
The Most Dangerous Writing App - farazzz
https://maebert.github.io/themostdangerouswritingapp/#/
======
mirimir
This reminds me of early versions of Microsoft Word.

Edit: And more generally, DOS, FAT and CHKDSK.

You never knew, when there was a power interruption -- or when the system just
crashed for whatever mysterious reason -- just how bad it would be. NTFS was
such an improvement.

~~~
jiggawatts
I _still_ have a habit of pressing CTRL-S intermittently...

~~~
lostjohnny
I think everyone older than 30 does.

I also have the habit of pressing it more than one time, every time I press
it.

I'm not even be sure that save will really save.

~~~
larntz
Is this an age thing? I do the exact same thing. Every time I stop typing I
hit ctrl-s between 2-5 times. I don't eve think about it anymore.

My kids are getting to the age where they are doing projects on a computer and
I'm constantly telling them to "save early, save often."

I guess it's some form of PTSD from computing in the 90's.

~~~
dlivingston
A few months ago, I saw a popular meme on Reddit (ProgrammingHumor, or
something like that) where the core of the joke was: "that face when Visual
Studio crashes after you've been writing code for 2 hours and forgot to save."

And my reaction was: how do you _forget_ to save? That's muscle memory for me,
man! Command-S gets hit five times in as many minutes.

~~~
thiagomgd
How do you code for 2 hours without saving, considering you wouldn't be able
to run/test/compile without saving?

~~~
ChristianGeek
I’ve coded for hours early on in a project without compiling/running/testing.
But I’m old enough and wise enough to constantly save.

------
iraldir
3 minutes typing:

This is me writing a comment for this app using hardcore mode which right now
I realise is having the text co clompletely blurred and it is quite hard
indeed I can barely come back a word if I write a type. Although it doesnt
seem to be based onmy typing speed so I guess if you are good at typing it's
not as bad as if you are bad at it. Well I don't what to say more than that
the interface is nice and it seem to be quite performant, I wonder what sort
of tehcnology they were using to do it? Just pure JS maybe, I mean it is not
that complicated but the concept is interested. I What else should I say, I
wish there was a little typewriter sound but then maybe it wouldn't be nice,
or actually maybe it ithere but I just cannot see it because I don't have my
headfphones on me. And by see it I mean har it because of course you do not
see sounds except if you are like super high. This is probably how people like
Nietwszhe write and what the fuck how hard is that name to write without
feedback.

~~~
doodpants
My 3 minutes in hardcore mode:

Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw
Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders.
Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanderss. Screw
Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders.
Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw
Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders.
Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw
Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders.
Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flfanders. Screw Flanders. Screw
Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders.
Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw
Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw Flanders. Screw

~~~
soupysoupysoup
I am in Wallonie. We hear this a lot.

------
clwk
How dangerous is this app? I mean how much time does it give me? Is the danger
that my document will be lost, or that in attempting not to let that happen I
will write too much. I will write the wrong thing. I will go down paths which
are meant not to be followed, ordinarily edited out of existence. This is the
danger, I suspect. But the other is also. It is a double danger. This double
danger models a double danger in other areas. It is perhaps a fundamental mode
of danger. Dangerness. The fear of a thing which both prevents or enables,
complementarily. How does that work? What are examples? Can we name a time the
fear has positively (we posit) prevented manifestation? Certainly. In general,
it is socially unacceptable to analyze or look too deeply past the constructs
which supposedly shield prying eyes from the conclusions which would be
evident if the components were scrutinized. China Miéville explores this
exquisitely in The City and The City. There citizens of two nearly colocated
cities 'unsee' the other by law. Likewise, we ordinarily must unsee what is
meant to be unseen. The danger then is that our unseeing be threatened by the
possiblity that we lose sight altogether. Backed into a corner and forced to
confront complete unsight, we restrain the restrainer. We disassemble the
governor so we do not accidentally edit ourselves out of existence. Through
abolition of constraint we cross over into conceptual indecency.

~~~
inflatableDodo
Can you expand on this? At length. Preferably in paperback.

~~~
clwk
Duly noted.

~~~
inflatableDodo
So does this mean I am on a list? As I did wonder why I was walking about in
circles.

~~~
clwk
Maybe it is a circular list.

~~~
ryanisnan
Stack overflow incoming.

