Fridge (YC S10) on the BBC - Pared down, cut down social networking (opens in new tab)

(news.bbc.co.uk)

45 pointsaustinchang15y ago22 comments

22 comments

It bothers me that there is no https version for frid.ge. Even when you log in your credentials are sent unencrypted.

Compare to Facebook. On Facebook you can get a complete https experience by visiting https://www.facebook.com/ but even if you don't, the login still goes over https.

I'd take frid.ge more seriously with regards to privacy and security of my data if they simply forced all traffic over https and installed an EV SSL cert. Non SSL shouldn't even be an option. Otherwise my friends looking at my data are leaking my data. With an EV SSL cert and forced https, they could even use it as a marketing gimmick. Something along the lines of, "Frid.ge. We take the security of your personal data as seriously as your bank does"

Locke168915y ago

Someone should double check me on this because I actually couldn't get the account to correctly activate but I think there's a POST CSRF vulnerability on the "new group" button in the profile page.

mike-cardwell15y ago

And I think the release of Firesheep today only adds weight to this argument.

jharrison15y ago

There have been a few threads on HN about Fridge and in at least one the question about the magical "Profit" step was asked. I'm genuinely curious how a platform specifically targeted at people who want to maintain more definitive boundaries in their group memberships makes money.

Maybe I'm just not savvy enough to get it. The only thing I can think of is targeted advertising but even that seems a little sketchy given the premise that Fridge is ultra-private. How do you capitalize on a social graph without seeming to cross the line with privacy?

I guess the other option is to eventually charge for features in a sort of Freemium model.

Anyone have any other ideas how you monetize such a thing?

lrm24215y ago

That's because profit isn't part of their bet. This is a get acquired bet, plain and simple. Surely they will spin a yarn about charging for premium features, etc -- but that's just because they have to.

jharrison15y ago

Ah, yes. That IS a replacement for the "Profit" step.

Who would buy such a thing? Seems like an interested party might not like the idea that the TOS is so locked down (I'm presuming that the privacy is spelled out in a TOS, I haven't looked). Is a developed social graph really worth that much, especially if (as is mentioned in another thread) the groups are temporary, one-time use? I guess there's always the possibility of buying it and dispensing with the TOS and replacing it with a more open version.

Again, I'm just very curious. Having a hard time wrapping my head around this.

2 more replies

randomtask15y ago

Good work. Just one issue I noticed is that when I searched for "the fridge" in Google only one of your pages turned up and it was a broken link that served a default Apache 404 page (www.frid.ge/php/login.php). There was nothing else in the results that clearly stood out as the right page.

proexploit15y ago

Hadn't heard of Fridge before this article and I'm going to try it out. Everything seems to be working but it won't stop popping up the "Check your email to verify" alert (I already clicked/pasted the link a few times). That's going to get annoying :)

austinchangOP15y ago

argh... sorry about that! we had a bug we introduced recently that we thought fixed that... email repairman@frid.ge with you account and we can fix it?

yeti15y ago

Is it just me or is this URL hard to navigate to? eg- for Word of Mouth

I don't use any other site with a .ge extension. I tried thefridge.com and got to something totally different.

Searched Google for "Fridge", "The Fridge", "TheFridge" and no where on first page did it appear (not surprising given how much money should be in SEO/fridge sales)

Am I missing something?

tajddin15y ago

Well done man. Well done. I've actually used fridge with my friends a few times and we've appreciated the exclusivity that it provides as opposed to facebook.

PS ~ blue overload == great.

austinchangOP15y ago

thanks! working on a faster/less janky version to be released anyday...

sahillavingia15y ago

Congrats Austin. Love the site, though I think it suffers from blue-overload.

malloreon15y ago

When does the social graphing across groups between interests begin?

austinchangOP15y ago

at the moment we only "link" groups when there are common users in both. we are finding that as more and more groups are formed (around interests, events, organizations) more and more overlap occurs.

while this isn't terribly valuable right we might introduce the concept of larger contextual groups that are open to invites that we can start suggesting for related context

malloreon15y ago

So by initially talking up the privacy aspect in both PR and on the site, your goal is to eventually get people to care less about privacy and be more open on your site?

I don't mean to belabor the point endlessly across submissions, but I'm really seeing a disconnect between the marketing and PR for your site and your goals.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

22 comments

mike-cardwell15y ago

It bothers me that there is no https version for frid.ge. Even when you log in your credentials are sent unencrypted.

Compare to Facebook. On Facebook you can get a complete https experience by visiting https://www.facebook.com/ but even if you don't, the login still goes over https.

Locke168915y ago

Someone should double check me on this because I actually couldn't get the account to correctly activate but I think there's a POST CSRF vulnerability on the "new group" button in the profile page.

mike-cardwell15y ago

And I think the release of Firesheep today only adds weight to this argument.

jharrison15y ago

I guess the other option is to eventually charge for features in a sort of Freemium model.

Anyone have any other ideas how you monetize such a thing?

lrm24215y ago

jharrison15y ago

Ah, yes. That IS a replacement for the "Profit" step.

Again, I'm just very curious. Having a hard time wrapping my head around this.

2 more replies

randomtask15y ago

proexploit15y ago

austinchangOP15y ago

argh... sorry about that! we had a bug we introduced recently that we thought fixed that... email repairman@frid.ge with you account and we can fix it?

yeti15y ago

Is it just me or is this URL hard to navigate to? eg- for Word of Mouth

I don't use any other site with a .ge extension. I tried thefridge.com and got to something totally different.

Searched Google for "Fridge", "The Fridge", "TheFridge" and no where on first page did it appear (not surprising given how much money should be in SEO/fridge sales)

Am I missing something?

tajddin15y ago

Well done man. Well done. I've actually used fridge with my friends a few times and we've appreciated the exclusivity that it provides as opposed to facebook.

PS ~ blue overload == great.

austinchangOP15y ago

thanks! working on a faster/less janky version to be released anyday...

sahillavingia15y ago

Congrats Austin. Love the site, though I think it suffers from blue-overload.

malloreon15y ago

When does the social graphing across groups between interests begin?

austinchangOP15y ago

at the moment we only "link" groups when there are common users in both. we are finding that as more and more groups are formed (around interests, events, organizations) more and more overlap occurs.

while this isn't terribly valuable right we might introduce the concept of larger contextual groups that are open to invites that we can start suggesting for related context

malloreon15y ago

So by initially talking up the privacy aspect in both PR and on the site, your goal is to eventually get people to care less about privacy and be more open on your site?

I don't mean to belabor the point endlessly across submissions, but I'm really seeing a disconnect between the marketing and PR for your site and your goals.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse