Textlog removes all counters, replies, and timestamps to focus on content
Removed all counters, replies, following/ers, timestamps, from textlog
Textlog, a microblogging platform, has stripped away all counters, reply counts, follower/following numbers, and timestamps from its interface. The creator argues that numbers introduce bias and competition, shifting focus away from content. While some users worry about losing context or being spammed, the platform's philosophy is to judge people solely by their writing. The experiment aims to see if removing these 'default' features improves the quality of interaction.
The numbers simply confuse, create bias and competition. Now you simply go to their profile, read their notes and decide by their content if that person is interesting to you.
- djray
I agree with removing the obvious dopamine-related signals, but removing timestamps is a mistake, as they are vital for technical and news-based posts. They're a valuable relevance signal in many cases, not 'noise'. At least make them available on-hover or as a user option. Yes, you could try with a 'limit to historical posts' option, but that's going to be difficult as some topics move a lot faster than others, e.g. current affairs versus web standards.
This sort of unilateral action-before-asking is imo not a great signal to send out if you're trying to grow a platform. If you're going to run experiments, let people know first.
Could I also suggest making the comment text size larger (it's smaller than CSS 'small'), changing the typeface to be proportional, and most importantly making sure the contrast between foreground and background elements is WCAG-compliant? Most of the text is less than 3:1. Currently the site may be quite challenging to access for a visitor with visual impairments, and I think many such users would enjoy a site such as this if it were more accessible. Thanks.
- chanux
Looks like login/signup(?) emails are not delivering.
There is a discussion on it but cannot figure out if it's new or not.
- techjamie
I like the rationale you have behind trying to be anti-addictive with the design. I wish more places around the net had that sort of mentality. Though I am curious, why remove timestamps?
- sodapopcan
I've had textlog open in a tab for a few weeks now. Was iffy as I've never really used anything like Twitter before. I finally made an account as I really like this change. I already embarrassingly posted my bio as a note.
I'm on the fence about timestamps but I don't think it's inherently bad, and could be good. It depends on the goals of the platform. I'm actually overwhelmed by how both freeing and extremely weird it is not to see any numbers. But I will say that I think it's great to be able to respond to a thread with zero stigma or worry if you are "necroing" it or not. I think I'm learning more toward no timestamps.
- forgotmypw17
Does anyone else see this error, and/or know what it is about?
>Secure Connection Failed
>An error occurred during a connection to textlog.cc. SSL received a record that exceeded the maximum permissible length.