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I'm sorry for posting this but I wanted to do something with the domain. It's basically a discussion forum, where you contribute via email. Or reply on the site

I'm sorry for posting this but I wanted to do something with the domain. It's basically a discussion forum, where you contribute via email. Or reply on the site...and the person you reply to gets an email. Theoretically people could use it for good, like meeting others ( a personals columns ), or posting useful news or items which they wish to buy or sell ( like cragslist (TM) ). Your email is never shown, just a unique id per email. But I'm sorry that the most likely outcome will be either: 1) not used, or 2) used for bad and spam. I try to prevent the spam by using Spam Assassin to reject messages. Anyway, it is sort of an experiment. So let's see how it goes. No guarantees, no warranties, fingers crossed, hope it is good. Thanks for reading. Seriously it's a stupid idea but I just wanted to post it. Please don't hate it.

gus_massa 9y ago
Are emails verified? If I send and email with a forged address, like someone@exampe.com will "someone" receive all the replies?
- whatnotests 9y ago
  Forcing signup via oAuth with a service that does some sane email verification might be an easy route.
  - mike-cardwell 9y ago
    Easier to just send an email with a verification link to the sender address. Should at least honour DKIM and SPF.
    - 19eightyfour 9y ago
      Yes I agree this is a good idea because it's not too burdensome on me or on the humans. I'll think more about this if their is some easier or "better way" I'll do that but otherwise this might be what we do. Thanks.
  - 19eightyfour 9y ago
    That's not bad, thanks. My caution is that this would exclude people who use one of the long tail email addresses. Their own domain, or some obscure provider. And I think specifically I would like to include those people. Certainly not let them feel their emails are "secondary citizens" - even tho when it comes to integrations like oauth they are secondary. Because I think the fringe has a story to tell and I want to encourage people from "interesting domains" to come. At least that's what I in my unspoiled internet innocence want. Maybe it's not a good idea, but ... See what happens. Most probable thing is no one uses it, so maybe this is a "problem I'd love to have" at this stage. Thanks.
- 19eightyfour 9y ago
  No they are not. This is a good idea. It's important because otherwise people could be targeted by forging their address and then the replies go to them. I wonder how to do this without making it burdensome? I'll think about it. Thanks.
primitivesuave 9y ago
This is actually a very cool idea! I'm collecting some fun projects to teach in my web development classes, and this is a great one since it's quite easy to set up Mailgun to hit an HTTP endpoint with email contents. I think the students will have such a blast seeing their emails show up on a live website.
- 19eightyfour 9y ago
  Thanks for saying that. I really enjoyed seeing emails come through the first time I wrote a client for it as well. This show hn no 1 spot has cursed me tho. Because I spent the day working on "improving" this "stupid idea"...it just felt tiring. I guess because I realize I don't really care about it and also because I don't think it can make money, and even if it does...not much. I'm reflecting that it is really only worth it putting time into the ideas that matter. I have a bunch of ideas that I've spent so much more time thinking about than this. I think it really works for me to put the time into those, even tho they take longer than this "quick idea". All the love has been encouraging tho. It's pretty cool to see "real people" using your stuff. But if it's not the idea you care about, I find that coolness quickly fades! Thanks
19eightyfour 9y ago
Announcement: Sorry I closed this site because it was becoming too expensive to run. The code was not that efficient and all the activity from HN was costing. I have another idea like a forum based on email which I may post a bit later...once I've made the code cheaper to run. Thanks for the feel good encouragement.

gus_massa 9y ago

Are emails verified? If I send and email with a forged address, like someone@exampe.com will "someone" receive all the replies?

whatnotests 9y ago
Forcing signup via oAuth with a service that does some sane email verification might be an easy route.
- mike-cardwell 9y ago
  Easier to just send an email with a verification link to the sender address. Should at least honour DKIM and SPF.
  - 19eightyfour 9y ago
    Yes I agree this is a good idea because it's not too burdensome on me or on the humans. I'll think more about this if their is some easier or "better way" I'll do that but otherwise this might be what we do. Thanks.
- 19eightyfour 9y ago
  That's not bad, thanks. My caution is that this would exclude people who use one of the long tail email addresses. Their own domain, or some obscure provider. And I think specifically I would like to include those people. Certainly not let them feel their emails are "secondary citizens" - even tho when it comes to integrations like oauth they are secondary. Because I think the fringe has a story to tell and I want to encourage people from "interesting domains" to come. At least that's what I in my unspoiled internet innocence want. Maybe it's not a good idea, but ... See what happens. Most probable thing is no one uses it, so maybe this is a "problem I'd love to have" at this stage. Thanks.
19eightyfour 9y ago
No they are not. This is a good idea. It's important because otherwise people could be targeted by forging their address and then the replies go to them. I wonder how to do this without making it burdensome? I'll think about it. Thanks.

primitivesuave 9y ago

This is actually a very cool idea! I'm collecting some fun projects to teach in my web development classes, and this is a great one since it's quite easy to set up Mailgun to hit an HTTP endpoint with email contents. I think the students will have such a blast seeing their emails show up on a live website.

19eightyfour 9y ago
Thanks for saying that. I really enjoyed seeing emails come through the first time I wrote a client for it as well. This show hn no 1 spot has cursed me tho. Because I spent the day working on "improving" this "stupid idea"...it just felt tiring. I guess because I realize I don't really care about it and also because I don't think it can make money, and even if it does...not much. I'm reflecting that it is really only worth it putting time into the ideas that matter. I have a bunch of ideas that I've spent so much more time thinking about than this. I think it really works for me to put the time into those, even tho they take longer than this "quick idea". All the love has been encouraging tho. It's pretty cool to see "real people" using your stuff. But if it's not the idea you care about, I find that coolness quickly fades! Thanks

19eightyfour 9y ago

Announcement: Sorry I closed this site because it was becoming too expensive to run. The code was not that efficient and all the activity from HN was costing. I have another idea like a forum based on email which I may post a bit later...once I've made the code cheaper to run. Thanks for the feel good encouragement.