Altrooist

When we launched in private beta about three weeks ago, we meant private. Truth be told, it was just a few friends. Want even more truth? It was, like, 30% me. Figured I would volunteer to be the brave soul who fearlessly went forth and trooted, back-patted and commented my way to our error page as many times as I could muster. Say hi to rainy cat and umbrella dog. They give their regards.

But now, just a few weeks later, there are actual people I don’t know using the site. Real live strangers! (Hi, new Altrooists!) For the sake of cataloging the ups and downs of getting started (i.e. what doesn’t work, what we’ve fixed and what we’re working on), I’ve opted to share my update for our testers, old friends and new friends, as a blog post. Transparency! It’s cool! Also: potentially boring.

Dear Everyone,

Hi! And thank you. It’s been about three weeks and we’ve made a number of small updates to the site that I wanted to share.

1) Your logins are no longer case sensitive. Opps, right?! Didn’t mean for that to happen! But as Erik said, no one wants a mischievous @HaIkUgIrL running around back-patting and leaving snarky comments on everyone’s do-gooding. So once it was discovered, it was quickly rectified.

2) Good deed numbering. Since I’m not super-technical, I find myself using the term “The System” a lot to refer to the well organized hamsters that make Altrooist go, but alas, these hamsters were counting deeds and comments like they were one and the same. Not terrible, but not what we had in mind.

Example: When I’d post a good deed it would number it as the 25th, then say the site had completed only 15 good deeds. What were the other ten? Comments.

Everything adds up as it should now. Hamsters, you get a broccoli floret for your good work.

3) We regrouped and renamed the tabs on the user page. At launch we had “You / Following / AltrooList” which was fine except your deeds were off alone, separated from those of your pals. It made for a disjointed feed and, quite frankly, lessened the fun. The tabs are now “Me / Us / Altroolist” and the “Us” is you *plus* who you follow mixed together. It’s the most fun a tab can have.

4) Comments flowed backwards, placing the newest comment on the top. The only bug worthy of a visual:

Comments are now as you’d expect and will forever remain that way.

5) We’re using an error monitoring app called Airbrake (formerly HopToad) and it’s pretty cool. Whenever an error happens on the site, Erik gets an email with the geeky details. From there we decide if it’s worthy of investigation or a fluke. I like that Altrooist has constant monitoring — meaning if you stumble across an error, we’ll know about it as it happens. Fancy, right?

6) We’re using Chartbeat for real-time analytics. Fun fact: The most people who have been on the site at the same time: 14. I’m actually giddy it was that high.

Here’s what we’re working on rolling out in the next 30 days (or so):

1) Twitter and us, sitting in a tree. Ok, obviously Twitter is completely unaware of our existence but we like them a whole bunch and with our similar character counts we can play quite nicely together. We’re implementing login via Twitter and investigating push/pull stuff for tweets and deeds, deeds and tweets.

2) Deed connectivity improvements: things like #hashtags and @mentions will work. Links will be clickable. Small but meaningful changes.

3) Design tweaks. A little here, a little there.

and

4) Ability to edit or delete your deed. You guys, this is a user request! While it’s been on the list, we moved it to the top because our users wanted it — that’s you! Our first ever response to a request by our first ever users. Makes me all warm and fuzzy. Look for this improvement soon!

We’re taking baby steps on our path to world domination, but steps nonetheless! Thanks again for signing up and helping out with the site. I appreciate it a whole bunch. You guys are the best.

xoxo,
Heather

I’ve wished for the opportunity to give software a code name, you know, while it’s being developed. Like how Google’s Android OS was called Cupcake. The name I would pick is Xanadu, solely for the launch party theme. How much do you think it is to get E.L.O. to play a gig these days? Also: roller skating! But alas, Altrooist’s code name was Altrooist. We’re incredibly clever that way. However that won’t stop me from likening Altrooist to a little monster and the people that brought it into being as Dr. Frankensteins. It is, after all, alive.

No need to gather the townsfolk and grab pitchforks though. We’re here to do good.

Altrooist is a social site for do-gooders. It’s a place where you can share your random acts of kindness, good deeds, donations and volunteerism. Your efforts are added to the ones of your friends, neighbors, city and world. What then? You feel part of something. You can see how all these everyday niceties work together to make things a bit better. You’ll be inspired by your friends to do more. You’ll inspire your friends. Altrooist is just the record keeper, you’re the ones that give it meaning.

There has been a lot of really cool research done on happiness, kindness and the positive effect they have on your brain. Did you know that just witnessing a good deed will elevate your mood and sense of well-being? It’s true! Witnessing kindness inspires you to be kinder. Also true! And you know what else? Being kinder makes you even happier still! Let’s hug! And then troot about it! Troot! I just made that up. You don’t have to use it. It’s terrible.

But it is simple.

Do a good deed. Share it. Inspire someone to do the same. It’s a happiness and well-being feedback loop and we’re absolutely thrilled you are a part of it.

Welcome to Altrooist. Now, let’s go change the world.