Ask HN: How's this for a launch page/viral loop?

[NickC_dev]

Background info: I'm launching an image sharing site (http://lolstack.com) this coming Tuesday and I'd like to get some momentum coming out of the gate. In a nutshell, lolstack is cool because it encourages quality content through duplicate detection, community voting, and virtual currency (lolbucks).

I'd like some feedback on the launch page before I go on an all out media blitz submitting to TechCrunch et al.

I've heeded the advice of several articles on launch pages and implemented the following:

- Custom welcome messages depending on the traffic source. ex: http://lolstack.com/?ad=r1

- Incentive for referrals. If you sign up, you'll see a screen offering you 50 lolbucks for referring two friends. It looks like this: http://i.imgur.com/DA0Wl.jpg There's also a "tweet this" button encouraging users to mention lolstack.

My latest development snapshot of the actual site is available on the subdomain "dev" of lolstack.com. Feel free to poke around in there. I would love some actionable criticism.

[erichcervantez]

My first thought was that the name didn't make sense. When I think of "stack" I think of a software stack (LAMP, etc). I'm not even sure what a non-hacker would think of. Stack of pancakes maybe.

Also without diving into the application, the front page seems a bit long. On my 20" widescreen monitors I didn't even see the countdown timer until I scrolled. I think you could widen it, move stuff up.

I like the orange username idea. Makes me wanted to sign up (didn't have time to right now - at work). Also showing how many slots are left may backfire in this case. It looks as if you started off with 10,000 slots and only have registered a few users. You could try padding that number to give us the feeling that slots are flying off the shelves.

Good luck!

[NickC_dev]

I'll fudge the remaining slots and see what happens if I reduce the size of the title logo. Thanks!

[justinj]

Nick, the lack of a consolidated design ethic is difficult to overlook. The essential layout of the site is fine, however there are a few things you should take a look at:

- The fonts are inconsistent, especially look at fixing your sizing.

- The image resizing you've employed is ruining the quality of the posts. Try filling your pages with real images (like you use on the launch page) and you'll see how it feels.

- The voting buttons aren't working at all for me - can you smooth those guys out?

There is nothing wrong with the minimalist route (like HN for example), but you have to be consistent if you choose that direction.

Best of luck with the site.

[NickC_dev]

Thanks, Justin. Design is a challenging area for me. I'll try and massage the consistency into something more appealing in the coming days. The vote button trouble is concerning. What browser are you using?

[omarchowdhury]

What am I supposed to do with lolbucks?

[NickC_dev]

I'm planning to implement the following as possible purchases in a section of the site called the lolstore:

-any color username

-avatar image

-more powerful upvotes (2x)

-raffle tickets to win real life items

The idea is to reward users for submitting quality content. For example, if you submit an image that gets >100 upvotes, that's worth 100 lolbucks.