Show HN: Real-time file sharing site

[dpiers]

The 12-hour lifespan of content links is interesting; it prevents indexing or hot-linking content on the site. Even if the RIAA/MPAA/etc. set up bots watching the room and issuing takedowns for infringing files, the time allowed to comply with a DMCA takedown is greater than the lifespan of a file on the service.

In other words: this should be fun, until they get sued out of existence.

[toomuchtodo]

Feature Request: Host on infrastructure outside of the US.

EDIT: DISREGARD. It's already hosted outside the US. (Germany: https://www.ip-projects.de/)

[jjoe]

Problem is upstream will either charge for handling take-down requests, null route the IP, or ask that they take their business elsewhere. I can imagine this generating dozens of abuse requests a day. It doesn't matter if you auto-comply within 12 hours - upstream still has to put time figuring things out.

[dexen]

Auto-assignment of nicknames seems a particularly nifty feature -- a warm welcome for first-time users.

Overall seems a well-balanced crossover of IRC and message board. (Almost) Everything Google Wave wanted to be, but never had a chance to become.

How do I rent a private channel for company-wide use? ;-)

[wanda]

yeah, I would also be interested in having a private channel.

[spindritf]

> Announcement: Because of the high traffic we are seeing right now, the radio might take a long time to load or not work at all.

Hacker News killed the radio star.

Very cool idea. With a little faster chat (there's currently quite a delay between saying something and seeing it displayed) I can see it catching on. Hang out, share files, listen to the music together.

[aperture]

There seems to be a twitter account here for it: https://twitter.com/volafile

Also, in chat I found https://github.com/binlain/volafile-bugs for solutions to fixing the site. However, I cannot vouch that is an official bug report location.

Considering this issue (nfsw): https://github.com/binlain/volafile-bugs/issues/5

I find this website a little amusing, but also creative. I think it's quite exciting overall! Good luck!

[PhearTheCeal]

That is the official bug report location.

[justhw]

For those at work, there's quite a bit of stuff not tagged nsfw. Tread with care.

[omnisci]

Thanks, I was worried about that:) Cool idea though, once it's a little more structured, that could be helpful.

[jsnk]

Yes, do not open any images

[pla3rhat3r]

Wait, a chat room AND the ability to share NSFW pics? What could go wrong!?!

[gmjoe]

There's always something kind of magical about real-time sites -- like the Internet is a little less lonely, and there are real people out there.

Very cool!

[hfantods]

Exactly my feeling. Couldn't really articulate it.

[hornbaker]

The HN room is full. You can discover other rooms here: http://volafile.io/discover

[skizm]

Haha, just logged in to see this: "PaulGraham: APPLY TO YC SO I CAN MAKE SOME MONEY FROM THIS" and also "PaulGraham: THIS IS THE NEXT FACEBOOK".

[chmod775]

I'm German so I probably can't apply to YC. Plus I've just made this as a hobby/side project and don't have time to deal with trying to monetize it yet.

[vxNsr]

This is basically IRC with file sharing... and everyone is ignoring the filesharing part because it's full of porn. So basically you created a html5 IRC clone, very cool.

Just wondering: What are your plans for this? And Does this have any IRC-like commands?

[hex12648430]

>and everyone is ignoring the filesharing part because it's full of porn. It's much better in smaller rooms.

[rebel]

I love this idea and I think this has the potential to be really amazing. I could see myself using it socially as well as a sort of remote office. The ability to have music autoplay (? it appears anyway, doesn't seem to be working for me right now) seems very interesting. I think you're really onto something with this. My main concern would be privacy before I started using this on any type of regular basis though. If you can solve that, or even really just make a self-hosted version, I'd be all over it.

[codingdave]

Real-time file sharing on a site that seems to have already become a real-time UI to 4chan....

Let me think about this. No, no I don't trust my virus protection enough to open anything here.

[mikegioia]

You did a great job with this. I got a couple 502s viewing files but it works really well so far.

[jaggs]

"The room is full. Please try again later."

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

[chmod775]

I had to limit the room size to 300 people because my cheap 5€ VPS was hitting 100% CPU load. There are about 500 people on the page across all rooms now.

[kclay]

Nice concept, looks like 4chan may have gotten a hold of this one.

[hex12648430]

Talking about 4chan, I really love how this site seems to be a mix of some kind of IRC and imageboard. It's also bringing back memories of some DC++ rooms I used to visit when it was the best way to share files.

[zufallsheld]

As far as I know, it originates from the /g/-board there.

[elliottcarlson]

Or the HN community has some crossover with the 4chan one.

[meritt]

Interesting proof of concept although I personally prefer hipchat for a the "chatroom with group file sharing" benefit.

The ephemeral nature of the downloads is really interesting though. I've seen a number of sites starting to target that niche (http://dissipateapp.com/ for file sharing specifically with "self-destructing" files) but mostly aimed at just messaging (like Snapchat or Frankly).

Why risk putting your important documents on a site where it's only a matter of time before it's compromised? Most of the time once your recipient has the file it's safe to remove from the cloud.

[Raphmedia]

It's very nice for what's going on right now. I mean, a big internet orgy. However, the lack of private rooms pretty much kills it for me.

Otherwise, it would have been perfect to use at work.

[chmod775]

There will be private rooms (hidden in the public list) and password protected rooms in the foreseeable future.

[jameshsi]

Interesting concept for sure. What's the tech behind this?

[chmod775]

Hello. It's almost exclusively a nodejs + redis stack.

There are currently a little over 200 people on the page and moderating the site is taking most of my attention, I'll try to answer all questions in this thread anyways.

[ww520]

What's the bandwidth cost for this kind of app? I'm always afraid a popular rampup would incur a huge bandwidth bill for sites like this.