What are your opinions on sites like Hordit?

[Paul Keith]

http://www.hordit.com/

Awhile back when I was searching for online backup services on my own, I found ByteSwap but never really tried it.

Today while organizing some of my files, I found the name again, did a search and Google linked me to this site and it seems alot has changed so my question to you all is, what are your opinions on the concept of "file profiling"?

Usually the saying goes that when something is too good to be true, it probably is but I could neither find an in depth good or bad review of this service which most services have in bundles so...your thoughts?

[Cloq]

In an era of multi-gigabyte HDs.. and pokey dialup speed upload caps (relatively speaking) imposed by ISPs.. I am not sure how your typical user benefits from having online backup services. "Online backup" that name needs to change to something else if those companies want to woo the average user market.

In a business environment, where your upload/dowload speed are typically the same, I can see where online backup has its place and use.

ok.. off my soapbox now. 

[Paul Keith]

Cloq, true enough however this is not an online backup per se (which is why I made it on a separate thread) as much as a Digg for File Sharing (which makes it more like Pownce) but with the intent on Profile making and File Gathering (which is more similar to FriendFeed, RSS Readers and Social Bookmarkers) that I'm not sure it applies much here since 99x of the focus is on documents (like Google Docs and Scribd) and less on mass downloading.

[cmpm]

http://www.docstoc.com/

this is like hordit.com
and you can sign up and in for free

[Paul Keith]

Thanks but I don't think it's the same. The site is more like a legal document counterpart to Scrbd where Hordit is about all files in general.

[cmpm]

It has both.

[Cloq]

@Paul Keith

I see your point, I am waiting for google to come out with something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't already thought of it and already have something in the works.

[Paul Keith]

@Paul Keith

I see your point, I am waiting for google to come out with something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't already thought of it and already have something in the works.

Well technically if you combine Google Suite, IGoogle and Google Sites, that's what you get. I doubt they'll bother with it though. Google has a tendency to buy niche services more than bother with making these services.

Also, they often get a poor rep with privacy so I doubt they'll pursue this route. Google often dodges these by creating a better counterpart of an existing service but in the case of this, it's not popular enough.

By the way, has anyone tried the service? I'm still holding off because I'm not sure whether to trust this site or not. The disappearance of byteswap makes me extremely leery but I can't find a service quite like this.

[byteswapper]

Hopefully I can help answer your questions about Hordit/Byteswap.  I'm the founder of both sites.

First of all, Byteswap has been replaced by Hordit.  The services that make up the underlying "guts" of Byteswap will now be positioned as a platform capable of powering other sites.  Hordit is just a new and improved interface and a new name to reflect a new marketing focus.

Hordit really isn't meant to be a "file backup" service.  The original intention of the site was to be a way to create kind of a personal search engine or knowledge base.  We want to target "information hoarders" if you will - that's how we got to "hordit.com".  So for example, if I'm a web developer this might be where I keep track of CSS tips and tricks, information about SEO, etc.  And maybe I use that as an individual or maybe I'm part of a work team and we share information via a private group. 

And you can certainly store more than files on Hordit.  In fact, you can store bookmarks, files, photos, text notes, contacts and more. 

Hope that helps.

Matt

[Paul Keith]

Thanks Matt. That's more comforting to know that Hordit isn't just Byteswap's way of changing it's name because of a poor reputation.

I hope you don't mind but could you link to a third party review of Hordit? I know there used to be some for Byteswap. It's just that with these type of services, it's hard to entrust files to a service that's basically unknown (although I don't really have any important files to put into it, but better be sure than sorry.)

[byteswapper]

Actually Paul as we've just re-released the site there has not yet been a 3rd party review.  We're working on getting one lined up.

I realize I'm not the most objective source here, but trust me, you can trust us.   

Matt

[Paul Keith]

Ok, Matt. I've always liked the concept behind ByteSwap when I first heard of it but never got to try so I'll bite.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by the forums. It really meant alot.

[Paul Keith]

Oh darn, I didn't realize the service was still in private beta 

[byteswapper]

Paul - send me a note at mbrown@hordit.com and I'll see what I can do to get you in.

Matt