12 ms·

Fridge (YC S10) on the BBC - Pared down, cut down social networking

45 points by austinchang 16y ago

sahillavingia 16y ago
Congrats Austin. Love the site, though I think it suffers from blue-overload.
tajddin 16y ago
Well done man. Well done. I've actually used fridge with my friends a few times and we've appreciated the exclusivity that it provides as opposed to facebook. PS ~ blue overload == great.
- austinchang 16y ago
  thanks! working on a faster/less janky version to be released anyday...
tajddin 16y ago
Well done man. Well done. I've actually used fridge with my friends a few times and we've appreciated the exclusivity that it provides as opposed to facebook. PS ~ blue overload == great.
randomtask 16y ago
Good work. Just one issue I noticed is that when I searched for "the fridge" in Google only one of your pages turned up and it was a broken link that served a default Apache 404 page (www.frid.ge/php/login.php). There was nothing else in the results that clearly stood out as the right page.
proexploit 16y ago
Hadn't heard of Fridge before this article and I'm going to try it out. Everything seems to be working but it won't stop popping up the "Check your email to verify" alert (I already clicked/pasted the link a few times). That's going to get annoying :)
- austinchang 16y ago
  argh... sorry about that! we had a bug we introduced recently that we thought fixed that... email repairman@frid.ge with you account and we can fix it?
malloreon 16y ago
When does the social graphing across groups between interests begin?
- austinchang 16y ago
  at the moment we only "link" groups when there are common users in both. we are finding that as more and more groups are formed (around interests, events, organizations) more and more overlap occurs. while this isn't terribly valuable right we might introduce the concept of larger contextual groups that are open to invites that we can start suggesting for related context
  - malloreon 16y ago
    So by initially talking up the privacy aspect in both PR and on the site, your goal is to eventually get people to care less about privacy and be more open on your site? I don't mean to belabor the point endlessly across submissions, but I'm really seeing a disconnect between the marketing and PR for your site and your goals.
    - austinchang 16y ago
      not quite. (and definitely welcome the discussion) all Fridges will always be accessible to only those in the group. if you aren't in the group you don't have access to it. we are already seeing users create Fridges for larger and more "open" groups like conferences, events, interest groups, etc... and the members are the ones that share the invite URLs to add members. the main point here is that members of one group do NOT have any information or access about the others groups you are in unless you share it. the group members of a Fridge can decide how open or closed they want their group to be. in the future an administrator can customize group settings to enable a group to be "listed" or "discoverable" allowing organizations or events that want to open to be open. it would definitely be transparent to the members and settings ONLY for that group with their other groups closed, private, and not listed...
mike-cardwell 16y ago
It bothers me that there is no https version for frid.ge. Even when you log in your credentials are sent unencrypted. Compare to Facebook. On Facebook you can get a complete https experience by visiting https://www.facebook.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ but even if you don't, the login still goes over https. I'd take frid.ge more seriously with regards to privacy and security of my data if they simply forced all traffic over https and installed an EV SSL cert. Non SSL shouldn't even be an option. Otherwise my friends looking at my data are leaking my data. With an EV SSL cert and forced https, they could even use it as a marketing gimmick. Something along the lines of, "Frid.ge. We take the security of your personal data as seriously as your bank does"
- Locke1689 16y ago
  Someone should double check me on this because I actually couldn't get the account to correctly activate but I think there's a POST CSRF vulnerability on the "new group" button in the profile page.
- mike-cardwell 16y ago
  And I think the release of Firesheep today only adds weight to this argument.
jharrison 16y ago
There have been a few threads on HN about Fridge and in at least one the question about the magical "Profit" step was asked. I'm genuinely curious how a platform specifically targeted at people who want to maintain more definitive boundaries in their group memberships makes money. Maybe I'm just not savvy enough to get it. The only thing I can think of is targeted advertising but even that seems a little sketchy given the premise that Fridge is ultra-private. How do you capitalize on a social graph without seeming to cross the line with privacy? I guess the other option is to eventually charge for features in a sort of Freemium model. Anyone have any other ideas how you monetize such a thing?
- lrm242 16y ago
  That's because profit isn't part of their bet. This is a get acquired bet, plain and simple. Surely they will spin a yarn about charging for premium features, etc -- but that's just because they have to.
  - jharrison 16y ago
    Ah, yes. That IS a replacement for the "Profit" step. Who would buy such a thing? Seems like an interested party might not like the idea that the TOS is so locked down (I'm presuming that the privacy is spelled out in a TOS, I haven't looked). Is a developed social graph really worth that much, especially if (as is mentioned in another thread) the groups are temporary, one-time use? I guess there's always the possibility of buying it and dispensing with the TOS and replacing it with a more open version. Again, I'm just very curious. Having a hard time wrapping my head around this.
    - malloreon 16y ago
      I asked similar questions in the thread announcing the Fridge two months ago and didn't get a reply that answered my question. To paraphrase a fake Mark Zuckerberg, "I got people to share their personal information with me because I assured them I believed in privacy. When I found out how much advertisers were willing to pay for that information, I stopped believing in privacy." EDIT: Link to my question in the previous thread about the fridge: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1628877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1628877
yeti 16y ago
Is it just me or is this URL hard to navigate to? eg- for Word of Mouth I don't use any other site with a .ge extension. I tried thefridge.com and got to something totally different. Searched Google for "Fridge", "The Fridge", "TheFridge" and no where on first page did it appear (not surprising given how much money should be in SEO/fridge sales) Am I missing something?