~~~
clwk
Duly noted.

~~~
inflatableDodo
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20771898](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20771898)

------
bewresu
Second attempt.

===

Soon, I will master this.

Soon, I will be able to just let my ideas flow.

Soon there will be no need for huge edits while typing.

Soon there will be shape in the words as they come out.

Maybe I should just delete the words myself and start over.

Or may I should just let the words be even if I don't like them.

Soon, I will master this.

Soon, I will be able to not stop.

Soon, I will be able to say what's really on my mind.

I wonder why there is friction between the words.

I wonder why the ideas in my head does not get reflected into words as I see
them inside me.

Is it really true that I have ideas in me, or is it just an illusion?

Why are so many of the things I think I'm thinking about don't really just
come out once I start trying to record them?

Do my ideas really exist? Or am I just imagining having them?

Do ideas matter if they are not told? Even to oneself?

Soon, I will get the answer to these questions.

Soon, I will master this.

Soon, I will survive the grueling task of coming up with ideas.

I am a writer.

I am a writer because I write.

I could write without having to think first.

My ideas will just come right out of me into words.

My ideas are real.

Soon, I will master the art of coming up with ideas.

===

I think it came out kind of alright.

------
omarhaneef
There is a whole tradition of these apps. Perhaps you have heard of "Write or
Die" or the countless variations?

[https://v2.writeordie.com](https://v2.writeordie.com)

[https://writingstreak.io](https://writingstreak.io)

[http://writtenkitten.co](http://writtenkitten.co)

And, yes, the most dangerous writing app.

The idea is that it is easier to edit once done, so it is important to get
everything out quickly and then go back and edit.

Edit: Someone should come up with an Atom plugin that does the same.

~~~
sflanagan
I would love that Atom plugin, wow

How to get started making an Atom plugin? Would love to collaborate w/you or
others

~~~
omarhaneef
I just downloaded Atom for the first time a week or so ago.

I think this is a great resource:

[https://github.blog/2016-08-19-building-your-first-atom-
plug...](https://github.blog/2016-08-19-building-your-first-atom-plugin/)

And I also notice there are a bunch of plug ins for writers out there
(organizational, word count, outline your .md document and so forth).

I don't think I can spearhead the effort. My impression is an experienced Atom
developer could knock it out in 12 hours (2 to build and debug it, 2 hours to
fix complaints, and 8 hours to make it right after a few weeks). <\- this
guess is based on absolutely nothing other than a wild guess.

------
thatannoyingguy
This reminds me of "suicide linux" (available as a deb and docker image). If
you type a typo in a command, it gets converted to rm -rf /

~~~
quickthrower2
not sudo rm -rf / ??

~~~
reitzensteinm
It's Suicide Linux. sudo bash.

------
colinhowe
I got to 5 minutes. I have a kid so this was easy :D

Once upon a time there was a banana. That banana was called bob. Bob the
banana used to have fights with other fruit. His arch nemesis was Oscar the
orange. Oscar was a very orange orange. He was so orange that everyone else
was jealous. Bob the banana wasn't very yellow. He was kind of yellow with
dark splotches on. That is why Bob used to fight the other fruit. He was
jealous of Oscar's orangey orangeness. He was also jealous of Adam Apple's
shiny red skin. Finally, he was jealous of the grape gangs lovely green skin.

One day Bob was busy fighting Oscar, Adam and the Grape Gang. All at once.
That's right. He was a very good fighter as he practiced a lot by fighting the
other fruit.

Percy pineapple saw the fight and came up to Bob and intervened. He said, 'Oi.
Bob. What you doing?'

'I'm fighting!'

'Why?'

'I don't know.'

Bob was sad. Bob shrugged. He didn't know why he was fighting.

'You never fight me' said Percy pineapple.

'You're right, I don't.'

'You only ever fight the fruit with lovely skin. Did you notice that?'

'Oh. You're right. I do'

'Do you think maybe you wish you had perfect skin like them?'

'You're right. I wish I did have lovely perfect skin without any blemishes.
Instead, I have this grotty yellow skin with dark patches all over it.'

'That's ok. I have spiky skin. Nobody can even touch me and I never get any
cuddles.'

'Oh.'

'Mmmhmmm'

Bob felt bad.

'Maybe I could try and hug you'.

'I wouldn't advise it, I'm very spikey. I've got used to just having high
fives and fist bumps instead'

'Oh. That sounds like a good idea'.

Bob and Percy have a nice high five session. Bob isn't very good at high fives
so it took a lot of practice. After about four thousand attempts they get it
right and do one of the awesome high fives from top gun. That's right, a top
gun high and low high five. They both feel really cool.

Bob isn't feeling sad any more.

Bob then looks around and notices the other fruit that he was decking. The
fruit is looking a bit bashed up. He apologises for what he has done and then
asks 'Can anyone do anything to help me?'

