Show IH: Light Bulb List - Launch your Ideas

I think some of these concerns are over the top- I don't need to know every last detail about someone's website to add my email to their mailchimp list.

I guess I shot myself in the foot when I a said thanks for the positive feedback, but I'll take it. I would like to address some of your concerns in the hopes of making you a little less skeptical.

The core question which I find myself unable to answer is "to whom are you talking?". Who, exactly, is drifting around the internet in an unfocussed search for interesting software ideas?

This may not necessarily be random, Makers could publish and share their ideas through social media or with friends. It could also be found organically. All the appropriate SEO meta tags are hooked up.

When I went to your website, I discovered you hadn't actually got any ideas ... so that wasn't attractive. But then I thought: how would I ever know your site even exists and why on earth would I ever want to visit it?

I'm working on it, but you gotta start somewhere. I've got about half a dozen bulbs I'm planning on publishing over the next month or so (This is a side project and I'm not about to quit my day job).

The fact that they have to join a mailing list when they have no idea of the likely content, frequency or anything else and where you have made no promises about respecting privacy, limiting frequency of communications would also give me pause for thought if I had stumbled across your website by accident. The cynic in me would say something like, "Nice try, sunshine, but you ain;t having my email address to sell on!".

As far as privacy goes, the Light Bulb List server does not store emails even for Makers signing up who wish to publish Bulbs. The server acts as a pass through to the appropriate MailChimp list. If you don't like an idea or don't trust the Maker who published it, then don't sign up. But yes, I need to be more transparent about this so it's on my todo list.

I have no idea who you are. I don't even know your name. I don't know your story or where you live (no contact details on your website, for instance).

Yes, I need to add a contact/about page to be more clear about that. Maker's are able to publish a bio in a similar manner to IH which you can see by clicking on the appropriate link, but maybe the bio also needs to appear when you hit read more.

As for credibility, yes that is something I am working on by trying to be more active in the IH community but have a lot of work to do. You can click on my avatar to see my bio.

I know you also plan to allow others to publish their ideas. But why? Who would they be talking to?

You can publish your ideas right now! Why don't you publish your idea for "A Marketplace where non-technical founders can find developers to build a fast MVP and Developers can find consulting work". If you don't want to publish it... can I claim the idea?

I hate to sound so negative but I honestly think you would be better off trying to find a business idea for which people are prepared to pay.

Monetization could be achieved through offering Bulbs that could be promoted. This only works if the site begins to get traction and gets a lot of visitors, so yes options for monetization are limited.

This plan has no focus because "project" can cover a million different things and almost no-one is ever going to trawl through a mountain of ideas on the off-chance that one of them might be capable of development by a programmer he does not know.

Yes, that is something I've thought about. "Project" is pretty broad. A bit stuck on how to focus it appropriateley.

Everything has to start somewhere and I'm sure it wasn't easy for Courtland to get his first interview, and I don't expect it will be easy for me to get my first Maker to publish a bulb. If it doesn't happen, then so be it. It will just be a list of my ideas that I've gotten out in the open :)

FYI privacy and about page published. Also, my target audience is other software developers who have felt the same pain points. A relevant article was just published on IH - https://www.indiehackers.com/@thwiv/writers-block-or-the-wantrepreneur-blues-76ab4a93b6