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Show HN: Discuo – Anonymous discussions with infinite branching and 24h lifespan
I built Discuo, a unique discussion platform that combines:
- Infinite thread branching: conversations evolve naturally in multiple directions
- 24h post lifespan: all content auto-deletes after 24 hours
- No account needed: just start posting or commenting instantly
- Complete anonymity: no tracking, no personal data collection
- Minimalist design: distraction-free, focused on pure discussion
Originally created for developers to share progress and discuss code, it evolved into a platform covering various topics while maintaining its minimalist essence.
- cedws 2y agoI would love to participate in a small community like this. Problem is that they usually fail to gain inertia and become abandoned quickly. They also become filled with spam unless actively moderated.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- newaccountman2 2y agoIt seems cool, but why the mandatory 24 hour auto-delete? edit: I guess if it took off, you'd incur storage costs :thinking:
- drdruide 2y agoI just like this concept of ephemeral post! Thanks!
- curtisblaine 2y agoLike 4chan, ephemeral posts create a different kind of community. I wonder how this plays out legally (i.e. don't you have obligations of log persistence in case a crime is reported?)
- drdruide 2y agoUPDATE: I've removed the 24-hour message deletion function. Posts will now remain on the platform.
- llm_trw 2y agoDon't fall into the trap of audience capture: https://www.neuroscienceof.com/human-nature-blog/audience-capture-psychology-economics-nickocado-keynes https://www.neuroscienceof.com/human-nature-blog/audience-ca... Do your thing and ignore some randoms replies online. Including this one.
- drdruide 2y agoFor sure, thanks for this advice!
- drdruide 2y agoUPDATE 2: I may add an option to decide if you want your posts to be deleted within 24 hours. For the moment, no more deletions at all.
- curtisblaine 2y agoTo be fair, I like the ephemeral post message board style. I was just curious of the legal implications of deleting content. I am not a lawyer, and there could be none as far as I know.
- curtisblaine 2y agoThis is a beautiful platform. Care to describe the tech stack you're using? UX nit: "post anonymously" looks like a button, and I pressed it a couple of times before understanding it's just a switch.
- drdruide 2y agoThanks a lot! I used nextjs, tailwind, prisma all deployed on a vps :) Thanks for your comment, I'll fix it
- l0b0 2y agoGreat idea! Some feedback: - The 24 hour horizon means you could get away without namespace functionality like categories entirely, especially when self-hosting for a small-to-medium-sized group. - It's tiring to read sites with all monospace fonts. I can see how it might be useful if most posts contain a lot of code, though. - Do you expect this to be open sourced?
- drdruide 2y agoAs I said below, after several returns I've updated the site and removed the automatic deletion feature after 24h but I'm thinking of adding an option when creating a post. Thanks for your feedback, and I don't think it will be open source for the time being! If the site is doing well and there's a lot of demand for it, why not rethink!
- imska 2y agoWow, been thinking about creating the same thing for a while now. What did you build it with? I'd definitely love to see some of the code!
- curtisblaine 2y agoTbh the 24 hour horizon also means that you can do without a persistent db and store everything in memory (as managed db are typically the most complex / expensive part of the stack)
- thih9 2y agoOnly if you’re ok with an empty page after server restart.
- curtisblaine 2y agoIf it'a controlled restart, you can dump your memory onto a file when shutting down, then reload the dump when you restart. If it's a crash, yes, you will lose everything. Or you can do Append Only File persistence like Redis, in which case you won't lose anything in each case.
- treprinum 2y agoBad idea for social marketing - by the time a post becomes popular, it disappears.
- drdruide 2y ago(I've removed the 24-hour message deletion function. Posts will now remain on the platform.)
- bernCs 2y agoDiscuo just killed 4chan. #4chanIsdead
- Bancakes 2y agoSooo modern day 4chan.
- osamabinladen 2y ago*modern day 4chan without the impossible to solve captcha
- bashauma 2y agoYeah I remembered same thing. btw Futaba channel (mama 4chan) has different lifespans to drop thread on each board. (ex. img.2chan.net drops thread in 1hour). Just an idea.
- drdruide 2y agoThanks for the idea!
- JonChesterfield 2y agoIf your unique attribute is the 24hr auto delete, and you drop that because some HN people don't like it, you've removed your unique attribute. Probably not the right call.
- drdruide 2y agoNot at all, I'm planning to make it optional and I'm listening to people. Not just from here. I launched the project 3-4 days ago and I've had quite a few private messages [with arguments] which have led me to think that it's pretty fair.
- saurik 2y agoSure. I mean, I often hate the unique attributes people come up with, and I wouldn't use their product because of it. I certainly also hate yours ;P. But... would I use something that has no unique attributes? Probably also not! And, honestly, it is maybe better to first decide if I am even in your target market or not... (and in this case: I am not; my opinion is so different from your instinct that anyone similar to me simply do not matter for your design).
