u/jobbernowl

Most advice about reading people is either "just pay attention" or a list of rules that fall apart on contact with reality. Crossed arms means defensive, except when the room is cold. A pause means hesitation, except when someone is thinking. The rules are the wrong unit — you can memorise every one and still freeze in the actual conversation.

What seems to work better is reps. Person-perception accuracy is measurable, it varies enormously between people, and training studies show it improves when you make a call and immediately find out how you did. So I built something to make the calls on: Spot the Cue (spotthecue.com).

Short scenarios in text, photo, video or a chat thread. You read the situation, pick what you think is going on, then get told what the strongest read was, what was reasonable but partial, and what would have been a misread. Seven tracks: tone and wording, facial and body cues, subtext and indirectness, group dynamics, conflict and repair, saying it out loud, and pressure and deception.

The part I care most about is that it doesn't pretend to certainty. Cues are probabilistic, context and culture flip their meaning, and every entry in the glossary is paired with a "but not always." No 93% of communication is nonverbal — that stat is a misreading of a narrow experiment. The goal is better calibrated guesses, not mind reading.

Disclosure, per rule 8: it's mine and it has a paid tier. Level 1 of all seven tracks is free and fully scored, no account, no ads. Past that it's $19.99 once, no subscription. Mods, remove if that crosses the line.

What I'd like from this sub: tell me where a scenario's "best read" is wrong, unfair, or something that would never happen to an adult in real life. That's the feedback I can't get from people who already agree with me. I'll be in the comments. If you think the full version of this app would genuinely help you or someone you care about and the price is what's stopping you, email support@spotthecue.com and mention this thread.

Game Title: Wheelie pets, millipede munch, critter coop, and lab hamster

Playable Link: https://whatpetshouldiget.com/play.html

Platform: web browser

Description: Four pet themed games playable in your browser with daily and all time high scores. No download/app required. These are not super original, but my kids did help shape them with lots of iterations based on their feedback. There's still room for improvement -- I recognize that and would value any feedback.

Free to Play Status:

• [x] Free to play

Involvement: Coded using Claude Opus and Fable.

I made spotthecue.com — a free site for practicing how to read social cues.

It started with a family member who finds social situations genuinely hard to read, and can be, well, a bit awkward. So I tried to turn it into something they can practice. The goal was for them to gain comfort with these social situations so they were better equipped to handle them. I realize now that I was probably subconsciously inspired the show "The Rehearsal" on HBO as well.

How it works: you get short social scenarios — some written, some with a visual — and you pick how you'd read the situation. Then you get feedback on your read: what the strongest interpretation was, what was a reasonable-but-partial read, and what would've been a misread. The goal isn't a single "gotcha" right answer, it's building the instinct over time.

It's a work in progress and 100% free (and no ads!) — no signup needed to start (though you can add your email to save progress if you want). I'd rather get it in front of real people early than polish in a vacuum. If there's interest in advanced features (in depth voice/speech analysis, right now it's quite simple) I may offer a paid tier as that will use considerably more resources.

The three things I'd most love feedback on:

1. Does the concept resonate? Is "practice reading social cues" something you (or someone you know) would actually use, or am I solving a problem that doesn't feel like a problem?
2. Do the scenarios feel realistic? This is the part I'm least sure about. If a situation or its "best read" feels off, fake, or unfair, that's exactly the feedback I need.
3. What am I missing? Is there something obvious (or maybe not so obvious) that I've overlooked and need to consider to improve my goal of genuinely helping people?

Happy to answer anything about how it's built or where it's headed. Thanks for taking a look.