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Comment by holler | Hacker News Reader

I miss those days too! I used to spend a lot of time in #efnet and #dalnet, speaking to strangers about things like #skateboarding and other random topics. It was kind of cool because back then most people didn't know what irc was, nor did they have the prowess to download, install, and configure a client. Mirc was the jam.

I'm working on a new open chat site, https://sqwok.im, and hoping to recapture some of that essence. Particularly the simplicity, and lack of overly strict moderation like you describe. Irc never hit mainstream because the majority of users would never download and install a client, but it's neat that with modern web technology we can finally build these experiences in a way that general users can enjoy.

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Checked it out. I like the simplicity of the design. The font/size is a little odd for my eyes but I can get used to it.(maybe because I am seeing it on my phone)

I am unsure tho how to navigate to get to the chat rooms.

ETA: ahhh! I got it! Will there be some form of indexing?

Eta2: can I describe it this way: the author of a topic of discussion is the moderator of the topic?

Thanks for checking it out!

So the key thing is on Sqwok each post has a built-in chat room instead of comments, meaning that creating your own chat and sharing it with anyone else is as easy as sharing the url for your post. It currently works on mobile and desktop web.

> can I describe it this way: the author of a topic of discussion is the moderator of the topic?

yes this is accurate! I'm still actively building out some key features including ability to do some basic moderation, but that's the plan!

I like that there are no "engagement" or "proofing" indicators like likes and hearts, or other mechanisms signaling approval and consent-of-the-crowd(like votes/points/karma).

Do you intend to keep it this way? (Please say yes)

Yes! I wanted to build a place that's mission focused on conversation, and tries to mimic the real world as much as possible. There are no plans to add likes, voting, or public "karma", and I'm split on whether or not to show follower count. In real life people "vote" by either walking away from a conversation, or chiming in with an alternate viewpoint. The relevance algorithm is based on conversation metrics such as activity and publish date, and I'd like to explore further ideas around that.

Outstanding! I've signed up and am already having a few interesting chats about space launches :) Really interesting experiment you've made here, I hope it succeeds

thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out.

will post the link since I'm going to be hanging out there watching the SpaceX Crew 1 launch :D

https://sqwok.im/p/QGSQH214bPZbBQ

I second this sentiment.

Great idea! When trying to create an account, it wouldn't let me chose a password over 20 characters. Why the limit?

hey, thank you & thanks for checking it out, appreciate it!

hmm, that seems like a bug! the username limit is set at 20 but maybe I accidentally copied that validation onto the password field, I'll remove it, thanks for reporting!

it was #atheism for me on dalnet. quarter century since, i still am friends with my chat buddies there. what does that tell you? "social media' as a platform these days, is laughable. i will laugh my arse off one of these days.

haha yep, that's about the time I was hanging out on there, although I mostly remember hanging out in quake gaming channels, #skaters on efnet, maybe a few others. It was a fun time because due to the slight obstacle of figuring out how to get online, there was a certain exclusiveness to it. Plus it was the first time I had ever used something like that other than AOL chatrooms (which I think were around at the time of the aol cdrom you would install)

edit: forgot there was #undernet too.. dang, what a fun time. I remember there were a bunch of other servers on top of those but I can't remember them

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