Turn your site into a place people can bump into each other
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Open-source Town Square adds anonymous stick-figure visitors to your website to create a sense of co-presence.
The author built and open-sourced Town Square, a lightweight presence layer that shows stick figures of other visitors at the bottom of each page. Visitors can see what page others are reading, move around, and send temporary messages. No accounts, profiles, or chat history exist. The project is available on GitHub for self-hosting, or sites can register via a public server. Future ideas include connecting Town Squares across websites as a modern webring.
Messages persist only while people are present. Moderation challenges emerged during HN traffic spikes, but the author notes the project is generally calm and friendly.
What commenters are saying
Many commenters praised the idea for reviving an old-web feeling of co-presence without social-media permanence. A split emerged: some argued that the old web actually featured persistent handles and persona-building, while others valued the anonymity of IRC-style interactions. Abusive messages appeared during the HN spike, prompting suggestions for moderation features like filters, geolocation limits, or restricting interactions to preset phrases and emoticons. The author is considering optional persistent persona across visits. Commenters also shared links to related projects like Teranoptia fonts and previous discussions.