What IH is missing.

IH is missing feature to bookmark an important post.

I'd also like to see more discussion posts. It's probably my #3 concern at the moment, so I should get to it in the next month or so.

(My #1 concern is the lack of visibility of products and product posts, #2 is the lack of availability of invite codes.)

I don't really mind the "how to guides" I appreciate it actually, so many of them are very beautifully written knowledge, but people should read their "thing" and once in a while come back to tell how it was, give some feedback in return of something new that you just learned.

Also, discussion happens when there is "deep reading", but these days everyone is simply "consuming" content in mass, which has no benefit. Neither to the reader, nor to the publisher.

Don't know what is missing.....But I recently joined and Love it.

"Save as draft" when you are creating a post.

I totally relate with this. I remember I tried to upvote and comment on all non-spam new posts for a few days in a row. I learned two things:

1. There was a lot of spam.
2. Not many people respond to comments to their own posts.

I viewed IH as an unbundled version of Maker Twitter, but when I post the same thing both here and there, I get a ton more engagement on Twitter. So it's more like Twitter is bundling IH in, which is not cool.

@csallen, here's my two cents, since you asked 🙃

• Make the person behind the post more visible. For example, in the posts list show a larger avatar and the name instead of handle. We should start recognizing people we've interacted with to interact more.

• Make it harder to post links. Maybe require a text description alongside, or disable this feature entirety, we can post links via text posts anyway.

I would love a mobile app!

Public discussion is the part of the iceberg everyone sees floating on top. But the community is sustained by the private discussions between members that you don't see. In a healthy community - 1-to-1 discussion are the rest of the iceberg.

Here's what is wrong with IH - if I want to talk with you privately, I have to go off-platform to your email address (assuming you even have that listed!) Most people have been spammed into removing their email; and those that are left are using a non-priority email that they don't really engage with.

So the 1-to-1 discussion dries up and moves away. The big part of the iceberg under the water melt. And then we're all wondering why the tip of the icebert - the public discussion everyone can see - isn't big enough or interesting enough to sustain us.

Without 1-to-1 discussion, it's just a place for people to dump the clickbait they're also dumping everywhere else. Posts on IH are becoming some version of... "see what I posted on Twitter and Hacker News".

I'll bet there are several IndieHackers who have communication tools that could be plugged in to make 1-on-1 discussions thrive --- that's the homegrown community solution. (shameless plug - - I've offered to Courtland to do this using ContactLink. )

I wish it would lead a lot faster like hacker news. Right now I often see an intermediatory loading page with a motivational quote for few seconds on my mobile.

I think it has definitely changed over the past few months. Even the milestone emails being shared are random things with 1 upvote and 0 comments.

Seems like genuine posts are often hidden from the start.

I think that depends on you and me. Indie hackers might be busy with building and shipping stuff... But start the conversation and I think it will flow...

I wish there were more technical discussions/resources.
And like someone already said a way to bookmark posts.

Proper code highlighting is high on my wishlist.

Has anybody seen this video What obligation do social media platforms have to the greater good? | Eli Pariser

It really resonates with what platforms are missing. What if platforms put people into cohorts with a smaller amount of people. And you could choose to leave and travel to another (but you can’t be in both at the same time).
Constraints feel like one of life’s biggest keys

His key points are
—
What happens when we think of platforms as spaces?

We know from social psychology that spaces shape behaviour.
How they are designed and how the encode certain norms how to behave
(i.e. library vs a bar)

Good spaces are structured.
Anomie is the feeling of overwhelmed in spaces with a lack of norms.
When things are too loose, people crave order and structure

Cities were the original platforms. Two-sided marketplaces, keep up with
relatives, vector for viral sharing.
They do this by building environment (i.e. parks), programming (i.e. events),
mayoral (i.e. informal ownership of a space)

We focus on how to make product user-friendly. But we need to ask how we
make public friendly products. A place we all just not feel included, but actual ownership of.

Now, look at you :) your post is getting popular. You got your discussions ;)

I do agree, and it was said before me in two different comments:

"IH has become a bit of a guru hub"
"...people now see it as a place to grow their personal brand"

I also would like to add, that whenever I added a comment, the lack of response was annoying. I received answers maybe 2-3 times only.

What we, as a community can do against it? I doubt that any related change should or could perform by the admins of the site, but we should take care more of our posts, asking and answering questions. In my opinion, and I'm repeating myself, it isn't a thing that can be changed from the outside.

Do you guys think it might be related to the high number of introverts in the community?

I think most of my conversations have been with feedback to products. Usually responding to further questions or giving more in-depth explanations.

I find most posts only have a lot of comments if they are feedback oriented, an AMA, or a controversial take.

The main issue I find is it’s not possible to “follow” a post unless you are the poster. Sure, I get notifications if someone replies to my comment. Otherwise, I’ll never see it again.

Well... this is the 2nd comment and you never replied to the first one. So are you part of the problem? lol... just kidding with ya.

A minimal mobile app!

There's unsurprisingly a lot of self promotion, just like the post you wrote.

I’ve got the same feeling as you. What I notice on IH are good contents or posts most of the time that don't receive enough attention by indie hackers. I'm currently building a platform similar to IH with the same purpose of helping creators etc. Would love to discuss more with you on what else is missing in IH.