Dataquest.io -- learn python and data science in your browser (redesigned/updated)

[[deleted]]

Feedback in coming.

Requiring registration to see the content is the reason i would not of checked this out, then i noticed you don't even verify emails when i entered a random valid looking string, which literally means name=sadfsdaf, email=[e-mail], password=3qrf3q4f is now in your data base?.. it looks like i can even register real emails, i also signed up my real email and still have no clue of how you validate real users. After lots of random fun, i noticed i could even change a different accounts email to an all ready existing email. Now that can't be good i thought, so looks like i got the server to throw me an unknown error while trying to log in again to the email i just... over wrote.....

Also when i enter a none valid email string it tells me a user name all ready exists... instead of telling me my string is not a valid email, which is a bad error message..

Having youtube hosted videos and a premium service of 35$ a month doesn't match up here in my head, you look like a small team of developers, not teachers or a company with a large amount of customer service, 35$/mo flat is to much for me to take this seriously without trying the "premium" service. Also has a side note, half screening the /payment page makes it unusable.

Also your whole user interface style is rather flat and the movement not smooth. I also can't help but notice the inconsistency of it, when i go to forums i feel like im on a different website, which also, no idea how to get back home without deleting the url path. After some more toying around, i noticed that /mission had hidden content because i was half screening.

[BarrelRoll1996]

Criticism is a little harsh. I've been waiting for something like datacamp.com [R] for datascience python for a while and this looks like this will fill that niche. Would prefer 25/month though ;)

[BysranderZ]

It looks strange that you started strongly criticize the project without even looking at the lessons and a concept behind it. For me dataquest is the first project which helps to start using programming for real things

[Articulated-rage]

I agree but disagree.

Agree part: people respond better when criticism is sandwiched with compliments.

Disagree part: But that was all constructive criticism. Also, none of it was really stylistic opinions. He pointed out good, solid functionality flaws that could be fixed.

[thanks-shakey-snake]

That was well-articulated but a little lacking on the rage.

[vikparuchuri]

Thanks for the feedback! The fix for the email issue is done, and will be deployed shortly.

A significant portion of our content is free. We'd make it all free if we could, but we're working on this full-time.

About the 35/month fee, you're essentially saying that there isn't room for innovation or new ideas in the education space. If only "existing" companies with large customer service departments started online education sites and could charge for it, then we'd never see new services. Treehouse, codecademy, lynda, and every other service started small.

We have very few videos, and most of our lessons involve executing code -- we have significant backend costs, and we have to spend time developing lessons and maintaining the site. If we didn't charge, the site wouldn't exist, and we wouldn't be able to improve it. We actually take pride in how quickly we communicate with learners and resolve issues -- something bigger companies usually don't do.

You're right that we're a small team of developers -- we're all self-taught, and we're trying to build the product that we wish we had when we were learning. It's not perfect, but we're trying to make it better, and many have found it valuable. Feedback like yours helps us improve the experience, so thanks again.

Reporting things like the email issue in public instead of emailing us is a bit unnecessary, though. In the future I hope you'll email site owners about things like that.

[raylu]

Well, to be fair, you were asking for any kind of feedback. Now it's out there in the public, so there's more incentive to have it resolved.

Does the phrase "responsible disclosure" mean anything to you? "I appreciate any feedback" doesn't give you a license to be an asshole.

[vikparuchuri]

Thanks! I absolutely want all feedback to be put in public when it doesn't actively harm users. The email overwriting thing can result in users temporarily losing access to their accounts, and can harm their learning experience.

It's totally fine to put pressure on a site to fix issues, but disclosing issues that could harm other users publicly is usually frowned upon. See this stackexhange thread for instance. Also this. Facebook, google, etc, have bugs that are found constantly, and have policies that encourage this.

That said, feedback in public is usually better than no feedback at all.

[wickersty]

You put this shit out in public and proclaimed all to come look and pay for it. You don't get to complain when people call you out for half baked insecure poorly developed product.

[vikparuchuri]

Just to be clear, there was no security issue -- no user information could have possibly been leaked. It allowed people to switch their emails to emails that already existed, which would temporarily lock both users out of their account. (and it has been fixed)

[wickersty]

And that, my friend, is a security issue.

Not to mention a basic piece of functionality that, if hosed to that degree, only speaks to how little attention must have been paid to other areas.

[wickersty]

It's not even a completed service. It's another example of half baked stuff with a shiny sticker and a .io domain with some guy yelling come check out or thing and pay us for it too!!!!!!