The hardest thing to do in the early stages of product building is stripping things out that you know aren’t absolutely essential (but that you actually like).

A good example is allowing for the customization of the user experience for your users via things like custom backgrounds and avatars.

Obviously, adding an avatar makes sense (or a digital image of oneself) for a social network but the many other customizations that we’re all used to? Not so much.

… at least in the beginning.

Our hope is that as we get closer to public launch that we’ll understand our core experience better and ensure that folks are enjoying the system as much as we want them to… and then, we can add bells and whistles for customization later.

Those are things we’ll just have to patiently wait for in excited expectation!

– john