Show HN: Minerva – Better Email. Offshore Mailpile and secure managed server

https://www.minervafabric.com/

by sushimako • 13 years ago

23 14 13 years ago

gilrain2• 13 years ago

A one-sentence pitch isn't enough to get me to click a button which looks and feels like taking an action. I'd rather see at least a short paragraph go into a bit more detail, first.

As it is, the homepage is basically a splash screen. That might even be okay, but making the only interaction a button that implies it takes an action makes me feel like I need to make a yes/no decision on your product before I even have a good feeling for what it is.

gilrain2• 13 years ago

The content of the almost-hidden Learn More link would easily fit unobtrusively below your call to action button, providing more detail for people like me.

sushimako5• 13 years ago

You're right. We changed the button-wording to make it more obvious there's more information hidden behind it instead of only a signup link. (Waiting for the cache to invalidate/expire)

oskarth• 13 years ago

I clicked through all the way, the last step being pretty much: "get a server now".

I was met with this:

Got it. What happens next? We currently develop and test the Minerva Fabric with a very limited set of friends & specialists.

Once we feel confident in the current iteration, we'll make new servers available on a rolling basis. Rest assured that you'll be among the first who can reclaim their privacy.

MVP and all, I get that. But why are you submitting it to HN when there's nothing there?

It's not done. This is just an email form to collect interest. This dilutes the value of "Show HN" posts.

sushimako5• 13 years ago

It's not done. This is just an email form to collect interest. This dilutes the value of "Show HN" posts.

I honestly didn't mean to abuse the Show HN. We trying to gather any interest and feedback from the beginning. I filed it under "show hn" to show that the people behind this are here and actively following the comments for feedback and questions.

In case this is considered show-hn spam and/or and a misinterpretation of the Show-HN Etiquette, i hope the mods will strip off the "Show HN" from the title.

jameshart• 13 years ago

Why is there a large Philips logo on the metal block on the splash page?

bobwaycott2• 13 years ago

It says it's built on Mailpile[1,2], but Mailpile says on it's own github project page that it is "still experimental and isn't very useful yet."[3]

Slightly confused how this can then be something to charge for at this time if it's UI is built atop something that is self-professed experimental and not useful.

But pricing is there, and there's nothing in the language to indicate I can't jump on this ship right now, including a Download for free option.

Click Configure $39 button. Okay, asking for email address & where I'd like to have Minerva setup. Hong Kong sounds fun. And I want to use my own domain. But wait. Request server? Odd word choice for proceeding with configuration.

Let's backup a step and click download instead. Wanna check out the code and whatnot so I can see what all is going on that I'd have to support if I do it myself--and I sometimes like doing it myself for certain things. Trusting a third-party for email security & privacy has, let's say, taken a big hit recently.

Click Download for free and ... there's no actual download. It's an email signup form to request a server. Odd wording for a free download, isn't it? Request a server? I can't really request a server to download. I'm supposed to be doing setup myself, so I need software, right?

Decided to drop an email address in anyway to 'request a server' for the configure-your-own option, and it appears it's an invite list--with no prior copy indicating it was an invite-only thing.

Not exactly a good approach here, Minerva.

[1] http://cl.ly/image/030u0i200a1N

[2] http://mailpile.is

[3] https://github.com/pagekite/Mailpile#welcome-to-mailpile

sushimako5• 13 years ago

We're still at a very early stage. We tried to approach it in a way to see if people would show any interest in case there's the outlook of a finished product, not only a "This Could Be". We're sorry for the confusion this caused and hope to make up for it when we launch.

Re: free download, we will release most of our technological stack that will be running on your mail-stack if you pay us. So eventually you actually could (and hopefully will, if you can) setup the same thing we're offering yourself. But in case you don't want to have the hassle seeting it up AND keeping it up2date and managed, you will have the option to pay us for that part. It will still run on a dedicated VM (or maybe physical HW) that's dedicated for you and that you can take and move anytime you want (we will not ever lock you in, i can promise that right here and now)

bobwaycott2• 13 years ago

That is not a good enough excuse.

If you are at an early stage and using other software that is at an early stage, then say so completely up front the way Mailpile does.

As a sibling comment stated, you've completely diluted the value of Show HN by throwing up a link to something you cannot even show.

If you want to gauge interest, then do it the way everyone else does--put up clear, unmistakable language that says you're at an early stage, in development, not ready to really take anybody at all on, and have a single email signup for receiving future info and/or early invite access.

That is how you make things clear. Here, you just farmed an email address in what, for me, amounts to a dishonest transaction by not having anything at all to provide me as part of the exchange at this time.

Don't apologize for "confusion" that was intentionally created. There is practically no chance you could have developed this site and not discussed how it was going to leave people with all these call-to-actions that had zero action behind them.

Potential users shouldn't have to figure this out for themselves.

EDIT:

Seriously, "in case there's an outlook of a finished product"? Good grief. If you're just launching trial balloons, respect interested users and HN enough to state that explicitly.

This is a joke.

You received a signup for an address from @restorethe4th.com. Please remove it from your email list.

x0x02• 13 years ago

Unless I misread entirely, your price is $39/mo. That's just not happening for personal email. I value my time, but I already have a vps and you're charging $500/year. And I'm even willing to pay for email; I already pay $2.50/mo via tuffmail.

sushimako5• 13 years ago

The quoted price is not for a single email account, but for the whole setup on a dedicated machine/vm. You're free to use up all the resources your machine has available, we will not introduce any arbitrary limits.

If you know 15 friends/co-workers that you want to share your private, secure mail-setup with, you're already below the 2,5/mon and have the assurance that your email and userdata will never be mined or even looked at by a provider. You will be able to move your mails (or even the whole VM dump) somewhere else anytime.

You basically pay for managed hosting of your own complete mail-stack, without any vendor lock-in.

x0x02• 13 years ago

oh, cool

Show HN: Minerva – Better Email. Offshore Mailpile and secure managed server

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