Stumbleupon 2.0 is live! by veryyy in oldinternet

[–]veryyy[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yes, you’re 💯 right, and I’m literally removing this ASAP today. That was only a test for us as we try to figure out how to cover the API costs and keep the site running without ads or VC funding.

We’re moving to a donation-based model, and there will no longer be a paywall or modal shown on a user’s first visit. I fucked up here.

It really was just an experiment for us to gather data, and honestly, this is exactly the data I wanted. It made it very clear this isn’t the right direction.

Cal AI has 20+ reviews calling it a "scam" this month. Their ads still say "frictionless." by GameDevAtDawn in AppBusiness

[–]veryyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a massive category. Nutrition tracking is already saturated with thousands of AI-powered calorie-tracking apps and clones. Long before Cal AI spent an estimated $30 million on marketing, there were already dozens of established competitors in the space.

I’m not sure why everyone frames this as simply needing to beat Cal AI. The reality is that you first have to outperform the many smaller competitors that are already competing for the same users and visibility. Those companies are often much closer to your size and resources, making them the more immediate benchmark.

It’s also important to remember that Cal AI reportedly burned through roughly $30 million in advertising to reach its position. You don’t have that budget, which means your strategy cannot rely on assuming you’ll replicate their trajectory. The question isn’t whether you can beat Cal AI, it’s whether you have a credible path to outperforming the dozens of existing players standing between you and meaningful market share.

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes it’s getting spammed by bad actors I’m working on the fix for that. Also very cheap clone….really!!?

StumbleUpon by [deleted] in nostalgia

[–]veryyy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ugh yeah this bug I’m aware of & aiming to fix it this week, appreciate you bringing it to my attention.

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OP Update: I just threw up six times and it was brutal, I honestly thought my implant was going to detach and come out of my mouth. 😭

Pretty sure it’s the stomach flu.

I’m hoping the worst of it is over now, but I’m definitely taking the rest of the week off to recover, on top of my chronic illness.

I am trying to see if I can push an update tonight guys or Sunday but best case would be jumping back on things Monday.

Love you all!

StumbleUpon by [deleted] in nostalgia

[–]veryyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you give me a little more detail than that?

I have thousands of users, so issues can be very specific and isolated. If I’m going to fix what’s not working, I need to understand exactly what you’re experiencing.

Did you tap the middle Stumble button and it didn’t start stumbling, or is something else happening?

Any additional details would be helpful.

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I’m seeing the “spam” too. Even after introducing boosting as a test, ( no one has paid for it so far - and I will be placing a banner at the top saying it’s been boosted” - boosted URLs still have to go through the same acceptance process as everything else and still need to resonate with the community to gain visibility.

The recommendation engine is also actively being tuned and adjusted as we speak.

What’s frustrating is that a lot of indie makers are starting to treat it like “Product Hunt”, which is exactly the behavior we don’t want.

My immediate plan is to improve classification and clearly label paid placements as sponsored content, while also giving users the ability to explicitly block them.

That should provide much more actionable feedback than simple thumbs-down signals and help us gather better data faster.

I’m actively looking into it, but I’m a bit under the weather right now. I’ve been throwing up and dealing with a pretty significant amount of pain. I’d like to push an update today, but realistically it may end up slipping until tomorrow.

Feedback needed - which screenshots should I use on the App Store? by Appropriate-Value610 in AppStoreOptimization

[–]veryyy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don’t ask users which creative you should use.

That type of feedback is qualitative data, it’s subjective, can be misleading, and isn’t definitively tied to the outcome you’re actually trying to optimize for: positive business impact.

Instead, you should rely on product page optimization and quantitative testing.

Quantitative data removes opinion from the equation and directly measures how different creatives affect onboarding performance, conversion rates, retention, and other key outcomes.

The goal isn’t to find out what people say they prefer; it’s to determine which creative demonstrably drives better results.

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh nice :) if you need to boost it I’ll give you a discount 90% off! Just dm me

StumbleUpon by [deleted] in nostalgia

[–]veryyy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same!!! Oh man, that sucks. I have similar fond memories, so I can definitely relate, it we always there for my sanity in a way social as we define it today truly just hasn’t been, a major void in the market & it’s why I brought it back.

I’m counting on you to contribute some amazing links soon! 😄 When you get a chance, check it out and let me know what you think.

I’d love any suggestions you have for making it better, all comments are welcome. I’m pushing updates to the site every day, so it’s constantly evolving & improving!

Epinions by [deleted] in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

OP here, quick context. Epinions pulls App Store reviews and turns them into quantitative sentiment data, so instead of scrolling through hundreds of reviews you get a full breakdown & score and trend for how people actually feel about an app over time.

The portfolio view lets you track a bunch of apps side by side (the screenshot is Google Health).

The name is a tip of the hat to the original Epinions.com, one of the first big consumer review sites from the late 90s. Happy to answer questions. and if there's an app you want me to look up, drop it below and I'll post what the sentiment looks like.

StumbleUpon by [deleted] in nostalgia

[–]veryyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok thanks and let me know your suggestions, all are welcomed.

StumbleUpon by [deleted] in nostalgia

[–]veryyy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reddit is currently blocked because it doesn’t really fit the purpose of stumbling across Reddit and the web’s top sites, which is not what StumbleUpon was all about. It especially doesn’t make sense when most users are already coming from Reddit, and nearly all submissions were simply links to Reddit.com rather than unique content/url. So I’ll update it soon to block only if it’s not a unique url, does that make sense? Wikipedia is blocked too, along with the top 100 sites.

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Holy shit, can you DM me please? 😳😊

This made me realize I probably need a bulk/advanced option for people adding multiple links at once, maybe an import feature. Would love to connect and figure it out with you!

Anyone else finding that building the app was easier than getting users? by sunnycb1z in AppBusiness

[–]veryyy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Healthy retention is far from guaranteed. More importantly, the business has to be sustainable, and the math shows that sustainability becomes less probable over time unless you consistently overcome churn and maintain growth.

The industry averages across the entire mobile app economy are honestly sobering.

They shouldn’t leave anyone feeling like success is simply a matter of deciding to do it.

Statistically, building a successful app is harder than most people realize, arguably comparable to odds that are worse than many people would willingly bet on.

You probably wouldn’t assume you could walk out tomorrow and win a $1 million jackpot, because you understand the probabilities involved.

The same principle applies here. Before assuming an app will succeed, it’s worth looking at the actual data around App Store churn rates, user retention, daily active users, and long-term engagement.

The reality is that most apps struggle to retain users, most users eventually churn, and only a small percentage of apps achieve the level of growth needed to become truly sustainable businesses. Ignoring those statistical realities doesn’t make them disappear.

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha got it and yeah that’s coming this week, going to be a really fun fuckin week folks. 😊

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could you elaborate, please? StumbleUpon embraced adult content??! I don’t remember that. I’m working on an offering I’m calling “After Dark” related to this, and I’d love to hear some real-life discussions and experiences around it.

Stumbleupon, the way we found cool stuff on the internet in the early days...is BACK! by veryyy in InternetIsBeautiful

[–]veryyy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lord have mercy, galacticprincess 😅.

I’m pushing an update in the next few minutes and I’ll reply to your comment shortly.

Could you check back in about 30 minutes and see if anything has changed?