▲ ▼ Submission Guidelines for needgap

Please read and follow the submission guidelines to sustain the quality of the needgap platform and for the wellbeing of the community.

Philosophy

Language

English is the only supported language of the needgap platform currently. All submissions are required to be in English.

Problem Title

Do post problem, problem faced by you or the problem which you're trying to solve which doesn't have a solution and hence exists a need-gap.

It's encouraged to reduce the problem to its fundamental level in the title i.e. the problem title shouldn't be reasonably broken down further into another problem. Please use the search feature to search for a problem to check whether it has been posted earlier, if so please contribute your opinion on that problem in its comment section instead of submitting the same problem.

Post hashtags along with the problem title, representing the problem domain and the target country if its applicable only to a specific country (or) #worldwide.

Don't post startup ideas as problem title, A problem should include only the need-gap for which a solution becomes the startup idea. Solutions should be discussed only in the comment section.

Don't post jokes, memes, politics, religion, meta-discussion, drama about personalities or moderation on this platform or others. Also please don't flood the platform with submissions of your favorite thing - one post per topic should be sufficient, and respect the dupe filter.

Don't self promote in the problem section, Post your solutions in the comments and Please use the profile section to tell others about yourself.

Please be aware of the character limitations in the problem title.

Problem Description

Do explain the problem succinctly in the description section. It is encouraged to explain how the problem affects you and why the existing solutions if any doesn't work for you.

Don't post startup ideas as problem description, A problem should include only the need-gap for which a solution is needed. Possible solutions should only be discussed in the comment section.

Use the link feature to include factual sources to support your statements.

Please be aware of the character limitations in the problem description.

If You Already Have A Solution To The Problem You're Submitting

If you already have a solution for a problem you are trying to submit on needgap, you can only do so in comments and not in problem title or description. Explain the problem clearly in-detail by following the aforementioned guidelines without mentioning your product and then after submitting the problem comment explaining how you are solving that problem.

Sharing Problem

Contributing Comments

Do comment existing solutions for the problem if any exists, else discuss about possible solutions for the need-gap.

Do discuss about the viability of the solutions for a startup idea in the comments.

When commenting, please try to imagine you are in a face to face conversation with the person you are talking to or about - respect their point of view, even if you vehemently disagree with it. Comments violating the rules will be downvoted, flagged or as a last resort removed. Comments under your name will never be edited by admins, but they may be removed for spam or trolling.

Some guidelines on comments:

• First, do no harm - always be thoughtful, constructive and respectful.
• Do post questions, even if you feel they might be dumb ones.
• Do respond positively to questions, even if you feel they are dumb.
• Do be charitable - assume best intentions, and try to understand those you disagree with.
• Do stay on topic.
• Do try to contribute something substantial - one-word comments are rarely interesting.
• Don't use 'You' in the comments unless absolutely necessary.
• Don't be snarky or nasty to others.
• Don't use name-calling, this is the lowest form of argument.
• Don't make personal comments about others, their motivations, or their integrity. If you disagree do so calmly and politely and directly to them.
• Don't complain about moderation, downvotes or groupthink. Reach out to the moderators via the contact below for grievances.
• Don't spam or post duplicates deliberately
• Don't call for mob justice, boycotts or post personal data.

When offering criticism, make sure you fully back it up and try to see the reasons why certain decisions you disagree with were made.

Tagging

You can tag other users using (@Username) e.g. @Abishek and tag problems, comments using (/problems/[problem number]) e.g. /problems/93 and (/comments/[comment number] e.g. /comments/1125 .

Editing

Problems and comments can be edited only within 1 hour and 3 hours of posting respectively. When editing, you are encouraged to follow it up with the reason for the edit.

Voting

Guidelines on voting:

• Do upvote problems which you face yourself and/or think that it needs to be solved by a startup.
• Do upvote comments which contribute to the conversation and suggest solutions which can become startup ideas.
• Do downvote negative comments and those not contributing to the conversation.
• Do downvote problems or comments which doesn't follow the contributing guidelines.
• Do be aware downvoting costs karma (1 point per downvote) - use it sparingly.
• Don't downvote comments if you strongly disagree with them or feel they are wrong, reply to the comment on why you disagree or feel they are wrong.
• Don't ask others to upvote/downvote or brigade votes, or try to downvote everything someone says.
• Don't try to spam votes in any way.

If you think a comment has been downvoted unfairly, or have detected cheating, don't complain in the comments, use the moderation contact below.

Note: A up-vote would also add  a point to 'I WILL PAY FOR THAT'.

Karma

Karma system is designed to sustain quality of the needgap platform.

Karma of a user is based on the points accumulated by the user in the needgap platform. The karma accumulated by the user is shown besides the user name.

Karma thresholds:

• 1 point  or more is required for submitting comments (which is awarded when the account is created).
• 2 points or more are required for submitting problems (make a thoughtful comment to gain the required karma).
• Greater than 2 points are required to upvote.
• Greater than 10 points are required to style text in comments with formatting toolbar consisting of 7 tools.
• Greater than 10 points are require to set the user profile and to display them.
• Greater than 20 points are required to downvote.
• Greater than 30 points are required to style text in comments with formatting toolbar consisting of 17 tools.
• Greater than 50 points are required to flag.

Karma lost when using downvote:

• -1 point when using downvote.

When Karma of the user becomes lesser than 1, the user looses the ability to post anything on the needgap platform.

I WILL PAY FOR THAT

WHO NEEDS THIS

Get insights about a problem like how many have seen it from which countries, How many have clicked 'I WILL PAY FOR THAT' for a solution in the comments. Insights can be viewed on the needgap platform after logging in (besides the title of the problem)and also receive monthly insights through email.

Subscription

When a problem is subscribed (WHO NEEDS THIS), new comments are sent to your email. Ensure that you have your email updated on your profile.

Monthly Insights

Meta comments

If you have comments on how the platform works or suggestions for features, you can post them on needgap Meta Discussion or email the moderators using the details below.

Contact

Please reach out to me through email if you just want to say hello, or to report spam or posts violating the above rules.