Just used the app and let me just say, you have a lifelong user in me. I absolutely love it. The design is fluid and responsive. The general idea works beautifully well. I am eager to see how it scales. In future I’d like to see if the person who posed the question is online, away or will be back in 5mins.
@kamnelechukwu Thanks for the friendly words and for the useful feedback! Your pain-point is mine too -- when I respond to a Prompt I want that conversation to start *now*. The dream is to deliver the user into an active conversation with the "best" person for them as soon as they decide they want to talk. (If you've ever played online timed chess where people are matched based on Elo score, the idea is similar.)
So I love your product it’s almost ridiculous how much I have used it. I just thought of an idea that I can see PM scale to- maybe a feature suggestion where it’s like people leave voice notes no names just conversations. Also I hate that a conversation ends and I cannot reopen it if I choose to continue it.
@kamnelechukwu Yes! I toyed around with voice notes in an earlier iteration, I think there's absolutely a nugget there. I settled on text-only because it was important to me to retain the anonymity of the person and not give away any hints as to their age, gender, ethnicity, or ability. I just liked the concept of people bringing their writing to the party and nothing else.
Re: conversations ending. I've been there too when I don't open my phone in time. Once the remaining time gets below 1 minute, if you and your conversation partner both agree, you can extend the chat by 5 minutes. Slightly longer-term, PM will guide you to Prompts with a well-suited conversation partner who is actively online. Ideally you're chatting with each other for the duration of the time window, so conversations ending too soon isn't a worry.
Hey everyone —
Postmodern is a mobile app designed for ephemeral, one-on-one, anonymous conversations. Here’s how it works:
* Create an account with just a phone number. (Needed to manage abuse.)
* Respond to a Prompt or create your own. Prompts are topics of conversation. Each Prompt is active for 24 hours.
* When you respond to a Prompt, you immediately get dropped in a private conversation with the Prompt author
* Conversations are timed and last between 5 and 60 minutes (depending on how long the Prompt author chooses)
* When time expires, the conversation is locked forever
* If you stumble on an insight during a conversation, you can create a Snippet — a shareable chunk of conversation visible to the community
It’s critical that we have the ability to intellectually explore without fear of social ramifications. Whether we seek to explore our own minds, or the structures of our society, we need communication tools that allow us to peel away the pollutants to our thought.
There is certainly occasional utility in aligning our online personas with our offline person. (I worked on the team that built Google+ and supported the push to use Real Names.) But the early experimentation and incubation of ideas is incompatible with public engagement. The aim of Postmodern is to offer an environment stripped clean of the baggage that can make it hard to think clearly.
No pictures, no profiles (even pseudonyms), no status, no crowds. Just two brains bouncing off of each other exploring the void.
And for the literary among you…
Don DeLillo is one of my favorite authors; his novels inspired this double entendre project. Pinning down the nature of postmodernism is like trying to use language to describe the divine. For me, DeLillo’s words come the closest to capturing the postmodern essence. The intent of this project is to explore the nature of postmodernism in a remarkably postmodern way. I hope you enjoy.
Already one of my favorite apps.
The idea is amazing and counts with questions that we always have in mind but not always are comfortable to share with, so the discussions are always intelligent and respectful.
It's like that time, when you rode on the train with a complete stranger before internet was so popular. You were more willing to share intimate information and discuss topics, which you won't normally discuss, because chances, that you'll meet again are probably zero. This app is like a digital version of this conversation.
@jsteinhardt Thank you, Jacob! Personally I get a kick out of the variety of conversations I have with people on PM. Sometimes I wake up and post something flippant, other times I'll have a headier thought in mind. It's cool you found your style.
The idea is great. Wanted to try it, but didn’t receive a message with verification number. Does it work now only for the US numbers? I tried with a phone number from Latvia 😊
@starkovio Hi Denis, it should work for any number, but there might be something strange going on. If you shoot a message to hello [at] postmodern.app I can create an account for you on the backend. Sorry for the inconvenience and a big thank you for the head's up!
@scofpanda Sorry you stumbled into some crashes, Taha. The app got overwhelmed by the volume of Prompts coming in as a result of the ProductHunt launch. A fix was pushed about 12 hours ago that should resolve these issues.
If you have auto-updates turned on just open, close, and re-open the app. If not the fresh version can also be installed from the app stores.
@foadf Yes. Postmodern was built in React Native on Expo. Expo Web isn't as robust as Android and iOS, but it's way better than starting from scratch. After more user interviews, we'll figure out how Web fits in to everything.
wild concept, love it @metabright!
Some ideas
- audio notes instead of text?
- conversation duration is kind of hard to grok in an async exchange - how about number of replies as a constraint?
@pattyjburns Appreciate the thoughts, Patrick!
Voice notes are definitely appealing and it's something we might do. The reason I like text is that a person's gender, ethnicity, age, and ability can remain hidden much more easily. (The gender piece is huge. I didn't want to build a magnet for creepy guys.) Downside is that intimacy and tone are sacrificed. It's something I'm still pondering.
Excellent point on the challenge of conversation duration in this kind of setup. It's something that I *think* will be mostly resolved with better partner matching -- most critically both people being online simultaneously. I love the alternative you propose though about alternative constraints. Thank you!
@advaithnair Hi Advaith! Thanks for the note. Once a conversation is over, it's over forever. But when a conversation has under 1 minute remaining, if both you and your conversation partner agree, the conversation can be extended by 5 minutes.
This is looks like an amazing concept. One application if this can be in solving mental health issues. People often want someone to share and being anonymous will surely help. Need to see how abuse management works in the system though. In all a great product.
@akhil_gupta3 Thanks, Akhil. It's been interesting to see how folks have used PM so far in this launch. There's been a sizable chunk of people seeking the kind of support you're talking about.
On the moderation side, we use a couple of Google's AI tools to help proactively manage abuse. These tools are catching ~90% of content that violates our terms with no need for a neutral user to submit a report.
I like the concept. Sometimes we need somebody that we don't know and more importantly do not know us. Choosing the conversation time sounds great too.
@dominik_gbb Thanks for the feedback, Dominik. I personally love synchronicity and the unexpected moments of wonder that can be inspired when the right idea strikes. The open nature of PM is designed to elicit these kinds of opportunities.
Your point is well taken though. Echoing another comment of mine, subsequent versions of PM will be smarter when it comes to trying to connect you with the right people. It will gently guide you towards Prompts created by people with whom the app think you'll have the best likelihood of having an impactful conversation based on the kinds of interactions you've had before.
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