Interesting, I had not heard of this before. If anyone feels inclined to send me an invite, I'd like to check it out. This is me, computer music open source indie hacker: https://github.com/iainctduncan/
Same here. I'm sad this is the first I've heard of it because it looks like a really cool and inspiring site. I don't have a product to share and discuss quite yet, but I'm hoping to by the end of the year.
The title makes it sound like you'll need an invite to even access the site, but the article makes it sound like you'll need an invite to post to the site. However, the distinction isn't made explicit. Will we still be able to read without an invite?
Please don't make Indie Hackers invite-only. The Indie Hackers website is surely for people who need to find an online network of like-minded people, especially for those who struggle to find it elsewhere. They might not be part of a startup accelerator, they might not be good at networking, but joining the website might be the first step for them to join the community. It would be a shame to require that people be part of the community before they can be part of the community, if you see what I mean.
Don't get me wrong, having a hurdle to sign up is a good idea. You will get more invested members that way, and less spam. But you can choose different hurdles that don't exclude people who aren't well-networked. For example, you could require every new user to fill out their profile with detailed answers to questions, before allowing them to post on the forums.
I decided to use phone number verification for signups on my 20-things.com link aggregator. I was thinking of dropping it altogether, but after reading what indiehackers just did, I will probably keep the phone number verification and add apple signups as a complementary channel.
What is else left for us to do in this day and age to minimise spam and abuse?
Something I found quite interesting is that the spam wasn't just targeted at the Indie Hackers community itself (i.e. click the blog spam and get served ads, or whatever else), but to get backlinks on a site with high domain-authority.
I know this because I personally saw a couple of spammers openly talking to each other about giving each other backlinks too.
I never thought that spamming like that would be worth the time or effort, but apparently it was.
Haven't used the site in a while and just logged in to see if I could share some invite codes but seems as if you only earn invite codes by participating in the community (I haven't commented in a few months).
I've been a member for 2 years - I still don't understand what I'm supposed to do, or how I'm supposed to do it. I know there's plenty of guides and stuff, but the whole thing leaves me ... cold. I reckon my main problem is that I hate the work that goes into promoting myself and my project (I get the impression IH assumes the two are one and the same) - I'm not a natural networker and the surgeons did a good job when they gave me my charisma bypass.
As for spam ... I've not noticed it. I got bored of other people's boast-posts early on and now mark them as read before opening them.
If you think of it as "promoting" then it feels like selling. If you find value in the things you read there, other people will probably find value in the things you're doing too. It's a conversation, not a sale. Unless of course you are just trying to sell. Then yeah, probably does feel cold.
Don't get me wrong, having a hurdle to sign up is a good idea. You will get more invested members that way, and less spam. But you can choose different hurdles that don't exclude people who aren't well-networked. For example, you could require every new user to fill out their profile with detailed answers to questions, before allowing them to post on the forums.
What is else left for us to do in this day and age to minimise spam and abuse?
I know this because I personally saw a couple of spammers openly talking to each other about giving each other backlinks too.
I never thought that spamming like that would be worth the time or effort, but apparently it was.
https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=dileepand06
It is quite unfortunate I can't just mark an obvious spam and get rid of it.
I wonder how much value these guys get from posting spam links on HN.
As for spam ... I've not noticed it. I got bored of other people's boast-posts early on and now mark them as read before opening them.