Thank you for your honest feedback ❤️

A few hours after writing the post I took another look at the usage data and the added code complexity. I realized two things:

1. Recent usage of this feature is even lower than I initially thought. Near zero
2. The added code complexity was way more severe than I thought

Although it’s unfortunate for the very few people who did use it, I don’t think it’s fair for the whole community to bear those costs in terms of slower product development.

Considering all that, I chose to move forward immediately rather than wait for additional community input. The usage data said it all.

I have the tendency to overthink these types of changes rather than bravely move forward and make progress. This was me trying to do better, but it actually may have been wise to hold off and give you and the couple of other users who use this feature to share their perspective.

My apologies I didn’t do that.

With regards to todos setting WIP apart, I agree. I LOVE that people share the actual things they have done rather than random posts. That’s the reason for WIP’s existence.

I made the Twitter reference as an admiration to the simplicity of their product. I think we can learn a lot from that, but that doesn’t mean we need to become exactly like it.

When I say we can merge todos/posts/comments into the same record type that’s more of a comment on technical implementation, than UX or product. For example right now I have implemented comments twice, once for posts and once for comments. Same with notifications and a few other things. The more code they can share the simpler the codebase, the faster we can add other features people are asking for like better privacy controls, a nicer API for third-party integrations, etc.

Hopefully that addresses your concerns about the future of WIP.

With regards to the pending todos functionality, I haven’t actually deleted them from the database and I am in no rush to do so. The email was intentionally written a bit “alarmy” so people who care would take action sooner than later.

The changes I made to remove the functionality can be reverted relatively easily. But for reasons shared above I still think the right decision is to remove it, even if I didn’t plan and communicate it properly.

Given your 200+ pending todos, I understand your frustration. If there’s anything I can do to help move you these to a new platform I’d love to help. I can export them in any format. Personally I use Telegram’s “Saved Messages” feature for this and it works very well.

Last idea I built was #appwatch : I tried to make an ASO tool for Chrome extensions, and then pivoted to Shopify Apps, but i got no success.

I find it harder to have original SaaS ideas now than 10 years ago when I started (also maybe I did not care much about competition)

Good memories in Pai. I went there on my first ever solo trip in 2014 and learned how to ride a motorcycle there. Very chill place, one of those magnetic backpacker/hippie ghettos you get sucked into -- I could have easily stayed for multiple years haha

Thank you for reminding me of this amazing song from the year 2000 😄www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeYsT…

That said, you have my full sympathy!

Hahaa can imagine. Lost a 100 day streak after getting drunk and checking my phone at 00:06... nasty hangover...

I felt invested in your streak, it was very impressive and fun to follow along. I felt a bit bummed out once you lost it even though I've never met you. I think that's the power of the 'hardcore' streak. It says something about a person. If there are all these exceptions and soft streaks it loses it's meaning.

Something like Tweakers karma could be a good addition if the community grows more. But there's about 100 (?) active members, so you already get a vibe of the activity of people.

Thanks for sharing 🙌

One the one hand the streak is just a number in a database, but on the other hand it also represents all the hard you put in over the years and the consistency with which you did so.

So I think it makes a lot of sense that you grow an attachment to that number and so it hurts when you lose it.

I think those are the two sides to the metaphorical streak coin. It motivates you to keep going and the longer you keep going, the more invested you get, and so the power powerful that sense of commitment becomes.

But when you do eventually lose it, it has the opposite effect. It's really discouraging and based on anecdotal observations it seems like many members kinda start to tune out of WIP after that. It just seems like an insurmountable mountain to get back to that number.

That's why I'm considering alternatives to the current streak system. Not necessarily to replace it, but something to augment that hardcore easy-to-loose streak with something more forgiving.

A karma system is an interesting idea, but implementations always seem rather arbitrary to me. If completing a todo gives you +10 points, how much would a comment be? Etc.

But perhaps I'm overthinking it, and it's not about getting it exactly right. Just reward people for doing cool stuff in the community.

I'll give it some thought the coming weeks. I do like the idea of badges for concrete achievements. Getting the top streak. Losing your first streak. Adding your 5th project. Etc.

I was always wondering what happened to your streak haha. I was surprised I felt loss when I lost my 200 day streak as well.

Maybe “visible for everyone in their feed”?

Yes, great points on all accounts.

I want to embrace people sharing life updates and other non-work projects. But I agree it would also be nice to filter them.

Thinking what categories we should have. Most obvious would be "personal" and "work". Some others would be "health" and "hobby". Anything else that comes to mind?