Show HN: Graffiti, Hyper-Local Anonymous Message Boards (No App Required) https://ift.tt/eLQfnzs

Show HN: Graffiti, Hyper-Local Anonymous Message Boards (No App Required) Hello HN! I'm Phil, the creator of Graffiti - A web-based hyper-local anonymous message board (think YikYak but with no app required and the frontend aesthetics of Craigslist). It's meant to be pretty lightweight and run on almost anything with a browser and basic location services. It's built mostly in Python and Svelte, and currently running on a small Ubuntu VM + Postgres DB. I originally started this project to leave geo-located comments for my brother and his friends around town since we all were fans of long meandering walks. I saw some friends-of-friends leave posts as well so I started to add additional features like: -Replies: Start your message with "@@CommentID" to get added to a thread below the parent post. -Hashtags: Use a URL like https://ift.tt/LWiGoAe to see only comments including #parks. -Distance filters: Currently Graffiti supports sorting distances between 100M and 5KM, though I'd like to build better ways to support more granular radii and other geo-based options. -Tripcodes (optional): Use an imageboard-style tripcode to identify yourself to friends and build a reputation without having to keep the same username. -Basic Search: Search the text of a post, username, or tripcode to filter posts. There's plenty more to work on, and I'm really interested in what HN thinks would be useful features to prioritize next. Sometimes I get asked about toxicity and other moderation issues with a project like Graffiti. As this is fairly new project I haven't developed a robust formalized moderation framework or the tools to manage auto-removal of certain content. I think early on a few pieces work to limit the toxicity seen by any given user: -Granular location filters (400M -> 5KM) practically limit what content you're seeing since people will have to be right nearby. I'd like to make this even more advanced in future updates. Adding better drawable bounding-boxes, rate-limiting around specific areas where toxicity may be high, etc. -Filtering the feed based on arbitrary hashtags. For example your friends could all post under https://ift.tt/cRUVTu7 (the # auto populates in the message when accessed through that URL). You'd only see content using that hashtag, effectively limiting a majority of posts. A few updates I hope to have soon: -A basic reporting function -A basic blacklist/whitelist based on keywords (this is a little tricky given no logins, but would love any ideas). I'm thinking an early safe search on/off type button could be an option to filter what is in your feed. Most people probably won't see many posts outside major cities like Boston, New York, DC, etc. but we're always looking for new use-cases and to see how people interact with Graffiti so I encourage playing around! Here's a simple Google slide deck with some getting started tips and tricks: https://ift.tt/jKlsfOF ... I'd love to hear your feedback on Graffiti! I'm happy to discuss any comments here, but feel free to send an email to GraffitiHQ@protonmail.com to chat with me directly. Thanks! https://ift.tt/fm81dxH August 12, 2023 at 12:23AM