I've come from Reddit as of today and I surely intend on sticking here, Reddit has lost its taste for me and I've come to really dislike a majority of the default communities there.
So, users of Hubski, tell me about your website, tell me some cool features that are active and coming soon. Pretend that I'm an audience of people interested in Hubski but are skeptical of it.
Here are a couple of basic features (I'll leave it to less biased users to sell them): You have three symbols under your name on the upper left: a hubwheel, a badge, and a follower icon, with counts to the right of them. The hubwheel goes around and completes as you use the site, and others appreciate and share your contributions. Every time you complete a hubwheel, you earn a badge that you can award to another user's post or comment. Click 'badges' in the menu on the left to see what has recently been badged by others. The center of the hubwheel turns orange if you have non-dismissed notifications. (once you earn 1 hubwheel, you can also start adding community tags to posts) The badge icon keeps track of how many badges others have given you. The follower icon is pretty self-explanatory. Click the 'markup' link on the top right of a textbox to see how to do text functions like shout outs to other users, like this one to b_b. In general markup requires book-ending text with symbols. Under 'controls', you can switch your hubski style. In addition to dark, you can choose 'snow', 'clean', or 'ugly'. You can also post images in comments.
How long does it usually take to fill your first hubwheel? I've been using the site on a casual level for a bit, I have 95 followers and quite a few submissions, but I've only earned two dots on my hubwheel. Should I try to comment more? I prefer to submit content more than participate in the discussion, I like reading & hearing what other people have to say.
It is more heavily weighted towards discussion than posts. However, just last week we shifted the algorithm a bit more towards posting, because we felt it was too lopsided, so that might speed things up for you. There are some other factors too, but currently nothing that slows the rate. I am sure that the rate will have to be adjusted as activity and usership grows. That said, although the # of followers plays a role, the effect isn't linear.
Currently the only input is time and user appreciation. That could change. If you subscribe primarily to tags, posts could eventually give you a bad experience like you suggest (ignoring some users could help, but eventually it will be a losing battle). A tag is a shared space on Hubski. However, if your content mainly comes by following quality people, you can easily filter your content by the selection of who you follow. I strongly suggest that you follow more people than tags. (It looks like you do). Defnitely unfollow anyone sharing content you don't want. As for comments, that is a shared space. We have some plans for how we will keep comments from being averaged out by the 'wisdon of the masses'. Some functionality regarding that will roll out soon.If popularity of posts/comments/people determine visibility of content, I strongly believe that this site will, one day, rapidly lose quality in content as low effort content that many people find agreeable and familiar, similar to what has happened on reddit.
Syncretics reply is the reason I came here. Anybody?
I must be doing something right because I've been using the site for two days, have 8 followers, and have five dots on my wheel.
Alright, you got me. I joined up. Now off to explore.....
The author can choose one tag. The community (those Hubskiers that have earned one hubwheel) chooses the other. Yes it's crazy, and the merits of tagging is a big source of debate here. :) Hope the other regulars can pick up where I've dropped off; I'm off to sleep!
What exactly are the criteria for "filling" a hubwheel? Is that information a closely gaurded secret, so that spammers cannot use it? I noticed that if I "like" your comment, it increases the number of dots around the wheel asscociated with that comment. Do you simply have to fill that wheel for any comment/post to earn a "badge"? And what do "badges" do? If I earn one, and then award one to someone, what does that do to the post I award the "badge" to? Also, when you give away a "badge," does that take the "badge" away from you and give it to them? Sorry for all the random questions.
I don't believe that getting all the dots around a comment or around a post gets you a badge (although it might figure somehow into mk's secret formula. The dots just let you know that you are appreciated (comments) or shared (posts). A post/comment will only get a badge if someone deeply appreciates it. And what do "badges" do?
You feel smart and appreciated for a few seconds and then get on with your day secretly hoping you can enrich people's lives again someday in the future. It's very unusual, but theadvancedapes was doubly badged recently. He was made king.
Ok, so the dots are just semi-arbitrary indicators of a posts "usefulness/appeal." That's pretty cool!
