stopped dead.. would like to go back and review what's said. Bookmarklet can display how many people online and color-coded for activity level.
adrianwaj on HN
Stay up while navigating within the same domain
From 1 comment
.. and it would be very convenient if it could stay up while on the same domain (e.g., a hidden top-level iframe?).
ghayes on HN
Flood protection and adjustable opacity
From 1 comment
I think this is actually a pretty cool idea, but for it to be successful - 1) The app is a little rough around the edges... needs at the least a method for "flood protection." 2)…
mkelley on HN
Better username handling and reserved names
From 3 comments
Feedback: don't allow usernames "root", "admin", "administrator", et cetera.
danielamitay on HNOn the latest chrome stable. I've gotten multiple errors trying to do this. Error: TypeError: Cannot call method 'track' of undefined Error: Error: INVALID_STATE_ERR Error: You…
lsiebert on HNjust fyi, wait until your logged in, then you can change your username by clicking it.
lsiebert on HN
Questions
How does it work and what technologies were used
From 2 comments
Very cool. How does it work?
sirch on HNThis looks great! Awesome job. Would love to read more about which technologies you used to build it.
DanielRibeiro on HN
Would it work over https
From 1 comment
On the latest chrome stable. I've gotten multiple errors trying to do this. Error: TypeError: Cannot call method 'track' of undefined Error: Error: INVALID_STATE_ERR Error: You…
lsiebert on HN
Alternatives named
Envolve (envo.lv)
From 2 comments
I remember a very similar startup that was doing more or less the same thing which has been a very popular in HN and some other websites, I just could not recall the name. Anyone…
alpb on HNFounder of Envolve here; yes, we did build a version of Envolve for HN called envo.lv It was always intended to be a marketing gimmick. The critical mass required to sustain good…
jamest on HN
Olark
From 2 comments
Chat is NOT dead. See campfire for example which even is a quite new chat tool. In fact, entire companies (including my own) are using chat for all their internal communication…
jachwe on HNPerhaps you could adapt this to become an Olark competitor.. it's too expensive in my view.. for users to speak with site admins.
adrianwaj on HN
Bonfire
From 1 comment
Nice. Very similar idea to http://bonfire.im which is only for use at Twitter.com. Would be cool if it grabbed HN usernames somehow.
jot on HN
ICQ
From 1 comment
I like this idea, but here's a word of warning: ICQ actually had software that did this about a hundred years ago. It was a stand alone app you would download, and you could chat…
lars on HN