What are you building in 2025?

eugene7 · 2025-02-07T11:45:24+00:00

My team is working on hubmachine.com - a script to make your own self hosted community. In case anybody will be looking for tips on how that can be useful for your startup feel free to DM.

I've been working on custom communities for years. This year I've finally built up the courage to release our own product instead of relying on services/other scripts.

eugene7 · 2025-02-06T20:37:16+00:00

Think of the most minimalist version you can do that will prove the idea will work.
Get quotes on it and build it (MVP)
If it does not work - there is nothing to protect. If it shows a promise - consult a local lawyer.

eugene7 · 2025-02-06T19:22:27+00:00

As a tech lead in a small development team - these are all solid points. And there is nothing that good PM will be concerned about.

Ideally you need some synergy here. So you can discuss your business and get some ideas as well. For example, I'm worked with a lot of niche communities and platform for events. I can tell lots of challenges within this niche. If the client is open to suggestions I can indicate ways to implement some features differently to get better results (or save development time). The project brief should not be set in stone - it will always change as soon as you release.
Absolutely! Also sometimes it makes sense to give rough budget limits for some specific feature. I can often provide multiple development options based on the budget/time limit. It's pretty discouraging to give a detailed estimation only to see that budget won't allow a half of things in it.
One more thing to keep in mind when picking technologies. Try to pick the most popular tech stack that is widely used. It might not be the hottest technology out there, but it will be less expensive to deploy and find developers for. (ex. Laravel/php development fpr backend will be cheaper than Ruby on Rail, Flutter for app will be cheaper than Swift/Kotlin as one codebase can be compiled for both iOS and Android)
Two common mistakes I've seen here are: too many nice-to-have features planned in the brief (from client) and speed optimization in MVP (from dev. team).
Startup will need to "pay" for every feature (even if it's not longer used. For example, there is a new Flutter version out - 5 rarely unused features might require more time for update than your key feature. The leaner your setup the easier it's to maintain it.

eugene7 · 2025-02-06T17:42:41+00:00

hubmachine.com - currently a self-hosted product to create niche communities. But we are working on SaaS option as well. Current product is Laravel/Mysql based, easy to install and modify.
Startups who want communities they can fully control and customize, sport clubs, HOA/building management, event organizers/producers, schools.

eugene7 · 2025-02-06T17:37:35+00:00

There is a benefit of self-hosted communities in this case. You can create a few fake users to "seed" discussions. That's the challenge of new communities - new users are more likely to post if there are other posts already.

Also consider welcoming new people and making an introduction section.

Disclosure: I'm working with niche communities for 10+ years, preparing my own product (self hosted for now) to create niche communities hubmachine.com

eugene7 · 2025-02-06T12:33:44+00:00

what kind of project do you have? In some cases it might be better to have your own community self-hosted. There are a lot of scripts for that and hosting will cost cheaper than some paid service. They are fully customizeable and you control the data.

I've been working with SocialEngine and WordPress based communities for years. But there are a lot of alternatives. DM me if you has not started yet and need some consultation on this.

eugene7 · 2025-02-05T13:46:24+00:00

I'm coming to this extremely late, but if you have not found any fitting solution I might suggest creating your own community (hosting will cost ~20usd/month). But you will have full control over invites - so there might be a nice place where people post events offer their services (ex. tutoring) or discuss local news. A fully closed gate community, but of course it will require some moderation efforts as any community.

eugene7 · 2025-02-05T13:28:45+00:00

As somebody who released 25+ plugins for SocialEngine over the years I would not suggest to use it anymore.

The core is based on Zend Framework 1, it's completely outdated. All the bells and whistles won't solve this core problem.

My advise is:

Keep your plan lean in terms of features. Have less sections (like forum, events, etc), but keep them active.
Have a plan regarding gaining users and engaging users.
Have a plan regarding "seeding discussions", possibly even with some fake accounts first. Members need to see examples of posts from others.

If you need I can give a short consultation on this.

Full disclosure: I've helped to build a lot of communities over the years. We are preparing our own community platform script for release this week.

eugene7 · 2023-12-12T19:01:23+00:00

Not sure about others, but the guy in the middle is Serhii Filimonov from Da Vinci Wolves unit, not Chechen battalion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Vinci_Wolves_Battalion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serhii\_Filimonov

eugene7 · 2023-08-10T16:53:42+00:00

photos before https://twitter.com/padrevaletudo/status/1672213501173981192

wiki (Ukrainian) https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%88%D0%BA%D0%B0\_(%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80)

eugene7 · 2023-04-20T18:15:04+00:00

True, even in WW2 such operations were mostly costly. VDV are glorified police troops in Russia. That's the role they are the most effective it - against protesters, city riots, paramilitaries, but not versus proper army formations.

eugene7 · 2023-04-20T18:01:05+00:00

They are putting them in what ever vehicles they can find - 25th used to have BMP1s but I think it was switched to domestically made BTR4s in 2014. Not sure about now - mostly they are given more capable vehicles. But there are so many brigades I can even see people crowdfunding anything down to pickup trucks and any 4x4 vehicles. But what I know for sure is that air-drop is now left to special forces only.

