Libre – An anonymous social experiment without likes, followers, or ads

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Perceived Concept and Novelty

  • Some like the idea: anonymous, no metrics, “early internet” / text-only vibes, reminiscent of early Twitter or Yik Yak.
  • Others argue it’s just a standard anonymous message board or a 4chan-/b/-clone; similar experiments have been run many times and tend to fail in predictable ways.

Rapid Devolution into Abuse

  • Within hours, users report the front page full of racial slurs, “Kill all Jews”–type posts, Nazi symbolism, and porn.
  • HTML injection allowed arbitrary markup, autoplaying audio/video, and swastika‑filled propaganda, turning the site into a “shock site.”
  • Some claim child sexual abuse material appeared and say they reported the site to law enforcement.
  • Reporting tools were frequently broken (“Could not send the report”), and offensive content was not being removed, leading many to call the experiment a failure or “this is why we can’t have nice things.”

Anonymity, Privacy, and “Freedom”

  • Criticism that including gstatic.com, Tailwind/unpkg, and Firebase leaks cross-site tracking data to Google, undermining claims of anonymity.
  • Long subthread debates whether avoiding Google tracking requires an “esoteric OS,” vs. using mainstream OS + firewall + non‑Google browser; claims about OS‑level Google integration are contested.
  • Several point out that client-side badwords.js censors benign phrases like “golf balls” while slurs still appear, contradicting the “pure freedom” branding.
  • Some argue total “freedom” inevitably breeds racist, hateful, and illegal content; others counter that over‑moderation kills whistleblowing and honest speech.

Technical and UX Issues

  • Frontend-only validation and no HTML sanitization noted as obvious security flaws.
  • Site breaks badly without JavaScript; comparison to HN’s graceful degradation.
  • Mobile UI (e.g., iPhone SE) is “janky”; users ask for proper dark mode rather than relying on extensions.

Algorithms, Curation, and Discovery (Broader Digression)

  • Several commenters say lack of filters, topics, or discovery tools makes the site low‑value.
  • Long side discussion on how platforms might mix randomness with popularity (TikTok-like approaches) to democratize curation, versus the risks of “engagement-maxxing algorithms.”