[1mbsite]

I took HN’s feedback into mind and made site accessible without a log in. You can explore all the posts and members now. Log in and register links are in bottom nav; more info about Vers is available on the log in page.

What is Vers?

- With Vers you get a chronological feed. Only posts from the people you follow, in the order they are posted. No more sponsored posts, no ads, and no algorithm changing the order of your feed behind the scenes.

- Don't get sucked into a feed full of posts you've already read. The Vers distraction-free feed removes the noise by only showing you 1 post at a time. Once you interact with that post it will never be seen again. When you're out of posts your feed will be empty. Enjoy social media free from distractions.

- Vers is a social network for those who are tired of social networks. No worries about follows, likes, or any other superficial social media numbers that ruin the experience, it's just you and your content. Tell your stories and share your thoughts with the world. On Vers only you can see how many likes and followers you have so there's no external pressure to perform well.

- Ever get tired of the constant notifications on your phone? One notification, then another, and another. As the minutes go by it's hard to feel present in the moment you're in because of the distraction of the next notification. With Vers you can set it up so you only receive your notifications once per day.

- Studies have shown that vibrant colors are a crucial part of how social networks get people addicted. Enter Grayscale Mode, a scientifically proven feature that's able to minimize your addiction to social networking. By stripping away all the neuron-stimulating colors from the site you'll be less motivated to use Vers.

With lots of thoughtfully designed features that put you in control of your social media experience and help you foster meaningful connections. 3 more features I didn’t list are that the site shows posts in your timezone and the author’s for extra context. You can enable bedtime mode and the site will encourage you to log off and get 8 hours of sleep, and your profile will even let people know you’re away. Another cool feature is if you’re sad Vers will encourage your followers to cheer you up.

There’s no social network out there like Vers, and it’s even better because it’s not built by some big team or billionaire. It’s built by 1 25 year old in NY.

[Normille]

Now I can see why you were so reluctant to let us 'peep behind the curtain' before. From that 'Explore' page, it looks like you only have 4 members. One of whom posts about 90% of the content.

[1mbsite]

The explore page is only featured members since it’s the first page people see and I didn’t want people abusing that with spam. Search “*” (without quotes) and it’ll show you posts from everybody. You were complaining the other day that there was no explore page, so I make one and you’re still complaining - to me it looks like you just want to complain. To each their own I wish you all the best; can’t please everybody.

[Normille]

I really didn't come here to have a go at you, as you seem to think. But as you keep responding in a fairly combative way, I feel compelled to return the favour:

  >You were complaining the other day that there was no explore page, so I make one and you’re still complaining - to me it looks like you just want to complain...

I was 'complaining' the other day because [obviously trying to cash in on the publicity surrounding Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter] you were promoting vers.social as the greatest thing since sliced bread.I had a look at the site and, apart from a 'mission statement' making the same kind of promises, there was nothing at all to see on the site, without creating an account.

For context, I should point out that I saw at least 3 or 4 other social networks I'd never heard of, blowing their own trupmets on here on the day the news was full of the Twitter takeover. It seemed everyone was trying to ride in on the bandwaggon.

So I looked on HN, as I'd a vague feeling vers.social had been discussed before and, sure enough, found a post dating back over a year, where several people had made the same point. ie. why would anyone sign up for a social network site they'd never heard of, without being able to see anything of what's inside? Your response then was combative and dismissive:

  >Okay then don’t sign up. I’m personally tired of hearing this...

You were equally dismissive when I made the same point in this current thread. Responding:

  >Unfortunately just because a couple people on Hacker News requested a different homepage it doesn’t change how the market works. 

But, to your credit, you did eventually allow us a peep inside.

However, when I revisited the site to take another look, all I saw were a very few posts, spread out over quite a long time and all by the same 3 or 4 people. So, a bit tongue-in-cheek, I responded with a "I can see why you didn't want us to see inside..." quip. Which you've also got really defensive about [See quote with which I began this reply]

I don't know if it's a generational thing, or a 'brash American' cultural thing but what I find really tedious is this current 'Silicon Valley startup' philosophy of over-promising and under-delivering, combined with a wannabe Steve Jobs / Linus Torvalds "You're holding it wrong, you fucking idiot!" attitude from the founder/s.

If, knowing the demographic of this place, you come on a site like HN to promote your latest thing and you get some feedback, then take it on board and consider that many of the people on here have 'been there, done that, got the T-shirt' The fact that the first time you posted about vers.social on here you got 23 comments with good feedback and ignored it all. And then the second time time you posted about it you got no response at all, should have told you something.

And it's not just that you're ignoring the feedback. It's the fact that you're batting it away in a fairly aggressive manner. Again, what were you expecting from HN? This is a tech savvy site with a lot of members who've founded or worked in big, successful companies. They're going to give you feedback which you may not like, but which will be useful and constructive. If you just want people to blow smoke up your arse and tell you how 'arse-sum' whatever you've created is, there are sites like Facebook and Instagram for that.

Anyway. This is going nowhere. So, Normille -over and out.

[1mbsite]

It’s not aggressive to give you the same exact energy you throw my way. You can write up a big long paragraph and make me out however you want, but at the end of the day I’ve been accommodating. You can’t shit on my hard work and basically call me a money hungry scammer and then act surprised when I give you attitude back. You’ve accused me of trying to benefit from Twitter’s acquisition, accused me of lying about user numbers, accused me of selling user information - that’s a really big conclusion to come to when you’ve even admitted that you refuse to go past the homepage and actually explore the site.

Why do you keep quoting my comments from a year ago? I know what I said. As I’ve said - at the time most social networks were only a homepage; Twitter just recently opened their gates which inspired me to follow suit. I can recognize that from the beginning that opening Vers up would have been beneficial, but at the same time not a requirement. The fact that I didn’t open Vers up sooner doesn’t take away from the legitimacy of the platform today. Really can only sum it up to both parties being right in their own way.

You have no right to keep commenting on all of my stuff and trying to define my character. I am kind and intelligent, and I started Vers to embody those characteristics inside a social networking app.

There is giving actionable feedback and then there is being a hater who will hate a concept no matter what the outcome.

[joshmanders]

This guy isn't worth your time, buddy. Just ignore him.