Who is PostFreely being created for?
It is not possible to create an application for everyone. Trying to build an application for everyone effectively means you build it for no one.
So there needs to be specific types of people we are building PostFreely for.
In the replies to this post we will list, discuss, and describe the archetypes related to, relevant to, or important to PostFreely.
⚠️ This discussion should try to use “neutral” language in its descriptions. ⚠️
Examples
For example —
One type of person we may be building PostFreely for is — People who use WriteFreely, who like WriteFreely, but wish it had some additional features (such as uploading images, or a way to see replies, etc).
Another type of person we may be building PostFreely for is — People who like writing in markdown.
Yet another type of person we may be building PostFreely for is — People who want to make their content simultaneously available on the Fediverse and the “smallnet” alt-protocols such as finger, gemini, gopher, HTTP (restricted), mercury, nex, and others.
Etc.
There are many other types of people relevant to PostFreely. The purpose of this discussion is to list out, describe, and discuss these. We will do that in the replies to this post, rather than trying to list them all out here.
Archetype
The name we give to these types of people is archetype.
So —
What are the architypes we are creating PostFreely for?
What are their problems? What do they want?
PostFreely may try to solve some of their problems. PostFreely may try to address some of their wants.
What is an Archetype
archetypes (noun): an idealized model of a number of similar things.
From the point-of-view of industrial-research — an archetype is a model of some aspect of a person shared among many people.
(UX people tend to call “archetypes”: “personas”. And marketers tend to call “archetypes”: “segments”. In practice, all 3 of these are very similar concepts.)
Some examples of (non-Fediverse and non-PostFreely specific) archetypes include:
- father,
- mother,
- son,
- daughter
- brother,
- sister,
- husband,
- wife,
- gardener,
- farmer,
- computer programmer,
- grocery store cashier,
- CEO
- CTO
- etc.
You can also probably already see that an individual could express more than one archetype. For example — a single individual could be — a father, a husband, a brother, a son, a CTO, and a programmer at the same time during a certain span of their life.
The archetypes an individual expresses could also change over their life-time too. For example — before someone has a child, they wouldn’t be a father or a mother yet; but after they have a child, they would (also) become a father, or a mother (in addition to whatever other archetypes they express).
In this discussion we will focus on archetypes relevant or important to PostFreely.
PostFreely Features
Features in PostFreely would usually be tied to a problem or want of an archetype.
And are not just made up arbitrarily.
So understanding the relevant, related, and important archetypes for PostFreely is an important precursor before a roadmap can be created.
Archetype Discovery
Archetypes are discovered. They are not arbitrarily made-up.
Usually archetypes are discovered by analyzing quantitative-data. And often the quantitative-data is data you collect yourself.
Maybe by interviewing people. Maybe by reading discussions on the Fediverse, on forums, and other places. Etc.
(CHARLES NOTE: I have already done research in this area. But like with most research — it is never done, and the research work should be ongoing,)
Let’s discuss.
Who is PostFreely being created for?
What are the architypes we are creating PostFreely for?
What are their problems? What do they want?
Please reply with your thoughts.
⸺ Charles Iliya Krempeaux ( @reiver@mastodon.social )
cc: @mathew@universeodon.com @whylamb@aus.social @SrRochardBunson@universeodon.com
#PostFreely
Another archetype I’ve noticed is what I’ve called —
Rich-Text Typists
The way I would describe these people is —
They want something that doesn’t take them out of the “flow” when writing.
HTML is too difficult for them. Plain-Text is not expressive enough for them.
And they don’t want to have to use a classical tool-bar (found in many word-processors) because using a mouse or track-pad takes them out of the “flow” when writing.
They want to keep typing distraction free.
For them plain-text isn’t an option because it is missing features they consider a must —
- bolding,
- color,
- embedded images,
- embedded videos,
- headings,
- hyperlinks,
- italics,
- tables,
- etc.
I think more research is needed to understand what are the common things someone like this would consider missing from plain-text (or any other potential format).
Some of these people find some variant of Markdown attractive. For example — RMarkdown is popular with people who write scholarly papers, books, or lessons.
Although they may also find other formats attractive. (The format is a means to an end. Not an end in and of itself.)
@reiver This is me, and I’ve been thinking about this for a while, what _is_ the minimum set I need? I’m not sure. Emphasis. Bullets. Hyperlinks. Headings if I’m writing long form. Images.
Tables rarely.
Embeds are weird special cases and kinda hard to slice no matter what.
