Ask YC: Online demo url

9 pointsby wonjunvor 19 Jahren10 comments

We just read that YC prefers an obscure demo url that is not password protected, and we have the following options.

http://56.34.433.32

- url to our development server

- This is safe without a password protection, but it is less reliable and I have to keep my computer on until YC reviews our demo.

http://www.demo.com/obscure, or http://www.obscure.com

- url to our production server

- Although direct hits aren't likely, without a password protection, we are concerned that they will become accessible from search engines.

How did you guys handle this problem, and what would be the most appropriate form of the obscure demo url?

Thank you very much, and good luck to you all!

5 comments

gscottvor 19 Jahren

> we are concerned that they will become accessible from search engines.

Add a robots.txt so the site doesn't get indexed.

User-agent: * Disallow: /

wonjunvor 19 Jahren

Thanks a lot, that's a great solution!

tipjoyvor 19 Jahren

You could also use a non-standard port. We are.

wonjunvor 19 Jahren

That's another great solution. Thanks a lot!

jackdiedvor 19 Jahren

First, your post would have been comedy gold if those had been real demo URLs.

Second, consider making the demo launch a POST from the landing URL. That should stop the crawlers you won't have in the first place.

wonjunvor 19 Jahren

yeah, that would've been a disaster. Thanks a lot for your suggestion.

mwertyvor 19 Jahren

An obscure query string.

nextmoveonevor 19 Jahren

Wonjun..that's a very unique name...I know a kid named Wonjun in real life. I never thought I'd see a second.

wonjunvor 19 Jahren

That's about the 6th or 7th Wonjun I've encountered in my life.

gqgyvor 19 Jahren

i know a wonjun on yc news and a couple in real life.