And also, more importantly, the dots tell you how many times a submission of yours has been shared. If I post something and only my (few) followers see it, but then thenewgreen "upvotes" or shares it, all of his followers will see it on their feed. So if you post something good, it's built into the system that more people will see it -- like reddit. But unlike reddit it's not based on the quantity of people who share your post, it's based on these sharers' quality, as it were. (How many people think they share things worth reading.)
So the value of your shares is based upon the amount which the sharer has, in turn, been shared? That sounds a lot like PageRank, Google's ranking algorithm, which ranks pges based upon the number of relevant inbound links from pages which in turn have a high PageRank. (tip: to understand recursion, one must first understand recursion)
That's an awesome bit of information to know about, and paints a better picture of how hubski works. Thank you for sharing that!
Well said lil. The dots are indicators of a post/comments appeal or usefulness. You can equate it to an "up vote" if that helps. As you receive more of these on your posts/comments your hubwheel beneath your name in the upper left hand corner begins to populate. Once its made a full rotation, you receive a "badge to give". This means that you can "give" a badge to one of your fellow hubskiers in appreciation of a post or comment. You can't see it now, but once you have a badge to give there will be a +! next to each post and comment that you click in order to give the badge. If you are interested in sourcing some cool content from past posts, I recommend clicking on "badges" under the "discover" tab on the left. Let me know if you have any more questions and welcome to Hubski!
Hey I was double badged ages before theadvancedapes! http://hubski.com/pub?id=22781 In fact, my first badge was actually two badges which made every subsequent single badge a disappointment.
LOL! thenewgreen I'm breaking down...I think its time to make those shirts!
Not sure how I missed this. That shirt is hilarious but I still want one that says "I know insomniasexx".
Posts and comments, but not only that. There's a bit of secret sauce in there. :) Yes, the buck stops with me.Does the hubwheel complete on comments and submitted posts? Or only submitted?
Also from what I have seen browsing around you are the owner. Is that correct?
This seems to be a pretty interesting set-up you've got here. It seems you've taken Reddit and improved on the common complaints. I'm going to browse off and on for awhile and see if it sticks. Is this the kind of thing you want the word to spread about? If I like it I may let some of my friends know about hubski.
I was also directed here from Reddit. Just wanted to say this seems like a very nice site, clean layout without clutter. Also, nice tree picture.
mk, what do you think of this idea? The orange hubwheel turns not-orange when you visit notifications (and not just when you dismiss them). If it turns orange again, it means there are new ones. I always dismiss all, because that's the only way to get it to change state on a new notification; but why must it be this way?
Since this is likely to lead to people leaving lots of things in their notification page, you may want to consider a rule like "notifications that have been read disappear after n days". That way, if you dismiss nothing, your notifications page shows you your last week (or month or whatever) of activity.
Is it possible to not receive notifications from comments on threads I've saved that I'm not associated with?
I, too, am brand new here. I've been lurking for about an hour or so now and just made an account. I'm currently on my iPhone though, so navigating is a bit difficult. Any word on when a mobile app is coming out? Thanks for all the tips, by the way! edit: comma
I too am on mobile. All the app would need is a side bar which pulls out and a way to project the pop up buttons.
Hubski was the very first aggregator I encountered so I have no experience with Reddit (except what I learned from Reddit's creepy kiddy porn guy (now banned) when he was interviewed on CNN.) The people on Hubski seem open to new ideas, arguments, respectful of differences and willing to learn (mostly). People seem human, fun, and funny.
Some cool Hubsi features (that I appreciate):
If you post a comment, it's easy to go back and edit it if necessary.
Everything is saved and easy to find.
mk is open to ideas even if they appear in a dream
and generates lots of new ideas himself.
I can send people here without being worried that they'll be offended by really stupid, immature nonsense or comments.
But Cortez - it takes a while to get a feel for the community. So lurk on.
