Show HN: I'm building an experimental forum to help people connect

[nihakue]

I don't feel like my brain is wired to make friends on the internet anymore. Everything seems to either happen in totally isolated private groups or on such a massive stage that it's hard to be myself. On top of that, everyone is yelling at the top of their lungs to be heard over the din, or catering what they say to appease algorithms. There isn't much room for nuance. Then when we aren't on this big stage we're in these carefully curated protective bubbles that shield us from any kind of discord.

I wanted to create a place where people can talk and hang out and build communities at a more human scale. A site where people are smooshed together more or less randomly and sheltered for long enough that they can hopefully find some common ground.

I'm building Isles ( https://isles.app/ ), which is just this really simple/dumb forum that has two things that set it apart:

1. When you sign up, you're put on an island randomly. You can only see posts from others on that island. Island populations are capped

2. Very occasionally, two islands will 'link up' basically at random. For a short time, both islands can interact with each other. When the islands separate, you can choose to stay on the other island. If you do, you can't go back unless those two islands link again.

That's it. My hope for Isles is that it gives people a break from big homogenous social spaces. It's really early days and still more of a sketch than an actual product, but I wanted to share it to see if the idea resonated with others. I'm looking for any feedback at all.