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authorDrew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>2013-09-08 19:03:48 -0600
committerDrew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>2013-09-08 19:03:48 -0600
commit5cf89549e30e6cea3ccb423b73ac56a2f666adc1 (patch)
tree0dc3251d8d6df5266317bcc5f65a9e460cea782b
parentb278aa236487c03213ad8c7a98779089820b95e8 (diff)
Add mediacrush blog post
-rw-r--r--_posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md96
-rw-r--r--css/base.css5
-rw-r--r--img/mediacrush.svg63
3 files changed, 164 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md b/_posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/_posts/2013-09-08-MediaCrush-post-mortem.md
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+---
+title: MediaCrush Post-Mortem
+layout: post
+thumbnail: /img/mediacrush.svg
+---
+
+About two months ago, I approached my friend jdiez over IRC with a proposition.
+
+ <SirCmpwn> I'm thinking of making a website for hosting gifs
+ <SirCmpwn> but when you upload a gif, it converts it to ogv and renders it with HTML5 video
+ <SirCmpwn> faster load time + better quality
+ <jdiez> hmmmm
+ <jdiez> sounds like a great idea
+ <SirCmpwn> I bought gifquick.com
+ <SirCmpwn> .net
+ <jdiez> not one of your best names
+ <SirCmpwn> you're a name
+ <jdiez> I have one
+
+After someone suggested a less silly name (and a little programming on the side), [MediaCrush](https://mediacru.sh)
+was born. If you missed it, it's a website for hosting media (images, video, audio, vectors). Privacy first,
+open-source, lots of [other things](https://blog.mediacru.sh/2013/07/19/MediaCrush-for-nerds.html) the
+tech-literate like. This is the first project I've tried to promote properly, and one of my more intersting
+collaborations. So here's how it went:
+
+<img src="https://mediacru.sh/5j-W2R6dlPh-.png" />
+
+## Hacker News
+
+By far the most succesful way to promote MediaCrush was on [Hacker News](http://news.ycombinator.com). I
+submitted "[Show HN: An open-source media hosting site that's anonymous and fast](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6189397)",
+and got lots of good feedback and generated a lot of excitement. Thanks to those who saw and contributed to
+that thread. This one, I think, was a success because the readers of Hacker News almost univerally fall into
+our target audience, and they're mostly smart folks who are able to give an informed opinion on the site. They
+can also see the benefits of our sort of service compared to the competetion.
+
+Result: Positive
+
+## Casual Conversation
+
+As a project I was invested in and that I think is pretty cool, I naturally started chatting about it around
+the web (mostly in IRC). Lots of people liked it, and the MediaCrush IRC channel still has a fair number of
+regulars. This had mixed reactions, from apathy to supportiveness. This is harder to remember since these
+interactions are buried deep somewhere in my thousands of IRC logs. I don't think it made us many long-term
+users, but we got some good feedback.
+
+Result: Positiveish
+
+## /g/
+
+We didn't mean to promote it on /g/, but someone (not related to us) posted about it there and we saw it in
+our referers. I dropped by and answered a couple questions. 4chan generally liked it, and was impressed by
+the tech. There were rumors of getting support in a popular 4chan browser extension, but I don't know where
+that went. Word of mouth is always the best means of promotion, and that seemed to be the case with 4chan.
+Can't say we got a lot of actionable feedback from them, though.
+
+Result: Positive
+
+## Reddit
+
+Our attempt at getting the Reddit users involved was basically a complete failure. MediaCrush links are now
+banned from Reddit (though the admins said they'd lift the ban a week ago - situation still developing). We
+posted about it in a few places and answered lots of questions. Additionally, we made a bot that users could
+summon to a thread to rehost media for them (usually good for gifs, since we get
+[crazy good results](https://mediacru.sh/demo) when we host gifs). The Reddit admins told us to stop spamming.
+Additionally, when we tried to work with some subreddit moderators (like /r/gifs), we were shot down and the
+moderation of several subreddits did not want to support MediaCrush.
+
+However, the response from the users was generally positive, both from the
+[technically savvy](http://redd.it/1k4v7h) and the
+[general public](http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1k3uro/xbox_one_handy_guide_for_early_adopters/cbl4rrl?context=3).
+We also bought a Reddit ad for a hundred bucks (which buys you fairly low exposure). Unfortunately, the ad was
+run *after* the domain was banned, which defeated the purpose. You can upvote some ads, and ours got
+more upvotes than downvotes, which is unusual for a Reddit ad.
+
+At the end of the day, though, our biggest target userbase is unable to use MediaCrush and I consider that a
+crushing defeat for the site.
+
+Result: Failure
+
+## Conclusion
+
+That's about all the promotion we ended up doing. I am afraid that MediaCrush will fail as a result of
+hostility from Reddit. Lessons learned;
+
+* Hacker News is still a great resource to get good feedback on cool stuff you're working on.
+* Though I wouldn't expect *every* 4chan board to be worth it, we seemed to get a good response from /g/.
+* Be *very careful* with Reddit. There's a fine line between showing off something cool you did, and
+ spamming. We still aren't sure exactly where that line lies, but we certainly went over it.
+
+The graph at the top of this post says it all. So far, the site has cost me
+[about $750](https://mediacru.sh/transparency/2013-09-01-Financial-summary.md), which is not as bad as it
+could have been. I hope to keep it alive for as long as possible. I don't want to let down the users who
+have been supportive of us, and I don't want existing media vanishing from the web.
+
+Keep in touch, we'll see how my next big project goes.
diff --git a/css/base.css b/css/base.css
index a833aa9..79995bd 100644
--- a/css/base.css
+++ b/css/base.css
@@ -33,3 +33,8 @@ pre {
font-size: 14pt;
margin: 0;
}
+
+.media-object {
+ width: 64px;
+ height: 64px;
+}
diff --git a/img/mediacrush.svg b/img/mediacrush.svg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8dcd634
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+++ b/img/mediacrush.svg
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
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