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Turn your site into a place people can bump into each other

cauenapier.com

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Re: Turn your site into a place people can bump into each other

#5

Post by graypegg » 

    > The goal wasn't to build another social network.
    > It was to bring back a small feeling that the web used to have: the sense that there are actual people on the other side of the screen.
    > Town Square is intentionally tiny and forgetful. There are no accounts, no profiles, no follower counts, no permanent chat history. Messages exist only while people are there to read them.
Cute idea! But maybe this is just me having a different experience, but people having accounts/permanence was one of the defining “old web” feelings people keep talking about. A few people that were always in comment threads, or people with their own blogs linking back to you etc. People didn’t have the sign guestbooks with the same info every time, but they would anyway because they’re building up a persona. I get that you don’t want any social-media-y popularity contests, but… that is sort of what the web 30+ years ago was like.

Re: Turn your site into a place people can bump into each other

#6

Post by cauenapier »

ranger_danger wrote: post #3

Now this is cool! I'd love to see something like it on most web pages as a way to interact with like-minded people... but then I start thinking about all the ways it's going to be abused and get sad.

I'm the site author and creator of TownSquare. The only moment it got a bit abused it was during the first HN spike. But before and after that, everything was friendly.

Re: Turn your site into a place people can bump into each other

#7

Post by cauenapier »

graypegg wrote: post #5

> The goal wasn't to build another social network. > It was to bring back a small feeling that the web used to have: the sense that there are actual people on the other side of the screen. > Town Square is intentionally tiny and forgetful. There are no accounts, no profiles, no follower counts, no permanent chat history. Messages exist only while people are there to read them. Cute idea! But maybe this is just me hav…

I'm actually thinking about implementing some sort of "permanence" for some people, specially for recurring visitors of a given site. But that's still an early thought.

Re: Turn your site into a place people can bump into each other

#8

Post by thomastjeffery »

Fun!

People in a town square still have identities. They are just likely to not know each other.

I think this is a significant part of a great idea. What it, and most/all other communication software is missing, is the ability to continue a conversation into a new context. It would be great to move a convo from the public square into a shop, then maybe share contact info to get together another day.

Re: Turn your site into a place people can bump into each other

#9

Post by FinnKuhn »

thomastjeffery wrote: post #8

Fun! People in a town square still have identities. They are just likely to not know each other. I think this is a significant part of a great idea. What it, and most/all other communication software is missing, is the ability to continue a conversation into a new context. It would be great to move a convo from the public square into a shop, then maybe share contact info to get together another day.

> People in a town square still have identities. They are just likely to not know each other.

I think that entirely depends on the size of the town. For a big city this is absolutely true, but in a small village you would expect to find at least a few familiar faces.

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