6 ms·

Show HN: Anon – Create anonymous, self-deleting blog posts

47 points by LegendaryR3D 6y ago

LegendaryR3D 6y ago
Hey HN! I built this so you can easily create self-deleting blog posts, which can be easily shared in your whatsapp/messaging groups. This is useful when you don't want to directly post walls of text, and want others to be able to easily share what you posted to their other groups.
- gaogao 6y ago
  You might want to include a basic "report" button, since free image + text can get some skeevy stuff.
  - tessierashpool 6y ago
    very, very true. this approach to social software has proven consistently destructive across multiple platforms. Snapchat had a ton of underage nudes. 4chan's been a magnet for hate speech. I miss the anonymity of the early, 1990s WWW, but that was the playful anonymity of a much smaller group of people. it was a self-selecting group with a lot less of these problems at the time. what kind of use cases did you have in mind, OP?
    - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
      Use cases are up to the users. They can choose what sort of content to make, and who they wish to share it with. I will add a report-button to deter the platform from being used for illegal activity. All social-software is inherently destructive in the same way that it is inherently good. It really depends on the users. People and ideas viewed as 'bad' today, might be 'good' in the future, and vice-versa. MLK was once FBI #1 most wanted, now he is an America hero. Gay marriage was once a marxist conspiracy to subvert god-fearing capitalists, now it is legal in all 50 US states. Etc, etc.
  - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
    Will do! I certainly don't want the platform to be used for any illegal activity.
contrahax 6y ago
Nice, but the XSS! Couldn't resist. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxxig5y00090vmurwox9nwz/xss https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxxig5y00090vmurwox9nwz/xs...
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  Working on a fix for this! EDIT: Fixed.
cheb 6y ago
Cool site :D but consider fixing some xss issues :(. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxuf329008415mjcdmuwufu/asdf https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxuf329008415mjcdmuwufu/as...
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  asdfasdfasdfasdf Didn't know you could execute javascript emebedded in an image like that. I used some basic filtering rules, but I can clearly see I have some way to go. I won't sleep tonight until I get this fixed! EDIT: The glitch in the matrix is no more. Thank you for pointing this out!
  - hnaqt 6y ago
    can you share what the bug was? :)
    - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
      <img onerror="<javascript injection>" /> It was redirecting users to 'never gonna give you up' on youtube. It was a noob mistake.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
atum47 6y ago
Interesting. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxul8tb011415mjhtta30jq/Singleton https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxul8tb011415mjhtta30jq/Si...
- atum47 6y ago
  I forgot to ask, did it erase the metadata from my picture to make it anonymous?
  - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
    It should. The original is always compressed into a new file, and the metadata is thrown away. I read about what happened to some other websites, and want to ensure users have maximum privacy!
thruhiker 6y ago
Did anyone else initially read the title as "Show HN: Anon -- Create anonymous, self-defeating blog posts"?
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  The greatest enemy is the self. Self-victory is not possible, but self-defeat is :( Painful, is the existence we live...
doodlebugging 6y ago
After you post, how do you read it on the site? How do you read things others have posted? Am I just dumb? EDIT: Oh. I should've copied the link to the post. I guess it's gone forever. Geez Louise. I am not a smart man. I just made a duplicate post since I lost the first one. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ef6w000315legil44c2u/Legacy https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ef6w000315legil44c2u/Le... How do you find other people's posts?
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  Right now, you can't find other people's posts. This is by design. It is up to you to decide who to share your posts with. I considered adding an option to list your article on some type of feed or list, but then I would have to figure out how to moderate all the toxic posts that would inevitably pile-up.
  - doodlebugging 6y ago
    Thanks for the answer. With that in mind, when you make a post and enable comments then those people who have the shared link are the only ones who can comment, right? I was trying to understand how to read any comments that others have made on the Anon post you made. For this to work you need to save the link, send it to your selected audience, and then check back in for their thoughts.
    - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
      Correct! Only those who can actually see the post can make comments. Later on, I might add some way for the originally author to 'moderate' their comments through a non-tracking cookie. However, many users probably have some cookie-deletion extensions installed (I know I do) that might make this difficult if they close the page. Still trying to think of a better solution.
      - akalsz 6y ago
        Couldn't the poster set a password instead of a cookie, which they could then use for comment moderation on that post?
manofsky 6y ago
I love the idea !!! Not sure when i'd use it but non the less i think it's awesome. I'd say that users that would want this feature would also like some sense of "security" that the post is actually deleted. there is no sense of that. another 2 cents :) How about letting us decide when it gets deleted rather than the magic 7 days?
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  I am glad you like it! There is a slider you can set that changes the duration. I fixed it at 1-7-30 days. I probably need to make that feature more visible though. And I'll add in the option to let users set the kill duration. I do hard-delete the posts once they expire, but I don't know how I could give users a sense of 'security' that it has gone into the void. Do you have any suggestions?
  - niceairport 6y ago
    Maybe, once a post has been created you could show a message stating exact datetime on which the post will be deleted?
    - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
      Will do!
random_dude_38 6y ago
Pretty cool. Banner isnt what i was expecting tho. I wish ratio/size was a little bit more flexible. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ym1s001213mxua9uz245/Cathug https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ym1s001213mxua9uz245/Ca...
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  Yeah, I need to add some flexibility there! I'll add a more permissive height-range, and a simple crop-on-upload feature as well.

