On requiring thanks for custom domains

Glitch Feedback
1

I like Glitch. It’s an easy way to experiment with ideas and build a prototype. I appreciate the product is quirky in a way few things are today.

Now onto custom domains:

Help others and get thanked 2 more times to use this

I think this requirement is well-intentioned, and the “ask for help” system is compelling. I’m sure a great investment was made to build it. But to me, a user, there are two problems with this:

  1. No one is asking for help most of the time.
  2. It discourages newbies from trying Glitch, since they won’t be familiar with the system. It’s an additional hurdle to build something that feels “real” on the platform.

I suspect there are reasons behind the requirement (there always are!): pushing people to learn and use the help feature, throttling the rollout of custom domains, discouraging abuse, etc. Perhaps it exists simply to build recognition of Glitch by having its name in most projects’ domains.

One possible solution is to take the Stack Exchange approach (light gamification) and implement some sort of “reputation” or “karma” that grants different roles and entitles certain privileges (e.g., increased project limit, increased asset file size limits, etc.), and allowing people to contribute to the community in ways other than helping. For example, adding the fish to a project can earn reputation, potentially enough to unlock custom domain support.

Implementing such a subsystem would be a substantive engineering effort, but the upside is large: Its design could nudge people into behaviors that encourage developers to join the platform, make remix-worthy projects, and ultimately help Glitch grow.

4 Likes
2

Hi @jacobbudin, welcome to the Glitch Forums!

Thanks for the feedback. We have a lot of plans for developing community features in Glitch and some of what you’ve talked about here might eventually end up in the Glitch community.

You’re right in that we hope to encourage positive contributions to the community by rewarding people who help others, but we’re also sensitive to its limitations and are currently discussing how we might address this. Stay tuned!