Ivo Lucien

leaning toward *both* coymango and boldmango - social invention
It just occurred to me that coy's antonym might be available as well... I think coymango and boldmango make a pretty good pair of domain names, what do you think? (They are both available. Please don't go look them up, that can be noticed and they can be snapped up by squatters.)

I'm still interested in finding a more ideal domain name, one that gets the social networking idea across in some symbolic or poetic fashion and satisfies the criteria in my last post. Don't hesitate to post suggestions. ^_^

On the technical front, I'm working on the code foundations for the Goals and Compatibility Interview, including support for searches that allow a flexible choice of goal. Some randomly chosen examples include: evening dance partner only, open to marriage and kids within X years, casual dating with no commitment pressure 'cuz I move out of state in 1 year, etc.)

coymango dot com and boldmango dot com?

discussion about name brainstorming - social invention
Here are the name choice criteria mentioned in the brainstorming post, plus other factors in under consideration. Feel free to skip all that and comment on the table of available names.

( name considerations )

( name considerations )

( good domain options )

Newly added:
socialmyway

viral marketing ideas? - social invention planning
What mad schemes have you seen work for pulling folks to a new website? My marketing plans are woefully vague at this point, and I'd really like to be ready to create a strong pull as soon as the site is ready. ^_^

Here are my few thoughts on marketing, viral and not: ( Read more... )

Next post I'll put together the list of website names brainstormed in the last social invention entry. Please add more if you have any ideas. ^_^

naming the website? - social invention
I'd like to invite you all to wildly brainstorm names for the social invention website. And yes, socialinvention.com is taken. ;-)

Please make *any* suggestion you wish to, since even the most ridiculous name might inspire something excellent. I'll collate everything suggested here into another post for discussion.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't try to look up any domain name on anything other than google unless you know what you're doing. *Most* whois websites sell their search data to domain squatters and soon after you search the name has been snapped up.

( inspirations )

up late joking about website names
Like facetube.com (a real site as it turns out) and thnardswackleofsequiumwa.com (thank you Sam.)

On the other hand, what do you think of:

www.likeyoulikeme.com -- Any strong opinions?

<falls from chair into a deep slumber>

quick progress report - social invention update
Folks have been wonderful with their input on my recent polls / research questions, thank you all. It will take me a while to collate and integrate everything, but it's already clear to me that your feedback has improved the website design immeasurably. ^_^

I'm finished with the most recent round of database design, and am back to actually writing features. I am steeling myself to not get distracted by perfectionism and hammer out a bunch of functional code, and quickly. I'm currently writing the core of how profiles, privacy, messaging and the compatibility functionality all relate to each other.

It's so nice, simply enjoying the work and making this project happen. By comparison I've never been productive or focused before, this is a *very* nice feeling.

<waves cheerfully>

Thank you, everyone.
I am deeply appreciative of you, my wonderful friends and my caring community.

Thank you for your continuing friendship, even through my hermitage and rare contact. You have been the bedrock upon which my life has been built and renovated.

Bright Blessings

romantic pet peeves - social invention research
There are of course, those big goals that we all think of: Do they want kids? Want to live where I want to? Here though, please share the little things that significantly bug you or people you know while in a dating, romantic or married relationship.

The point of this question is to better match people such that their biggest day to day hot buttons aren't mutually aggravating, so please mention anonymous examples of what other folks have told you about, while avoiding too much speculation.

I, for example, am bothered by a pattern of lateness without real cause, especially when they don't call or warn of the possibility. And I like to know, most of the time and a little bit in advance, if a live-in partner plans to head to bed at the same time I will. The underlying reason for these two examples is that I feel helpless and in limbo when facing such uncertainties. Thankfully those can both be worked out fairly easily on the scale of such things. ^_^

photo and video opinions - social invention research
On a decidedly lighter note, what are the sorts of things that you want to be able to do with your avatar and any other photos or videos you upload? Tag them? Rate them? Crop them on the website? Something unusual or that you've not seen so far? What have you found helpful? And are there any "features" that you never want to see again?

I won't try to compete with youtube or flickr, but am wondering what few, simple media features would make using a social networking site more convenient and more pleasant.

To start this off on a happy note, I won't allow any audio or video to auto-play, unless it's specifically a page for playing that media item or you've chosen to turn on auto-play for media albums in general.

gender and orientation!?! -- social invention research
I wish to support reasonably concise but flexible options for self-designation and search criteria. There's a rough design I'm considering, but don't want to bias folks' responses.

What categories or flavors of orientation and gender do you know of?

Not just regarding sex; I'm casting a wide net with this. As an example, someone might have a femme female "orientation" regarding close friends, butch female or femme male for romantic/sexual partners and identify as femme female-transsexual.

If you want to bring up anything private, please message me. Thanks everyone!

The nature of friendship? -- comments stay private
What are the most important factors when you choose who you spend time with?

( Same text, comments are private... )

I am the only person who will ever see your comments to this post, don't be shy. Please go to This Thread for public discussion.

The nature of friendship? -- comments are public
What are the most important factors when you choose who you spend time with?

The middle ground between very abstract (e.g. trust) and details (e.g. plays WoW) would be ideal, but please post anything you wish. I am fleshing out my "interview" questions on the topic of friendship, and hope for additional dimensions and categories of compatibility.