47 points by LegendaryR3D 6y ago

Hey HN! I built this so you can easily create self-deleting blog posts, which can be easily shared in your whatsapp/messaging groups. This is useful when you don't want to directly post walls of text, and want others to be able to easily share what you posted to their other groups.

gaogao 6y ago
You might want to include a basic "report" button, since free image + text can get some skeevy stuff.
- tessierashpool 6y ago
  very, very true. this approach to social software has proven consistently destructive across multiple platforms. Snapchat had a ton of underage nudes. 4chan's been a magnet for hate speech. I miss the anonymity of the early, 1990s WWW, but that was the playful anonymity of a much smaller group of people. it was a self-selecting group with a lot less of these problems at the time. what kind of use cases did you have in mind, OP?
  - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
    Use cases are up to the users. They can choose what sort of content to make, and who they wish to share it with. I will add a report-button to deter the platform from being used for illegal activity. All social-software is inherently destructive in the same way that it is inherently good. It really depends on the users. People and ideas viewed as 'bad' today, might be 'good' in the future, and vice-versa. MLK was once FBI #1 most wanted, now he is an America hero. Gay marriage was once a marxist conspiracy to subvert god-fearing capitalists, now it is legal in all 50 US states. Etc, etc.
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  Will do! I certainly don't want the platform to be used for any illegal activity.

contrahax 6y ago

Nice, but the XSS! Couldn't resist. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxxig5y00090vmurwox9nwz/xss https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxxig5y00090vmurwox9nwz/xs...

LegendaryR3D 6y ago
Working on a fix for this! EDIT: Fixed.

cheb 6y ago

Cool site :D but consider fixing some xss issues :(. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxuf329008415mjcdmuwufu/asdf https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxuf329008415mjcdmuwufu/as...

LegendaryR3D 6y ago
asdfasdfasdfasdf Didn't know you could execute javascript emebedded in an image like that. I used some basic filtering rules, but I can clearly see I have some way to go. I won't sleep tonight until I get this fixed! EDIT: The glitch in the matrix is no more. Thank you for pointing this out!
- hnaqt 6y ago
  can you share what the bug was? :)
  - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
    <img onerror="<javascript injection>" /> It was redirecting users to 'never gonna give you up' on youtube. It was a noob mistake.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

atum47 6y ago

Interesting. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxul8tb011415mjhtta30jq/Singleton https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmxul8tb011415mjhtta30jq/Si...

atum47 6y ago
I forgot to ask, did it erase the metadata from my picture to make it anonymous?
- LegendaryR3D 6y ago
  It should. The original is always compressed into a new file, and the metadata is thrown away. I read about what happened to some other websites, and want to ensure users have maximum privacy!

thruhiker 6y ago

Did anyone else initially read the title as "Show HN: Anon -- Create anonymous, self-defeating blog posts"?

LegendaryR3D 6y ago
The greatest enemy is the self. Self-victory is not possible, but self-defeat is :( Painful, is the existence we live...

doodlebugging 6y ago

After you post, how do you read it on the site? How do you read things others have posted? Am I just dumb? EDIT: Oh. I should've copied the link to the post. I guess it's gone forever. Geez Louise. I am not a smart man. I just made a duplicate post since I lost the first one. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ef6w000315legil44c2u/Legacy https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ef6w000315legil44c2u/Le... How do you find other people's posts?

LegendaryR3D 6y ago
Right now, you can't find other people's posts. This is by design. It is up to you to decide who to share your posts with. I considered adding an option to list your article on some type of feed or list, but then I would have to figure out how to moderate all the toxic posts that would inevitably pile-up.
- doodlebugging 6y ago
  Thanks for the answer. With that in mind, when you make a post and enable comments then those people who have the shared link are the only ones who can comment, right? I was trying to understand how to read any comments that others have made on the Anon post you made. For this to work you need to save the link, send it to your selected audience, and then check back in for their thoughts.
  - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
    Correct! Only those who can actually see the post can make comments. Later on, I might add some way for the originally author to 'moderate' their comments through a non-tracking cookie. However, many users probably have some cookie-deletion extensions installed (I know I do) that might make this difficult if they close the page. Still trying to think of a better solution.
    - akalsz 6y ago
      Couldn't the poster set a password instead of a cookie, which they could then use for comment moderation on that post?

manofsky 6y ago

I love the idea !!! Not sure when i'd use it but non the less i think it's awesome. I'd say that users that would want this feature would also like some sense of "security" that the post is actually deleted. there is no sense of that. another 2 cents :) How about letting us decide when it gets deleted rather than the magic 7 days?

LegendaryR3D 6y ago
I am glad you like it! There is a slider you can set that changes the duration. I fixed it at 1-7-30 days. I probably need to make that feature more visible though. And I'll add in the option to let users set the kill duration. I do hard-delete the posts once they expire, but I don't know how I could give users a sense of 'security' that it has gone into the void. Do you have any suggestions?
- niceairport 6y ago
  Maybe, once a post has been created you could show a message stating exact datetime on which the post will be deleted?
  - LegendaryR3D 6y ago
    Will do!

random_dude_38 6y ago

Pretty cool. Banner isnt what i was expecting tho. I wish ratio/size was a little bit more flexible. https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ym1s001213mxua9uz245/Cathug https://anon.sharehub.live/post/ckmy1ym1s001213mxua9uz245/Ca...

LegendaryR3D 6y ago
Yeah, I need to add some flexibility there! I'll add a more permissive height-range, and a simple crop-on-upload feature as well.