45 points by austinchang 16y ago

Congrats Austin. Love the site, though I think it suffers from blue-overload.

Well done man. Well done. I've actually used fridge with my friends a few times and we've appreciated the exclusivity that it provides as opposed to facebook. PS ~ blue overload == great.

austinchang 16y ago
thanks! working on a faster/less janky version to be released anyday...

tajddin 16y ago

Well done man. Well done. I've actually used fridge with my friends a few times and we've appreciated the exclusivity that it provides as opposed to facebook. PS ~ blue overload == great.

randomtask 16y ago

Good work. Just one issue I noticed is that when I searched for "the fridge" in Google only one of your pages turned up and it was a broken link that served a default Apache 404 page (www.frid.ge/php/login.php). There was nothing else in the results that clearly stood out as the right page.

proexploit 16y ago

Hadn't heard of Fridge before this article and I'm going to try it out. Everything seems to be working but it won't stop popping up the "Check your email to verify" alert (I already clicked/pasted the link a few times). That's going to get annoying :)

austinchang 16y ago
argh... sorry about that! we had a bug we introduced recently that we thought fixed that... email repairman@frid.ge with you account and we can fix it?

malloreon 16y ago

When does the social graphing across groups between interests begin?

austinchang 16y ago
at the moment we only "link" groups when there are common users in both. we are finding that as more and more groups are formed (around interests, events, organizations) more and more overlap occurs. while this isn't terribly valuable right we might introduce the concept of larger contextual groups that are open to invites that we can start suggesting for related context
- malloreon 16y ago
  So by initially talking up the privacy aspect in both PR and on the site, your goal is to eventually get people to care less about privacy and be more open on your site? I don't mean to belabor the point endlessly across submissions, but I'm really seeing a disconnect between the marketing and PR for your site and your goals.
  - austinchang 16y ago
    not quite. (and definitely welcome the discussion) all Fridges will always be accessible to only those in the group. if you aren't in the group you don't have access to it. we are already seeing users create Fridges for larger and more "open" groups like conferences, events, interest groups, etc... and the members are the ones that share the invite URLs to add members. the main point here is that members of one group do NOT have any information or access about the others groups you are in unless you share it. the group members of a Fridge can decide how open or closed they want their group to be. in the future an administrator can customize group settings to enable a group to be "listed" or "discoverable" allowing organizations or events that want to open to be open. it would definitely be transparent to the members and settings ONLY for that group with their other groups closed, private, and not listed...

mike-cardwell 16y ago

It bothers me that there is no https version for frid.ge. Even when you log in your credentials are sent unencrypted. Compare to Facebook. On Facebook you can get a complete https experience by visiting https://www.facebook.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ but even if you don't, the login still goes over https. I'd take frid.ge more seriously with regards to privacy and security of my data if they simply forced all traffic over https and installed an EV SSL cert. Non SSL shouldn't even be an option. Otherwise my friends looking at my data are leaking my data. With an EV SSL cert and forced https, they could even use it as a marketing gimmick. Something along the lines of, "Frid.ge. We take the security of your personal data as seriously as your bank does"

Locke1689 16y ago
Someone should double check me on this because I actually couldn't get the account to correctly activate but I think there's a POST CSRF vulnerability on the "new group" button in the profile page.
mike-cardwell 16y ago
And I think the release of Firesheep today only adds weight to this argument.

jharrison 16y ago

There have been a few threads on HN about Fridge and in at least one the question about the magical "Profit" step was asked. I'm genuinely curious how a platform specifically targeted at people who want to maintain more definitive boundaries in their group memberships makes money. Maybe I'm just not savvy enough to get it. The only thing I can think of is targeted advertising but even that seems a little sketchy given the premise that Fridge is ultra-private. How do you capitalize on a social graph without seeming to cross the line with privacy? I guess the other option is to eventually charge for features in a sort of Freemium model. Anyone have any other ideas how you monetize such a thing?

lrm242 16y ago
That's because profit isn't part of their bet. This is a get acquired bet, plain and simple. Surely they will spin a yarn about charging for premium features, etc -- but that's just because they have to.
- jharrison 16y ago
  Ah, yes. That IS a replacement for the "Profit" step. Who would buy such a thing? Seems like an interested party might not like the idea that the TOS is so locked down (I'm presuming that the privacy is spelled out in a TOS, I haven't looked). Is a developed social graph really worth that much, especially if (as is mentioned in another thread) the groups are temporary, one-time use? I guess there's always the possibility of buying it and dispensing with the TOS and replacing it with a more open version. Again, I'm just very curious. Having a hard time wrapping my head around this.
  - malloreon 16y ago
    I asked similar questions in the thread announcing the Fridge two months ago and didn't get a reply that answered my question. To paraphrase a fake Mark Zuckerberg, "I got people to share their personal information with me because I assured them I believed in privacy. When I found out how much advertisers were willing to pay for that information, I stopped believing in privacy." EDIT: Link to my question in the previous thread about the fridge: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1628877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1628877

yeti 16y ago

Is it just me or is this URL hard to navigate to? eg- for Word of Mouth I don't use any other site with a .ge extension. I tried thefridge.com and got to something totally different. Searched Google for "Fridge", "The Fridge", "TheFridge" and no where on first page did it appear (not surprising given how much money should be in SEO/fridge sales) Am I missing something?