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by _zzaw 1138 days ago
Owning my content means it's on my local drive, like with Obsidian (or, well, Apple Notes). I realize that may not be the case with a web-based tool, like Notion or Asana; that is justifiable, but I'd like to know that from the outset. This is where a simple product page explaining the functions and features would have helped.

Automatic backups and sync are great—ordinarily I'd consider that a valuable feature—but if that's optional, as you said, it should not be a requirement for using the tool. Besides making me suspicious, it's a speed bump. I was ready to experiment with your tool until I realized I had to set up an account. At that point, I decided I didn't want to bother.

My assumption is that, until proven otherwise, every tool is trying to sell my data or drive me towards a subscription. If you're doing that, be clear about it. If you're not doing that, be very clear about it. Clarity would engender a lot of good will here, since most of us have learned to assume the worst from SaaS tools. Not having ulterior motives is the exception, and that's great, but I think you need to be extra clear about that.

1 comments

Yeah, I see this completely. I'd need myself if I wasn't the maker and hence 100% sure that there is not intention to sell data.

My plan is to have mobile apps soon and make multi-device use a core part of the experience. Which is why I went with mandatory login although it makes little sense so far (since there is no really multi-device support). I just didn't want to build things twice since I'm doing this alone...

That said, I'll have to go with your other suggestion which is offering good ways to export & backup into your own storage (local or otherwise) and be upfront about this option.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!