Sorry my fault, forgot about it mid stream working on it to test and see what we would get. Its not pointed at poddery.com anymore.
Interesting enough the button I added up top to see reaction got about a 25% click thru rate.
@davidmorley great, thanks for the statistics!
Unfortunately it points to diasp.org right now, I tried on different browsers, refreshed etc., I’m being forwarded to the same diasp.org pod! Shouldn’t it be random?
Yea random might make the most sense to put there. But I think a new SQL query that ensures the random pod it hands over is within x results (e.g. online, open registration, current code, “decent” uptime.) would be good or the user could get a random offline pod.
@davidmorley is there any way to create the new SQL query in due course? If not, diasp.org will face the same issue as put forth by @praveenarimbrathod about poddery, and people will start complaining or simply stop using the new function, which breaks off - not only the statistics, but the overall functionality of diaspora*. I hope you see my concern.
I doubt I will find time to work on a real solution, I will monitor diasp.org and if need be remove the test button.
@hola yes, because you said you’d have time to work on this starting February 2015. But we’d need your help with the SQL query now, if you can afford to bite some pieces of your time.
I added a random script, best I can do from my phone on the bus! feel free to make it better! https://github.com/diasporg/Poduptime/blob/master/random.php
I am very new to Diaspora (just setting up my pod on Heroku) and I also tried inviting friends over who didn’t find it very attractive. But instead of guessing about design I would suggest to split-test different layouts and measure which one brings in the most sign ups. Would that be possible?
PS: The new social network “Ello” got hyped pretty much because of its very clean design which shows that people care a lot about how a website looks and feels.
I’m a newbie too. But Diaspora gave me a good feeling right from the start. I never have had a facebook account so I can’t really judge it but facebook always gave me this feeling that it was only made for facebook not for it’s users. The way they treat their users is unbelievable.
I’m a Linux user and I dislike all multinationals. They have so much power and they brainwash billions of people.
I just try to get a little power back to the people. And I hope in the end we get those billions of dollars in profit back too.
My friends won’t even give Diaspora a try. They have tasted something more developed dan Diaspora. How can we make this beautiful platform more appealing to them?
First I’m going to set up my own pod. 
@davidmorley suggested that we could make pull requests to make podupti.me look better. Feel free to work on this and don’t forget that the project is open-source! Have a fantastic day everyone!
I had a similar issue when I attempted to use IRC for discussion during a project. Even though there are step-by-step instructions, some folks just do not want to deal with all that “nerdy stuff”. I apologize. That was the type of attitude I experienced.
Perhaps we can add a simple sign up button that puts you into a random/nearby pod for those who just want to hit a button. Keep a link to the current process for the rest of us who want to understand and want the control for ourselves. I believe that will help tremendously.
I’m not sure how up-to-date the details of the pods are, but it would make sense to have them update themselves automatically. Each pod could offer a simple request that returns it’s stats, which then gets periodically updated on the podupti.me website. Maybe this is already the case.
What I missed when I landed their the first time, was a mini excerpt or something, explaining the purpose of the page.
Also, having a filter with checkboxes and dropdowns would make it a lot easier to filter as opposed to sorting multiple columns, as most people wouldn’t even know how that works.
it’s getting to be a long list for sure. a drill down sort of filter might be good, user could first select by country/region, and then filter futher down by rating, uptime or size etc.
i also like the idea of allowing to the podmin to set an arbitrary link to a page with whatever details about the pod services they might like to share
Since this is my last contribution to diaspora*, I’d like to ping @hola (Pablo), as he promised he’d work on improving the aspect of podupti.me. I hope he WILL keep his promise! Enjoy your time on diaspora*, it was nice to contribute with something here! Love to all!