Hacker News Reader

Comment by lonk11 | Hacker News Reader

At the end the author talks about curated link collections as a solution - create them using Pinboard.in and consume them via RSS.

I think the part that is missing is how to discover the link collections to subscribe to.

I'm building https://linklonk.com that merges the collection, the consumption and the discovery:

- You add links to content you liked to your "channels".

- LinkLonk connects you to RSS feeds and other user channels that posted the content you liked and shows you new content from them. The more content you have in common with a feed/channel - the more weight their new content gets in the "For you" list.

You can also share your channel via a public link (example: https://linklonk.com/channels/programming-yUlhkwDXFb) or an RSS feed (example: https://linklonk.com/api/publicChannels/programming-yUlhkwDX...) .

View on HN

This looks very promising.

The problem is see is that without an account, it is impossible to submit links. However, unlike reddit or hn, one needs to submit links to get useful content. Thus I would assume that by the 1% rule [1], it is very difficult to retain visitors.

Could you offer options for those who don't want to make an account? Maybe you could create some ready-made selections to see good content? Or you could allow to post links in a hidden way to get the algorithm going and you and some moderators approve them later-on.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule_(Internet_culture)

Your assumption is correct, user retention is difficult. I've been running LinkLonk for a year now and out of >1000 users that created accounts we have ~9 daily active users on the site and 43 users are getting recommendations by email. But I think this is in part the chicken and egg problem. The more users join the more useful the system should theoretically become.

If you don't want to create an account, consider creating a guest account - it does not require any personal information from you. The account is just a number that is issued to you and is stored in your browser cookies. If you don't end up using it - all information associated with your guest account will be deleted after 30 days of inactivity.

If you don't want to create a guest account then the best I can do is to show generally popular content - which is what the home page is filled with for brand new users.

I think your best chance of getting adoption is making the service useful for an individual without relying on network affects at first. Maybe you're already working on that. I haven't looked too deeply into linklonk yet.

Yes, that's the focus right now. Make it a good tool and then make it a good network. The functionality that supports single-player mode is:

- bookmarking - you can search your past liked items

- subscribing to rss feeds

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions along those lines.

Maybe rename it to linklurk? ;)

I really enjoy curated link newsletters like Thinking About Things [0] and Findka Essays [1].

[0] https://www.thinking-about-things.com/ [1] https://essays.findka.com/

LinkLonk can also send new link recommendations by email.

There is also https://refind.com

Reply on news.ycombinator.com