Still lots to do and lots on the roadmap but suggestions and feedback are helpful.
Oh another key thing is the site is built using a single Javascript block, no trackers and no ads anywhere. Clean as it can be.
Does weird things when most of the people you are talking to are strangers. I think humans brains are built for villages, for relatively stable relationships. Instead you see a stranger write something, you reply what you think, someone else replies to you, you reply to them. Whether you are agreeing or disagreeing, but there's not a lot of actual conversation, just... reactions. HN has a very nice tone, but I recognize like 3-4 names and couldn't tell you if the person I agree with today was the person I thought was an idiot yesterday.
I think for example the most successful communities on Reddit are either mega-obscure, so that there are very few newcomers, or very strictly moderated (e.g. /r/weightroom) in a way that maintains the culture. Everything else is is more or less a dumpster fire.
Dunno if you've thought anything along these lines.
I think technology has vastly outpaced the biological capacity of humans to interact effectively.
We're built for small communities. Tribes, clans, villages, whatever you want to call it. We've technologically advanced to the point where we can interact with the majority of humans on the planet in near real time, but... most of those interactions are driven not by connection, but by just projecting our thoughts onto a symbol we create.
This means a lot more users can moderate content besides just the main staff.
Could you elaborate on the distinction you’re making between genuine conversations and records of reaction?
Specifically, did you imply that tone and recognition of the other party are factors?
Also the inputs to create a new conversation on your account from the main feed view at the top to be more inline with what users expect and not a button to open.
In a lot of Internet conversation it's like you are correcting people who you disagree with and then expounding what you think is true. That isn't really what conversation is like, I don't think.
Is the question about the other party’s reasoning as in thought process or reasoning as in the argument they’ve written down? I think of arguments as public processes/entities, in that it doesn’t matter who/where critique comes from. But human beings have particular social psychology so there may be ‘effects’ from drive by critique.
> In a lot of Internet conversation it's like you are correcting people who you disagree with and then expounding what you think is true.
Often when I read something I don’t agree with, my mind immediately creates a caricature of the author and I get the impulse to crush/fix them.
One of the great benefits of knowledge is the ability to make connections between things you know. If I for example know the Latin words "manus" (hand) and "facere" (to make), and I know the English words "manual", "factory", and "manufacture", I'll probably make a bunch of connections there. I probably won't by merit of having access to a Latin dictionary alone.
If half the things you know are on the level of awareness of an unread Wikipedia article, I don't think you quite get the same benefit.
Then combine that with the relentless push to get everyone identifying themselves with a single identity tied to their real name... And the rampant abuse of people who do so... And it's just like... Why?
Making a real human connection requires some level of vulnerability. Someone can't get to know you if you completely hide who you are. But the level of doxxing, and harassing, and trading in personal data to spam you with ads for crap you aren't evenly slightly interested in, that's the price you pay now for being open. And in return, you get to have "discussions" with drive-by commenters who you'll never hear from again and may just be deliberately antagonizing you. Or they may just be bots trying to stir up rage.
Obscure communities solve some of these problems, but they are still open to drive-by trolls and privacy violators. There is simply no space on the public internet where you can find a real community and make real friends without a real risk of being abused by random people outside of that community, using your posts to target you for advertising or harassment.
And this doesn't even get into "likes" and this insane idea of being literally judged for everything you contribute to the community. This isn't how human community works at all. So I've all but opted out of using the internet for anything but consumption.
I've seen very personal exchanges take place on Stack Overflow. A user new to everything, a veteran with some spare time - they exchange comments and learn about each other. In some cases they exchange contact information- I'm not privy to what happens after that
Mind you, almost ALL of SO is devoid of that connection - but it still happens.
It sort of reminds me of when I was in kindergarten, and every child in the class wanted to put in their 2-cents, regardless of how relevant it was to the conversation.
On the forums that I prefer, people tend to stay on topic, and avoid asinine talk. Reddit is full of kindergartners.
I wonder if there is a community for scheduled group video/voice chat rooms about an interesting topic. You could show up to just listen, or participate. Is that how clubhouse is supposed to work? (I couldn't figure it out from their website copy)
Oh, and if you need infrastructure advice (I don't think you do, at least not yet), I would be happy to help.
Is it indexable? Can I find public posts using search engine such as DDG?
I’m trying to figure out what makes this special other than some nice design aesthetic
But the network is fully centralized, right? Did you consider using a protocol and making something more like Movim, but with your nice design language?
Or is the problem you are trying to solve in a different domain? Like your main concern was that you wanted easily embeddable content?
Also encryption for anything not public.
- what's the privacy policy?
- how can one request data / delete their account?
congrats on your launch!
I can't stand sites that are tracker heavy so I chose to never add that type of stuff.