rapcal

For production apps, 2 dynos is the least you need not only because of sleep, but also because of redundancy. So there's no way of downgrading to the Hobby tier for lots of us.

For 2 dynos the price increase is 44,9%!

Running 2 web dynos is the leanest recommended setting for production apps (obvious reason...). This means, in my case, a steep 45% increase for those small apps [from $34.50 to $50].

Every bit of technology provides benefits and threats. URL shorteners are no exception: they definitely add value (and I don't mean just from the sender's perspective, but also on the recipient's end, eg. by allowing you to customize web addresses making it easier for people to remember them) but can also lead to harm (obfuscating links to malware).

It's like saying a hammer is a useless tool because it can bust your thumb.

goo.gl too, with nearly 6,300 links to Trojans, way more than on the bit.ly report: https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=goo.gl

Really interesting. I'd love to see it (and RelateIQ) integrate with a more complete sales solution, like close.io (which I love).

PS - just saw that RelateIQ has an API and PersistIQ has an out of the box Salesforce integration. Looking good :)

404...

http://aherk.com - A "goal-oriented self-blackmailing service" that got a lot of press, including mentions on Lifehacker, The Next Web, Forbes, Washington Post, NY Daily News, etc.

Are 1,000+ models really necessary for a recipe sharing application?

Just a heads up, maybe you could rename twitter-hogan to something else. I'm getting ´ReferenceError: Hogan is not defined´ and a blank page because "twitter" is blocked on my corporate network. (http://f.cl.ly/items/2o2p3c2X173Z3u2t1F2j/bug.jpg)

Back online

Getting a 404 ('There isn't a GitHub Page hosted here, sorry.')

Genius! Loved the idea :) And it would certainly have been useful to Aron Ralston [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Ralston]

forfew.com -- social sharing/rewards program

I absolutely loved the humorous tone!

I reckon some integration with social networks could be a good way for you to gain some leverage. People would be able to tag the friends they'd like to bang and see who would bang them back. I think curiosity would send some traffic your way, especially because there's a natural virality to your app if you approach it that way.

The best of luck, and please keep us updated on how things develop!

I cant thank you enough! It's great to talk to someone who had the same experience. Now The Next Web has also done a piece on us too and things are moving.

You point to something that sounds obvious, but truth is I have barely interacted with my users so far. Need to start doing this in a hurry.

I think I also need to improve my sign up process, making it happen on a pop up window through Facebook JS SDK.

Thank you very much! I really think your first idea is amazing, and the homepage is presently too static and oh-so-boring...

Thanks! I'll try to figure out what this re-marketing thing is and check out the tools you've mentioned!

Thanks! I'm trying to give a boost to my quasi non-existent social efforts and I think this is helping! :) I have to let go of my wallet too and pay for some extra server power. I have to admit the site is too slow...

Thank you very much for such a kind offer! I'll definitely get back to you after I find out what re-marketing is... :-S

Yes, marketing is my achilles heel. Thanks for pointing this tool out. I'll definitely have a look.

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide me with your insights!

With all honesty, I don't have a business model. Aherk! was the project I used to learn how to program, and I think it did more than well!

Of course it would be fantastic if I could make money out of it, though...

Hey... you may have just given me the idea of a business model... Being a cool feature... for someone else?!

I know an exit strategy is not a promising game nor the sexiest choice... But this started just as a game, so..

Oh, about the "subscriber" I was just referring to an HN member that added the Facebook app. Sorry, I'm a native Portuguese speaker and my English is not very good... :S

Exactly how I feel! Glad to see there are some mad people like me ;o)

About points 1 to 3, I think e acknowledged above with enough emphasis my complete lack of social wisdom so far... :(

Regarding 4, just as the app said automatically, I'm also sorry that something went wrong... ;) Can you tell me where, on the flow of the app, you experienced this? I'm on Heroku using their free tier for now, so maybe you just experienced a lack of server resources... =O

Call me hopeless newbie, but I really haven't thought about people who may not sign up right on their first visit, but may do so later - and a way to "track" them.

I think the social buttons you've mentioned are good for this too - if people tweet/share and get feedback, they may be more likely to come back to the site.

I'm not happy with Addthis, the social solution I'm using. I chose them for analytics, but I'm starting to feel that sticking with the default buttons might generate more engagement.

I really have to put more thought & effort on social. Thanks for reminding me of that!

Wow! You really managed to help me see my problem much clearer!

I'll definitely spend some time trying to come out with mechanisms to achieve these 3 goals.

I think I can actually focus on the last two, since you need to register to vote (that's how we keep track of who already voted).

Thank you very much! I cannot even begin to tell you how much this "methodical" approach helped me to see my problems clearer!

Thanks so much for your input! A lot of your ideas are close to either things that are planned for the future or ideas that I have discussed with friends.

Badges, for instance, are something that I'm definitely going to implement. And although I think goal-achievement is important, it appears to me that it shouldn't be the only "metric".

For instance, I thought that it would be nice to let a user's friend verify if the picture posted is really compromising, and if it is, award a badge to the user.

Another feature that is definitely coming and that I think will improve "virality" (and that is also similar to something you mentioned) is the ability to set goals (and "bombs") for your friends. Of course they would depend on the friend's approval, but it would be a way to spread the word.

Oh, and honestly I don't think that failed goals are bad marketing. As I see it (and said earlier), I think that fun is our product, not productivity.

Thank you for your feedback!

I must confess that I'm a (unhappy) lawyer by profession and decided to change paths this year (when I turned 37, so I'm probably one of the oldest guys around here ;)

Being so, the technical part of things, which is what I've just learned and am experimenting with, is where I focused. No marketing, SEO, social media, etc. I was just enjoying learning to code with a project that interested me. I don't even have a blog setup for Aherk!

I loved your ideas, especially the cold-emailing productivity blogs/bloggers, and I think this is one of the things that I'll focus on over the next few days.

Once again, thanks a lot!

I'm really sorry that I haven't been able to respond to all these thoughtful comments in a timely fashion. I feel like a bad mannered host that leaves the party while the guests are arriving to celebrate his birthday.

Just so that you all know what's going on (and without trying to justify my bad behavior, which is in itself unjustifiable), I'm a divorced dad from Brazil, and all this happened while I'm in the middle of a road trip alone with my 6 year old son. This is the only time of the year when we can spend a few days together, and I can't (and wouldn't) abandon it. Furthermore, infrastructure here is not 100% and wireless/3g internet access is not ubiquitous to say the least.

Anyway, please know that I'm attentively and thankfully listening. This community always surprised me and today you really made me feel welcomed here.

Thank you very much for your input. And I'm always looking for app feedback! :) I think you point out a real obstacle to wider user adoption, but I believe in the concept (and I think it needs some 'lack of privacy' for it to work).

Furthermore, I reckon we sell fun, rather than productivity.