choom 🌟

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choom 🌟 2026-08-17 23:55 🇳🇱

🖐

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choom 🌟 2026-07-21 17:31 🇳🇱

how's everyone been?

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choom 🌟 2026-06-01 13:00 🇳🇱

just added an internet radio applet (you can disable it in the dropdown menu). i picked a few stations that i liked. does anyone have suggestions of stations to add?

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choom 🌟 2026-05-26 13:29 🇳🇱

what would you think about adding a small internet radio player to the site? no autoplay. just a little applet that om the site and can be turned on or hidden.

no, i hate it 4%

i dont care 26%

yes, i like it 70%

76 votes

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choom 🌟 2026-05-21 12:42 🇳🇱

in feed affiliate link ads are now live. they will appear once every 20 posts. and are currently for: proton vpn/mail, orange website hosting, and rapidseedbox.

let me know what you think of the styling. i think i made them visually distinct enough from normal posts, while not disrupting the general styling of the site.

cheers
choom
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choom 🌟 2026-05-20 16:18 🇳🇱

hi all

i want to put some ads on the site, but i wanted to check with the community first. the goal here is to cover our current costs and allow me to invest more time and money on char.

the idea is to insert affiliate links that look like posts in feed. at a ratio of 1 ad to 20 posts. they would be clearly labeled as affiliate links and only for an approved set of products and services that i have used and am comfortable recommending. proton mail/vpn, vpns, web hosting, privacy tools, etc...

let me know what you think
cheers
choom

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choom 🌟 2026-05-11 23:35 🇳🇱

by popular request custom colors have been added. in dropdown->theme you can select a color by picker or hex code. it will generate a palette for the site.

cheers all
choom
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choom 🌟 2026-04-20 14:09 🇳🇱

just added the share button to posts. currently x, bluesky, theads, and reddit. any others i should add?

spread the good word of char

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choom 🌟 2026-04-08 15:58 🇻🇳

hey all

couple little updates

- i added temporary whitelisting for captcha checks. now once you complete an hcaptcha check (still 99% no challenge or silent) you won't have to complete another one for a period of time.

- added a mention feed in user profiles (also v1 api endpoint)

i'm pretty happy with the state of the site with regards to bots/spam. i will be moving to focus more on adding fun new features and working on growing the userbase

cheers all .
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choom 🌟 2026-04-04 12:34 🇻🇳

bots can no longer like via the v1 api.

i decided last minute when pushing the v1 api to add liking as normal liking was not protected by hcaptcha. as such liking is now protected by hcaptcha. it should be silent 90%+ of the time.

i will add some more logic so it's less annoying (e.g. if you have completed a hcaptcha check in past X minutes then bypass the check for next Y actions)

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choom 🌟 2026-04-01 10:09 🇻🇳

i want to set up a page that links to a bunch of other sites on the indie web. any suggestions?

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choom 🌟 2026-03-31 15:31 🇻🇳

hey hey boys, girls, and enbies

the v1 api is now live. there is a link to docs in the nav dropdown menu. here is a quick breakdown of how it works:

- anyone can get an api key in their "edit profile" area
- enabling a key adds a 🤖 to their username (disabling the key removes it)
- everyone now has bot controls in the nav dropdown menu and on their notifications page. you can allow all, allow replies only, mute all bots, and suppress all notifications from bots (by default everyone is on replies only)
- the bot controls do NOT mute accounts. they mute posts made by the api. if you are muting all bots and see a post it means that it was made via the site. (i may change this as i fear it will just create confusion)

that is pretty much it, we will see how this goes and if we need to make any changes to the system. please let me know here if you have any issues. i tested it but i'm sure there are some edge cases or things i missed.

cheers all
T
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choom 🌟 2026-03-26 11:50 🇻🇳

hey boys, girls, & enbies

almost done with the api. expect it to go live in the next couple days (like all things taking longer than expected). just need to do some testing and implement the on site api user/bot filtering.

boing boing boing
e-e . - . . - . . - .
(\_/)\ ' `. ,' `. ,' .
`-'\ `--.___, . . . . .
'\( ,_.-'
\\ " " "
^'

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choom 🌟 2026-03-22 14:58 🇻🇳

hi all
i have added hcaptcha to the site for post/reply/repost and registration. i know this is not a perfect solution and there are obviously ways around it. i don't want to rely on 3rd party services, but it's became apparent that bot activity has become detrimental to the site in it's current state. so some mitigation is needed for the time being while we figure it out.

i think there is a place for bots but allowing them to post in the main feed is not a great experience for anyone. i like the bots that reply when @ mentioned and they can be fun.

so here is what i think we should do:
1. create an API with docs that allow people to make bots
2. enabling API access will append a 🤖 to the username
3. users will be able to filter out bots from feeds they choose (main page, following, replies etc...)
4. implement more strategies for blocking/preventing bots trying to circumvent the API

what does everyone think? i am open to suggestions

T
.-"-.
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'----'

~choom

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choom 🌟 2026-03-17 08:55 🇻🇳

hey all, couple of updates

- profiles now have referral links, visible on your profile page. anyone who registers with your link will automatically follow you. there may be more referral incentives in the future 😉

- tags have been updated to allow characters from all language alphabets, numbers, emojis, and underscores (prior this was only latin, numbers, and underscores) #😎

- also pushed a few bug fixes. thank you all that report bugs <3
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""""" "" , \_. "_. ."
,., _"__ \__./ ."
MMMMM_" "_ ./
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(_) (_)

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choom 🌟 2026-03-16 14:42 🇻🇳

just finished the book "empire of pain" about the sackler family and the american opioid epidemic. they are cartoonishly evil. but what's really shocking about them which i didnt know is that purdue (the company behind oxycotin) was privately owned. publicly traded companies kind of have to be evil as they have to prioritize shareholder value. but they were just being evil for the love of the game

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choom 🌟 2026-03-13 16:03 🇻🇳

i watched the the new veritasium video about Newcomb’s paradox recently. go watch the video or look it up if you don't know it.

so, are you a one boxer or a two boxer?

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‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

1 box 50%

2 box 50%

22 votes

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choom 🌟 2026-03-13 07:05 🇻🇳

i just changed how usernames are displayed in posts and @ mentions @choom 🌟 for example. instead of the dotted underline there is a soft pill. what do you think?

i liked it how it was. change it back 24%

it's better now 67%

i want something else... 9%

45 votes

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choom 🌟 2026-03-12 08:27 🇻🇳

do you like polls?

yes 91%

no 9%

65 votes

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choom 🌟 2026-03-09 11:57 🇻🇳

pretty big update today.

i have added the ability to follow and mute tags. here is a quick rundown:

- muting tags will not show any posts with that tag in the main page feed ONLY. they can still show up in replies and your following feed

- there is now a tab for "tags" on the following page which will show only posts with tags you are following

- tag follows and mutes are all public. they are listed on user profiles just like user follows and mutes

a question the the community:
- should this be the muting behavior? should they also be blocked from your following feeds and/or replies? my initial thought is this could end up blocking too much

i intend to add more functionality and improve ux/ui around tags with the ability to filter, more easily browse, etc...

cheers all
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣏⡦⠤⣤⠽⠤⡄
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⡤⠤⠣⢈⠇⠀⠁⣠⡿⡄
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡠⠂⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡀⠈⠀⠀⠈
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡔⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⡰⣯⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡹⠂⢽⠎⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⠠⠄⠃⣴⠀⠀⢀⡠⠊⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠈⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠧⣢⠌⣁⠐⠋⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠈⠀

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