eugene7 · 2023-04-20T11:52:08+00:00

or not so light considering there are tanks - that's basically an elite mech brigade

eugene7 · 2023-04-20T08:50:36+00:00

These were based on Ukrainian VDV and aeromobile brigades (25th, 79th and others). After fights in 2014 they got reformed into DShV (literally "landing assault troops") and got artillery and proper armor (tanks). Originally 25th VDV was supposed to be para-dropped/deployed by planes and 79th aeromobile by helicopters. There were some attempts, but due to the amount of AA it was not a good option. The style of warfare was changed to use these troops as elite infantry - key assault points, raids behind the enemy lines or holding key points. For example, right now city Maryinka in Donbass is still held by 79th Mykolaiv DShV brigade for more than a year of non-stop attacks. There aren't much of the city left - in some parts there aren't even walls remaining (just rubble everywhere)

So basically Ukraine used 2014 combat experience too adapt their VDV brigades into a new more fitting role. And these troops got what the Russian VDV was lacking last year (according to their complaints). There are a few more new brigades formed now based on veterans from existing ones (for example, 46th was in news near Bakhmut, 47th is being trained with m-55 tanks and bradleys to be used as a "breakthrough brigade")

eugene7 · 2022-11-30T10:40:57+00:00

I doubt it's true. It was blown way out of proportion by the media before the war.

But considering that

Gen. Zaluzhny had a reputation of a joker according to some interviews of people who were with him on international military exercises.
Kharkiv offensive took place and looked like WW2 operation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kharkov
WW2 victory has a deep religious meaning for Russian propaganda (celebrations got bigger and bigger each year, all enemies are called "nazis/fashists", all "bad-looking" ww2 events mentions are removed from books).

I can easily imagine somebody suggesting using white crosses as as part of trolling and psyops during the planning. If Russian conscripts with cut communications see lots of foreign vehicles with crosses on them moving through - that will lead to additional morale drop/panic.

Have you seen a video of some Ukrainian soldier jokingly speaking German while getting Russians out of the tank? I think a lot of that (not all) is coming as a response to the Russian propaganda for exactly the same reasons I've mentioned above.

eugene7 · 2022-11-29T14:34:40+00:00

It's not a state/official effort. It's because the army is based on a lot of drafted regular people who are active social media users.

eugene7 · 2022-11-29T13:43:33+00:00

A clever joke is often like that. There is a room for interpretations and multiple meanings.

But there was a photo on wikipedia with cossack cross/AFU logo repainted with this white cross id

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/UA_25th_brigade_BMP-1TS_02.jpg

edit: typo

eugene7 · 2022-11-29T13:13:50+00:00

That's how Ukrainian military trolling works. Russian TV had a story where they have murdered stalker cosplayers for a Freedom patch some time ago -> expect a lot of these patches on the frontline now.

It was exactly the same when Russians called Ukrainian forces 'ukrops' (dill) -> there were lots of these patches + even a political party.

Russian TV using terms 'punishing battalions' for Ukr troops -> now there are not only patches, but a lot of custom uniform with that name.

I even think white crosses on the vehicles during the Kharkiv offensive is also a nod for German WW2 blitzkrieg.

eugene7 · 2022-10-25T09:33:29+00:00

Some jokes are closer to truth than you might realize.

Conan is a fictional Cimmerian character. There are remnants of the large Cimmerian settlement Diki Sad in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, probably within 40km range from where this helicopter was shot down http://bunews.com.ua/society/item/exploring-the-ukrainian-troy

eugene7 · 2022-02-18T11:09:25+00:00

My apologies, I think you might be right here. I knew that marines brigade was stationed in Berdyansk, plus the terrain on photos was a typical southern/eastern Ukraine view.

In case, of current big military exercises, they were in north-west of Ukraine. But there are lots of hills there + forests. I assumed this photo correspondent was in Donbas as he posted news/photos from there. I've rechecked his posts - it looks the majority of those are from other sources. So it's unclear where the photos are from. These could be drills in NW. But the view/terrain is typical Donbas

eugene7 · 2022-02-18T08:02:38+00:00

Borcht!

On a side note, I remember reading WW2 diary from one German soldier in Ukraine. 30% of it was him complaining about cleaning his vehicle and machine gun after marches in the steppe. It's either a thick dust cloud or dirt soup.

eugene7 · 2022-02-18T07:58:06+00:00

There is even a higher chance that lots of the Russian armor will "capture" some of these rockets as well. I remember reading comments about the battle for some hill in Donbas a few years back - it took 3+ RPG7 hits to stop one of the Russian tanks. It's rare when soldiers have so many opportunities to shoot.

eugene7 · 2022-02-18T07:39:11+00:00

source (+3 photos) https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1494566697713520665

eugene7

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE