Show HN: Chatparty – host videochat parties with no audio | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Chatparty – host videochat parties with no audio

chatparty.co

41 pointsantdke17 comments

I think it's a cool idea, but why do we need to know your ages? It comes across as ageist.

I don't know for sure, but I feel like this app probably was born out of Indie Hackers and for whatever reason Indie Hackers puts a huge emphasis on age (it's the first thing listed in everyone's bio, before location or what they do).

I think their goal is to be inclusive (anyone, of any age or gender or race, can be a maker!), but I can see how it feels odd out of context.

Honestly, I was just super tired and filling out my bio was one of the last things I did. I think a lot of people mention age because it's something to say when they can't think of anything else. Didn't mean to come off as ageist.

I know, thanks for your response. I'm 42 so paranoid my tech skills are becoming irrelevant. What a pathetic thing to worry about during a pandemic. Anyway, I think you're really onto something because as a musician I always want to video chat but have everyone be responsible for tuning into a 3rd party, like for group jamming for instance. Keep up the good work!

Ah, didn't know that. I feel like Covid has me, personally, thinking a lot about how age never mattered more, so that's why it stood out, or seemed off to have 'missed' or whatever. (Futurist world of micro-cities of only young people, old people in rural areas in sterilized cubes and what not)

No, it doesn't. You're being hypersensitive.

haha, fair enough

Hey HN, one of the creators here! This was for a hackathon project where we wanted to play around with a unique twist on video chat. It was also a chance to learn how to build video chat with the daily.co API (surprisingly easy). AMA.

Just wondering, what is the appeal of doing a video chat with no audio? Thanks.

I did a mystery murder on Zoom yesterday where only the organizer/host had audio. It had the feelings of an IRC chatroom but with video. More people could actively talk (30+) than on a regular Zoom call, which are rife with interruptions in even very small groups.

I'm really interested in this, as we are building something to enable more people talking in different groups: joinvoiceplace.com

Would you be available for a couple of questions: - Are you planning to repeat it? - Did you use one or many rooms? - Do you know about break-out rooms in Zoom? - Have you thought about how giving attention/directing speech would work in "IRC + Video" ?

Yeah, gonna repeat it next weekend! Everyone had a lot of fun. TO answer your question: we did indeed use multiple (break-out) rooms. As for speech/voice... I spent a lot of time on Omegle as a teenager, so video + no audio is natural to me but may not be for some people. Feel free to ask me more questions via email: cbswishes at gmail.

What do you mean nobody had audio but 30+ people could talk?

I'm guessing they mean everyone else could talk via text chat, which is the same with Chatparty.

Potentially allows for more people to be in a video chat at once. Beyond that though.. no idea. Thought it would be interesting to put it out there and see what happens :)

I think some business meetings could be run really well with visuals but no audio. I think Jeff Bezos does a silent meeting thing where everyone reads the brief. Something like that.

Nice work! Also had a good experience with the Daily.co API. Thanks for sharing!

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