Why do I need to login? Why a phone #? A little more explanation before asking for this information would be great.
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Hunter
imo - phone # is the auth protocol of the future. It identifies you as a unique person and makes it virtually impossible for anyone to imitate you or share your account with anyone*. That being said - accounts are necessary because Giflab uses an s3 bucket directory unique to each person to generate gifs on the fly (not simulated) so the route to the source files can easily correspond to the user by id in our tables. Why not use a session id to track un-authenticated users? Good question. I think it was a UX decision. We wanted users to auth so saving their Gifs would be a breeze. There are certainly ways to get around this without creating an account but I'm really just spinning stuff for people to try and if it turns out to be good I hope to make it better. Giflab does not use or share phone numbers with anyone** - and we never will so breathe easy. Additionally, the laws around contacting people via cellphone without explicitly opting-in are so tight that I would argue it's less secure to use your email to auth. If you have any feature requests or just want to say hi - you know what to do!
* Your account could be compromised if you change cell phone numbers in the future without updating your existing account information.***
** Ok - we do send you a code to verify your number but I promise that will be the only time! (unless you delete your cache - then you have to re-authenticate).
*** The infrastructure to update your existing contact information has not been built yet.
@kylerstewart@chad_fullerton - I hope you guys do end up giving it a try at some point. It's pretty awesome.
- john
@jsuphoff makes more sense when you explain it. I would suggest adding a little more explanation before signing in with the guarantee you won't use their phone # for shady business.
I'm the developer of GiFmojo on the App Store, so I know and love gifs. Let me know if you see any possible collaboration with GifLab.
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@jsuphoff I agree that Phone # is a neat authentication method to guarantee unique users, but it just isn't a commonplace way of authentication. People guard and protect their phone numbers like crazy, they don't want to give it away to just anyone, only trusted people or brands (two-factor authentication). But for an unknown startup, I think it's going to hurt you more than help you. Just stick to e-mail for now or username as a unique identifier and you'll get a lot more interest and can also build up a mailing list at the same time (which you can't with a phone # alone).
I really hope to use the product soon.. it sounds amazing!
@jsuphoff I'm unable to enter my Swedish phone number. Are you guys not going international with this? It's the Internetz, after all!
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Was really excited to try this out, but then you force everyone to enter their phone number to continue? Totally turned me off and I closed the site. I suggest not having such a shady seeming barrier to entry with no explanation. @jsuphoff
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