#mybfio - is a new platform for software reviews.
In other words, #mybfio is a mini social network helping authors to get feedback on software they write as well assist users in finding proper software.
As an opensource author you can:
- get feedback from users on the product you develop
- reply to users
- see other similar products to understand how you compete with others
- announce releases of a software you develop and get feedback
So it's all about having a fast and real users feedback on your product.
From other hand it also helps users to find a product that fits best their needs and get reviews before they start using it.
Well, while github stars could give you a certain answer on the question of a product popularity, but they still don't show real users feedback.
While GitHub issues partly (indirectly) provides such an information, however #myfbio is just a simpler, more
straightforward way to go. A user just browses through a list of software products and see real users feedback, not technical issues details.
Hackernews or Reddit are a good sources to find information on existing opensource products, but they are "big" players and often provide you with an information you might not necessarily need.
For example, HN posts not only technical/opensource news.
The same problem might occur with Reddit where numerous topics are "scattered" across the whole site and it takes some time to find proper ones.
Newbie and never locked posts
There is also challenge for not yet known projects to take the stage - if one's post does not reach certain points it will never be shown on the main page and eventually gets locked for comments.
The same with Reddit, if your post is not popular enough, it won't be on the top list and highly likely gets unnoticed.
As with both HN and Reddit posts eventually go into archive mode and become locked for comments.
It's not the case with #myfbio - You can always share a project review page link where users can put their comments or reviews.
An interesting cool feature of #myfbio is one can announce release of the next version of their product by just putting
a comment on a project reviews page, once a comment is written
the system automatically pop a project up top the top list and
it'll be shown on the main page, so users can see the news and write comments back on this event.
We understand that promoting software project is hard job and sometimes people face challenges on the way.
For that purpose, #mybfio doesn't have downvotes for users posts. If a project is added to the list it could only be upvoted or remain with zero score.
Flexibility
Review system allows to either write reviews with score or make regular comments (if one is not ready to score a project), project authors and users can always reply on reviews and comments, this
flexibility makes a #mybf.io a review system with social network
aspect.
The platform is still in early stage, things might change. However we'd appreciate for any users feedback.
Thanks