( My answer... )

Comments here are public. Please go my next post to make comments that only I will see.

social invention update - ahh, databases
For those of you who don't have to deal with programming, or complex, structured information, this paragraph is for you. The last few days I've been going over the project's information handling logic and organization. It's a kind of information Tetris, except that you're changing the shapes that fall and the rules of the game at the same time. Oh yes, and no matter how much you try to get everything just right, your best laid plans will be like unto a gnat trying to knock over an elephant, in a gale force windstorm. But ya gotta try, right? If you're lucky, the storm is going your way. ;-)

I'll be nice and hide the ( Serious Geekery. ).

Does anyone have examples of weird or unusual personal information on websites that you've run across? Pet peeves about how companies record or treat personal information? I'm hoping I can learn from others' experience on this one.

social invention update - profile and "friends"
In the vein of privacy features and directed self expression, the profile feature of the site will allow nicknames / display names that are shown to the categories of people you choose. To keep things real, there will also be legal name and age fields that can be revealed or not according the same sort of custom privacy settings. Verified legal names will be made distinct, so folks won't be able to convincingly spoof other people. For the early beta, there will only be one nickname, and showing that or the username will be the only choices available. Later versions will allow users to set up multiple profiles, presenting a different side of your personality to specified categories of people.

Many folks I've talked to are tired of the misleadingly named "friends" category, often used for people one don't know at all. On this social site there will be sensible relationship categories, such as Fan, Connected, Friends, Work, Family and the tag of Trusted that one can apply to any individual or group. No-one will be able to see which category they're in, unless you choose to reveal it, and even then they'll only be able to see other people in the categories you've specifically revealed to them. In other words, you'll be able to keep your personal, work, family and public lives separate, without automatically revealing to anyone that something is being kept private.

Comments? Suggestions?

social inven... er, Happy Halloween!
The Metaphorest Halloween party had wonderful, happy energy, even if it was a bit underattended due to Steamcon. It was lovely seeing everyone. Congratulations again J. and S. ^_^

The social invention update is more of a "see last update," as I'm working on the same things, i.e. updating specs, remodeling office.

I wish everyone a lovely, scary time tomorrow.

social invention update - updating the blueprint
For the second time in a day yesterday, I found myself in a chain of how will this feature affect this feature affect this feature. I have a concise description of the features that I currently intend to build, but not enough of the technical specification to make the cross feature implications clear. There are a few elements left on the initial privacy feature support to complete, but it's clear that I need to knock together a complete technical overview to effectively move forward. I won't fall into the trap of detailed documentation when these features may still be shuffled, but getting a better perspective is important.

And speaking of blueprints (okay, it's a bit of a stretch) the bamboo flooring for the office is arriving today. That'll be fun to lug up the stairs with my back out of alignment. ^_^ It will sit in the room for several days, acclimating to the house humidity before installation. That's good because I haven't finished restoring the old trim and baseboards yet.

Have a lovely day!

social invention update - remodeling office and coding privacy features
A week or so ago I realized that, having addressed my motivational block, there was nothing stopping me from getting the long standing project of the computer room / office remodel finished. In the last week I've worked about half time (that's about 35 hours for me right now) on it, and am about 1/3rd of the way done with what was left to do. I still need to prep and paint the trim, install the soon to arrive bamboo flooring from Cali Bamboo, and then over coat that with the commercial quality Bona "Traffic" floor finish. After that there are a couple of small projects that can be done whenever, like refinishing the window frame and finishing the wiring on one electrical outlet.

Beyond that logistics project, I've also been coding the foundations of the website's privacy features. Soon users will be ab privacy rules for each user that can in theory restrict access on a field by field and user by user basis. In practice there will be limits to the standard settings available (the KISS principle applies here) but I hope to eventually support writing your own privacy rules however you like.

social invention update - iPhone application
My friend J. and I are designing a small iPhone application that will add an interesting, and hopefully compelling feature to the site. The plan is to add it to other mobile platforms as it proves to be a popular feature. It's fun being back in a collaborative mode after so long working on this solo. And yes, I'm being mysterious about that feature for the moment.

I continue to find myself being perfectionist about features in a way that's slowing down development. I've made some progress in quashing that tendency, but it's hard to break lifelong habits. Does anyone have any suggestions to help me turn off my aggressive internal editor?

social invention update - in the gutter
The city's sewer line backed up into the basement two days ago. And I don't mean a little. Life has this way of throwing curve balls sometimes, aye? They got the main line cleared yesterday, and will pay for the plumber's bill, etc. but *not* for cleaning up the mess. The greatest damage has been and will be to my time.

I've had everything up and working with my development environment for a bit now, and aside from man made disasters, the coding is going well. And happily, I have a meeting on Monday with a potential collaborator / former co-worker / friend.

Not much else to report this time. Be well and bright blessings.

social invention update - still not sure of my choice
A couple weeks ago I decided to switch programming libraries, from Wikipedia's to a new one called Yii. It's taking a while to get fully set up and familiar with it, but I *think* it was the right choice in the long run, and will reduce development time. I'm hopeful that the delay won't constrict my timeframe too much such that I'm sidelined by the need to take a contract programming gig. <fingers crossed>

I'm also getting set up so I can work anywhere that has internet, something that will resolve the level of distraction that occurs when working at home, in this little intentional community of 8. I have two friends who have generously offered desk / table space, and I'll most likely take them up on that sooner than later. Thank you both!

Current Mood: productive

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