About a year ago, I was sending my parents links to some great stuff on reddit. There was still some excellent discussions happening, especially about privacy online which my mom was getting really interested in. Unfortunately, after about 4 links over a couple months my mom decided to explore. She was none to pleased as the top AskReddit post at the time was regarding the weirdest porn.
Wow, I'm very pleased with how this all sounds, I'll definitely be sticking around. The color scheme makes it easy on the eyes as well. I can't wait to see what you guys have planned for the future. I skipped over a line, but I'll keep the original text so people will understand the quote below. Can I do bullet points?
How do I quote someone?
How do I post images?
Bullet Points? That's a great idea. Has that ever been discussed thenewgreen? Cortez, when one replies or submits a post they will see the word markup just to the side of the textbox. This has all the info that you need regarding current hypertext features. I'm pasting the entire markup here for you to see. Hubski markup
Text surrounded by asterisks (*) is italicized, if the character after the first asterisk isn't whitespace.
Text surrounded by plus signs (+) is bolded, if the character after the first plus sign isn't whitespace.
Text surrounded by vertical bars (|) is quoted, if the character after the first bar isn't whitespace.
A user's name surrounded by at signs (@) links to their hub, and the user is notified that you mentioned them.
A word surrounded by hash signs (#) becomes a tag and links to posts with that tag.
Blank lines separate paragraphs.
Text after a blank line that is indented by two or more spaces is reproduced verbatim in a different font.
URLs become links.
Text can link to URLs by using the following format: linked text
Image URLs (.png, .tif, and .jpg) will embed automatically.
Bullet Points? Nope, that's never been brought up but I think it's a great idea, why not? Anything that can simply aid in articulating a point seems fine by me. -noted. Thanks Cortez.
When a typing in a text box you will see "markup" on the top right; click it. Otherwise here it is: Hubski markup
Text surrounded by asterisks (*) is italicized, if the character after the first asterisk isn't whitespace.
Text surrounded by plus signs (+) is bolded, if the character after the first plus sign isn't whitespace.
Text surrounded by vertical bars (|) is quoted, if the character after the first bar isn't whitespace.
A user's name surrounded by at signs (@) links to their hub, and the user is notified that you mentioned them.
A word surrounded by hash signs (#) becomes a tag and links to posts with that tag.
Blank lines separate paragraphs.
Text after a blank line that is indented by two or more spaces is reproduced verbatim in a different font.
URLs become links.
Text can link to URLs by using the following format: linked text
Image URLs (.png, .tif, and .jpg) will embed automatically.
Ok I got confused after I posted it and thought I had replied to the wrong post or something. I think I deleted it but I tried to undelete but I am not sure if it worked or not because I can see it but it still says deleted. Maybe someone can explain. Edit: Nevermind I think I got it now.
Followup question: How does one pronounce hubski properly? Is it hub-skee or hub-skeye? Or should I pronounce it with a soft I so that I sound like I have a British accent and I'm doing an R drop? Oh please can it be the British one!? I love British accents!
Yep. Use the search bar to the left just under 'privacy & terms'. I just searched Breh, and you came up as having joined 4 hours ago. Btw,It IS case sensitive. Welcome aboard :)
This may sound ridiculous, but where do I click to share a post? I can see save and tabs, but no share?
You click the hubwheel - the grey circle - next to the post or comment. It will turn turquoise and another little circle will pop up next to it. No question is ridiculous! We are all trying to learn. Edit: And your own posts have orange hubwheels.
Is there anyway to search by hash tags? I want to be able to just search "#politics", or "#technology" for example and get anything submitted with that hash tag. I tried using the search bar that is located under "submit a post", but that doesn't really return any relevant results.
mk, there is, isn't there? But cheaba, you can visit "community" on the left side of the screen and those tags should be there. Hope this helps.
The 'badges' link on the left is good. Also, pick a term and type it in search. If it's a tag, it will let you know, and you can see all posts with that tag. Another way that I think is good: click on a user's name, and click on 'badges earned'. That will always bring up interesting content. The most badged users can be found in 'community' on the left.
I like that under "controls" I have different Hubski-Style options. I'm currently a fan of "snow".