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Comment by iwd | Hacker News Reader

Thanks for building this! Curious to know why you went with random mixing, rather than self-sorting. I expect the timed random mixing would feel sort of heavy-handed, though I haven't tried it so maybe I'm wrong.

Also -- what did you use for the video chat component? I'm assuming you incorporated some existing software/service?

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I went with random mixing to add a little variety to the experience. I know personally when I'm at a party I get stuck in a rut and end up talking to the same people over and over. A tool like this where you're warned when you'll mix but you don't know who you might end up talking with next helps with meeting new people.

I also figured it'd be easier to add features like self-sorting later on after I proved out the random mixing idea.

I mentioned it in the other comment but yes, I'm using Twilio's Programmable Video API https://www.twilio.com/docs/video

What was the point of using Twilio's API if you were using WebRTC already? Wouldn't it have already worked without twilio?

I love the idea of the random mixing! I have the same thing happen where once I find a group I just stay there, even if I want to try meeting more people

Twilio's API offers an abstraction on top of WebRTC that handles the peer connections etc. So my interaction is more with Twilio's API than WebRTC directly.

Thanks! It's definitely a struggle of mine. It's more comfortable to stick with a group that you're already accepted into than go try to get accepted again.

BTW, I just stumbled across the AWS Chime SDK: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/business-productivity/customers...

Sounds similar to what Twilio offers, but at about 1/6th the price -- might be worth a look if costs are a concern...

Great find, it aligns with the rest of my stack too so I might find myself experimenting with that.

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