- tux3 2y agoAnother thing with the 24h autoclean is it kills slow boards. The fastest rapid fire message boards are also the most chaotic, with the lowest signal-to-noise. There's a certain comfyness in smaller places, outside the containment imageboards, that you won't have if you just clone slash pol slash and force the conversations to be even shorter and meaningless that they already are over there.
- drdruide 2y agoThanks for your feedback and just to respond to you: As I said below, after several returns I've updated the site and removed the automatic deletion feature after 24h but I'm thinking of adding an option when creating a post.
- Jaxan 2y agoWhat about the reverse: a post only shows up after 24h after submission? :-)
- edelbitter 2y agoThe subtitle says "a minimalist discussion platform" yet the form is inert without Javascript.
- dreis_sw 2y agoLuckily there’s an easy fix, enabling JavaScript like a regular human being :p Honestly curious though, do you generally browse the web without JavaScript?
- tliltocatl 2y agoDevelopers should stop using javascript everywhere things can be done without it. Point.
- porridgeraisin 2y agoWhy?
- grayhatter 2y agoFor the same reason you shouldn't rent or buy or use a backhoe when it's a shovel of dirt. For the same reason you shouldn't stand up multiple 8U rack mount servers to run your homeassisstant instance that would be happy on a raspi zero.
- Forbo 2y agoI would love it if web devs would stop externalizing the costs of their bloated apps onto their users. Make web devs care about resource utilization. How much bandwidth, electricity, and time is wasted on poorly written applications?
- tliltocatl 2y agoMore like you shouldn't use a backhoe and charge passing people for its fuel and put your backhoe in the middle of the walkway. It brings negative value to the end user. If you don't care for your end user - fine, but then you can't expect them care for you or your product either.
- mouse_ 2y agoHow are you going to avoid all the problems - moral, legal, and ethical - that other image boards face?
- drdruide 2y agoA moderation system has already been set up and used for several bans, and it works well. If there are more and more visits, I'll recruit someone for 24/7!
- Forbo 2y agoThis is a pseudonymous system, not anonymous. The "anonymity" is entirely dependent on the salt. Unless you literally have no way of complying with a court order to hand over a user's IP, making any claims of anonymity is just flat out irresponsible. I hope no whistleblowers attempt to use this platform without a lot more consideration and countermeasures taken. Sorry for the rant, I just really hate how much of a buzzword anonymity has become when nearly every claim of it falls on its face.
- drdruide 2y agoI'm open to discussion on how to improve the system if you have any ideas or suggestions.
- Forbo 2y agoDon't call it anonymous if it isn't actually anonymous.
- drdruide 2y agoIt's anonymous.
- Forbo 2y agoSo if you were served a technical assistance order you would have no way of complying with that? How are you using a salt that you have no way of knowing/observing/recovering? What protection measures are employed to prevent the salt from being recovered from memory or otherwise dumped via some other exploit? Please be detailed, as matters of anonymity can usually be boiled down to life changing consequences for those involved.
- drdruide 2y agoThe system is designed with multiple layers of privacy and security: - IP Hashing: One-way SHA-256 hashing with environmental salt ; Original IPs are never stored, only hashes ; Even with server access, original IPs can't be recovered; Server memory only processes hashes, never stores raw IPs - Per-Category Anonymity: Different poster IDs per category using separate salts ; Double-hashing mechanism: first for global ID, then for category-specific ID ; Cross-category correlation is mathematically impossible ; Each context generates a unique, unrelated identifier - Technical Assistance Compliance: I can provide hashed data and salting mechanisms; I can track specific hashed IPs if required; I can ban users without knowing their real IPs; But I technically cannot reverse the hashes to original IPs The system balances legal compliance with user privacy - I can assist investigations through hash matching while maintaining technical inability to reverse-identify users. This is not about avoiding compliance, it's about responsible data minimization. The architecture ensures I can't provide what I don't have, while still maintaining effective moderation capabilities.
- bflesch 2y agoLooks nice. Some thoughts: - I'd fix the breadcrumbs so it's not /ai but /tech/ai. - Seeing the crowdflare captcha gives me the ick. There should be different GDPR-compliant solution other than giving crowdflare all our info. - Maybe tie the 24hr deletion period to the number of upvotes for a certain post. If a post gets many upvotes, add another day to its lifetime and so on
- solarkraft 2y agoI like the idea of branching discussions. I imagine this would be great for text messengers. If there was a workable platform for building messengers (hello, Matrix?), I’d likely already have prototyped something up.
- Vampiero 2y agoThe title of this post should be changed to reflect the fact that the one interesting thing about it is no more
- astralmane96 2y agoThis is a very cool idea and your work is awesome! Do you have an X account or something like that so I can check out what you are up to? I know the point of this website is being anonymous, but I feel like you should have a way to promote your hobbies or work, you know?
- ungreased0675 2y agoI think you should test a different font and color scheme. It’s hard to look at.