I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Bot implementation and title framing

  • Several commenters look for a link to the bot; others point out the implementation is trivial with discord.py and webhooks and shouldn’t require sharing code.
  • Some criticize the vague, “clickbaity” title; others defend it, saying the focus on social impact rather than tech stack is refreshing and that the story earns its upvotes.

Recreating “presence” and old internet vibes

  • Many connect the bot’s “someone just joined voice” signal to AIM/ICQ days, where being online was a clear, intentional invitation to chat.
  • Others recall IRC, Teamspeak, Ventrilo, Skype, Google Talk, and BBSes as earlier versions of the same “drop-in” social space.
  • A long subthread laments that we’re now “online by default,” AFK essentially doesn’t exist, and casual presence has been replaced by fragmented apps and constant pings.

Notification overload and how people cope

  • Commenters describe group chats (Signal, WhatsApp, etc.) becoming unusable due to volume, leading to muting, multiple topic-specific groups, or channelized tools (Slack, Discord).
  • Several advocate turning off most notifications or using separate “good phone / bad phone” setups to regain deliberate use of communication tools.
  • Others differentiate between mentally tiring but productive use (reading, learning) and the “hangover” feeling from scrolling feeds.

Hardware / IoT and ambient signals

  • The blog’s “RGB desk lights per friend” idea sparks interest; multiple people are building similar LED or ESP32-based status/urgency indicators for partners or household use.
  • There’s disagreement: some find pervasive flashing LEDs intrusive, others stress accessibility and disability use cases (e.g., deaf users, physically separated partners).
  • People reminisce about notification LEDs on older phones and wish modern devices would expose richer, user-centric notification controls.

Alternative tools and feature wishes

  • Many propose that Discord, WhatsApp, or Signal should natively support an “I’m here now” voice-room notification.
  • Alternatives floated: Mumble/Teamspeak for self-hosted voice, Slack huddles with notifications, Telegram/WhatsApp bots, ntfy, Kanban boards, or simple extra Signal groups dedicated to “I’m playing now.”
  • Several argue this “bat signal for hanging out” is common enough that it should be a first-class feature in mainstream chat apps.

Privacy, tradeoffs, and social dynamics

  • Some are uncomfortable moving from Signal to Discord, citing surveillance and lack of E2EE for text; others note that most people prioritize going where their friends already are.
  • Suggestions include self-hosted Mumble or careful separation of what is shared where, but many acknowledge the real tradeoff between privacy and maintaining active friend groups.
  • A recurring theme: maintaining adult friendships requires intentional infrastructure—whether bots, servers, or scheduled channels—and many readers are inspired to build similar things for their own circles.