I've been using Fountain for a long time and it's become my go-to app for podcasts. I really like many of its functionalities as I can support podcasters, boost good content all while earning some sweet sweet sats and giving back some of it.
I know it's still buggy and their developer team is small so it's still far from perfect. However, I've recently noticed that some of their issues are persistent and don't seem to be properly handled.
For instance, I can spend days, weeks or even months without getting any earnings, even for promoted content. Also, their LNURL withdrawals almost never work for me, even for small amounts and using different wallets.
I've tried several solutions, such as reinstalling, logging out, turning off my VPN and even using a different account to no avail. I've tried to reach their support team but I I get no reply from them.
Is anyone else experiencing this kind of issues or do you have any piece of advice?
Hey guys - Oscar here from Fountain,
First off I want to apologise for any issues - we are a small team just me and one other developer and sometimes it can take some time to get to issues reported. For example we've had over 8000 support tickets in the past 2 years... 🤯
Anyway I wanted to address each point in turn but first I'd also like to mention for the past 3 months we've been working on Fountain 1.0 which is a complete redesign of the app to address design, ux, and functionality that will make the app even easier to use. The 1.0 release is almost ready - if you'd like to help beta test it before general release please join our telegram group here - https://t.me/+ZMnGthLREYQ3N2Rk
Onto the specific issues...
Thank you to everyone who shared feedback in this thread - it's really helpful and for anyone else that wants to share issues / feedback / bugs / feature requests - please reply somewhere on this post and I will give you my response and try and get what you want into Fountain 1.0.
Thanks again for all your support! 🙏
This is awesome @MerryOscar, appreciate you taking the time to address all of these! Strongly second @siggy47's notion that we are all stoked to support your mission, and all of our feedback comes from a place of love đź’›
Just joined the Telegram. Looking forward to updates!
One last question, as you mentioned podcasters' Fountain promotion is a big part of the advertising plan. Is there a plan in place for how affiliate links/referral program will work on Fountain 1.0? As someone who recently launched a podcast, I'd personally dedicate a lot more recording time + description space to promote Fountain if there was a clear reward for doing so.
Thank you really appreciate it 🙏
Awesome, looking forward to it!
Thanks very much for this lengthy, detailed response. I think I speak for many here in saying that we are rooting for you. Personally I continue to use fountain as my one and only podcast app. I look forward to the new release, and best wishes.
Thank you 🙏
Hi Oscar. Thank you very much for taking the time to read and reply to all this questions in such a detailed manner. It really shows your commitment to this amazing project.
I'm happy to know that you're working on these issues and that you'll keep providing great value with your app.
My particular issue with LNURL withdrawals was using Blue Wallet and Thunderhub. However it would be great to have other LN withdrawals methods as well!
Keep up the good work and looking forward to trying the coming Fountain 1.0!
ok thanks will check these for you - my go to wallet is Phoenix which works really reliably for me
appreciate the support!
Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback Oscar.
Thanks Oscar. Appreciate you addressing these issues. My point about advertisers wasn't in regards to podcasts promoting their shows. I know you have a lot of those, I try to listen as many as I can to support the shows that are trying to support the value for value model. I was referring to the brands/companies that you used to have advertising. I even heard stacker news ads.
The small team size might be a challenge for handling user feedback and technical issues efficiently. Engaging more with the user community for beta testing and feedback seems like a positive step towards refinement.
Gotta give them props, I DM'd Oscar directly asking for 3x speed a couple years back and they added that specifically on my request.
But agreed there's work to be done. The main thing holding me back is the forward/backward skip buttons are super lagged--you can't press it 3 times quickly, you have to wait a half second in between presses. If you don't, sometimes it skips all the way back to 00:00, which is quite annoying.
But happy to be patient. I love what they're doing with LN, so confident the final product once all the kinks are worked out will be well worth the wait.
I was just thinking about this while listening this morning. A week or two back they had a double earning weekend. That was the first sats I earned there in a while. My fear is the app isn't making it financially. I don't think they can afford much in the way of earnings any more. I hope I'm wrong. I also hope this isn't a reflection on the whole value for value model.
They don't seem to be getting advertisers anymore. They still have promotional episodes but I haven't seen an ad in awhile when there used to be ads to listen to daily. Not sure if that is by choice on their end of lack of interest by advertisers.
This. I think that is what’s going on. The battery drain issue is still there too. I don’t think they have many staff
Does Fountain take any fees from streamers / tippers? Is it an operating funds issue?
Hopefully not.
I use the app daily with almost no bugs.. truth is the rewards have dropped a lot, but there are few tricks to catch the sats
Agree, it's good and like concept but very much on the brink of going back to something reliable.
I think so same issues. Can’t remove sats. App keeps crashing barely any sats streamed when the app doesn’t crash. I’m done with it until they fix it
Yeah, constant crashing is a big issue as well.
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