Booklet
Productivity
team discussion forums
SHOW HN2023
183points
119comments
#314of 3,109 in 2023
Top 11%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
7 positive, 17 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 18 critical, out of 46 comments about the project. Thread score -0.22.
Idea: 5 for, 7 againstDesign: 1 for, 6 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 3 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Forums are a better fit for async discussion than chat
From 2 comments
I would give my left arm to be using internet forums again. Online communities adopting Discord and Slack was such a terrible move in hindsight. Definitely rooting for this to…
tbird24 on HNTo me team chats always felt horrible, email felt tolerable and the HN-like tree view always felt the best, near-perfect form of communication. I hope people are going to move…
qwerty456127 on HN
Free setup with no server needed
From 1 comment
One difference is that you can set up a Booklet entirely for free, without a server or paid subscription! Also, it doesn't use Ember.js, which is another plus in my book.
philip1209 on HN
Objections
Not open source and not self-hostable yet
From 2 comments
I'm a bit lost, even after trying the demo I can't understand why this should be better than, say, Discourse. Your implementation is probably not based on Ruby - which makes it…
denysvitali on HNIf I can't self host it and own the data, I am not interested.
urza on HN
Unclear how it differs from Discourse
From 2 comments
I'm a bit lost, even after trying the demo I can't understand why this should be better than, say, Discourse. Your implementation is probably not based on Ruby - which makes it…
denysvitali on HNHow are forums not just a different style of chat room where anyone can make a new room?
douglaswlance on HN
Demo requires account or is hard to see without signup
From 2 comments
The goal is good. Can you open up a sandboxed forum so that people don't need to register to try the product out? I think you'll get much higher conversion if people can see what…
smallerfish on HNIs there a demo forum we can look at without having to set up an account? That would be a good idea. Also please make sure it works without javascript, like discourse does. It…
KirillPanov on HN
Design looks like a basic CRUD app or Bootstrap
From 2 comments
I watched the video on the landing page and TBH, it looks like a basic CRUD app and didn't see anything interesting over a regular forum. Real time editing doesn't seem like a…
turtlebits on HNLogo is seriously reminiscent of bootstrap [1] [1] https://getbootstrap.com/
nidnogg on HN
Requests
Self-hosting option
From 2 comments
If I can't self host it and own the data, I am not interested.
urza on HNWhy would someone use this over something like Lemmy? Are there any plans for self hosting?
candiddevmike on HN
Slack integration for the daily summary
From 2 comments
Thank you - try it out and let me know what you think. Based on the launch feedback so far today, I think I need to build a Slack integration - primarily as a separate channel to…
philip1209 on HNDo you use Slack? My impression after today's launch is that I need to deliver Booklet's daily summary over Slack, not just email. Would that work better for you?
philip1209 on HN
Works without JavaScript
From 1 comment
Is there a demo forum we can look at without having to set up an account? That would be a good idea. Also please make sure it works without javascript, like discourse does. It…
KirillPanov on HN
Email or RSS integration
From 1 comment
IMO, email and RSS are the universal APIs of the internet. Booklet already supports email, and I'm considering adding private RSS feeds.
philip1209 on HN
Questions
How does it differ from Discourse, Lemmy or Flarum?
From 3 comments
I'm a bit lost, even after trying the demo I can't understand why this should be better than, say, Discourse. Your implementation is probably not based on Ruby - which makes it…
denysvitali on HNWhy would someone use this over something like Lemmy? Are there any plans for self hosting?
candiddevmike on HNNot sure yet how this compares to Flarum - https://freeflarum.com/ you can self-host too https://flarum.org/
CountGeek on HN
Can the design be customized?
From 1 comment
How much control of the design we get?
omarfarooq on HN
Alternatives named
Discourse
From 2 comments
I'm a bit lost, even after trying the demo I can't understand why this should be better than, say, Discourse. Your implementation is probably not based on Ruby - which makes it…
denysvitali on HN> I'm a bit lost, even after trying the demo I can't understand why this should be better than, say, Discourse. That's a valid question - I'm pushing to launch at the "minimum…
philip1209 on HN
Lemmy
From 2 comments
Why would someone use this over something like Lemmy? Are there any plans for self hosting?
candiddevmike on HNSomeone trying to sell some stupid proprietary crap that hardly has any innovation in it. We need people working on open source protocols and tools to make things like this…
redder23 on HN
Flarum
From 1 comment
Not sure yet how this compares to Flarum - https://freeflarum.com/ you can self-host too https://flarum.org/
CountGeek on HN
Slack
From 1 comment
Thank you - try it out and let me know what you think. Based on the launch feedback so far today, I think I need to build a Slack integration - primarily as a separate channel to…
philip1209 on HN
Twist
From 1 comment
I've used Twist, and I've had friends use it in their companies. I know of nobody that continues to use it today. In my experience, Twist doesn't get notifications or channels…
philip1209 on HN