~~~
jessmartin
Yes! It was easy to get to 5 minutes because I have 3 kids. Here's my five
minute story:

\---

Once there was a boy.

A very young boy.

He never really had a family.

Or even a hope.

Once he met a rabbit in the woods. But this wasn't just any rabbit. This
rabbit had a hope. He had a family. He had the things the boy lacked.

This struck the boy as strange.

Why should this rabbit have the things that he so longed for?

Why should there be boys in the world like himself that lacked family? Lacked
hope?

The rabbit found the boy strange as well. He decided, without any particular
thought, to bring the boy home to his warren.

The day was cool. It was fall and the leaves had just begun to depart their
branches. The boy strolled idly behind the rabbit, not quite wanting to
follow, not quite wanting to lose the rabbit in the ins and outs of bush and
trunk.

They arrived presently at the base of a very large tree. The boy stopped,
several feet shy of the tangle of roots. The rabbit looked up at him and gave
him a slight nod, as if sensing the tension in the boy's shoulders, his
reticence, his disbelief.

The rabbit gestured to the roots. Through the tangle, the boy detected a slit
of light emerging and caught the whiff of something nice. Was that tea?

------
reubenswartz
I guess I just have to keep typing? What would be the point? How long do I
have before the screen goes fuzzy? Blank? I lose everything entirely? Seems
like the best strategy would be just to type really slowly. Then, your
thoughts would always have more room for more words, while you would never
fall into the fuzzy screen.

But I don't think that's really the point.

What is the point?

Is the problem that we don't get all of over stream of consciousness out onto
the page, constantly? That we never miss a word or a thought? Is everything
worthy of being memorialized in solid memory?

Or perhaps the idea is just to get a rough draft down. Let it see where it
goes, and then go back and edit.

Some people do have a problem getting started, and "staying" started. I don't
know if I do. Seems I can ramble on and ramble along.

What would Hemmingway say?

Is this really the way to do this?

How do "real" writers actually write? Probably not with their words going
fuzzy constantly. Probably not under the gun.

Sounds like a concept for a screenplay from a nightmare of a screenwriter.

"I was having the worst dream..."

Had to keep writing or I would lose everything. It was completely amazing, and
I couldn't save. No CTRL+S. No CMD+S. No cloud save or autosave. Just have to
keep typing.

"It's like the world's most boring remake of Speed. If you ever stop typing,
your screenplay blows up."

Who the hell would want to watch that? Or read it?

But I was stuck in that nightmare, having to write it. Constantly. Couldn't
stop to think, have a drink, or even go to the bathroom.

------
jessmartin
This reminds me of "Hemingway Mode" in Ghost and Draft.in:
[https://ghost.org/blog/hemingway-mode/](https://ghost.org/blog/hemingway-
mode/)

Hemingway was apparently famous for his philosophy of write first, edit later.
A friend of mine calls this "downdraft, updraft." I've found the practice of
simply downdrafting as quickly as possible can be EXTREMELY productive. You
then have a lot of raw material to work with and cut during the updraft phase.

------
unnouinceput
He, he, this reminds of that app from beginning of app stores: "How high you
can throw your phone" \- where it relied on phone sensor to calculate the
distance when the phone was thrown upward. Good times.

------
superplussed
I got existential:

I got existential:

Hi, here I am typing, what is the big deal. I can't even see what the progress
is or what danger I might be in. What is the dsignifier of my danger? The
typography is nice. But I don't know what my purpose is here. Is this a
metaphor for life? What is my purpose, I won't know until the game is already
over? How have I determined if I'm winning or losing? Who keeps score anyway?
How many questions can I ask in one paragraph? Is this a self-interview or
something? What I should have done is read more about this before I started.
Maybe the goal is to get 500 words before the timer is over? At which point I
have failed? And that's why so many people gave a count when they were posting
on HN, it was just that in 5 minutes they were only able to manage 300 words?
Could be. Could not be. That is a question meant to fill up space. And what is
the point of filling up space if all that life is a kind of filling up of
space. We dont' know if anything means anything, we might just be atoms
floating around - or molecules floating around the universe. Star dust or
whatever. But what is the point of this stardust sitting here typing for five
minutes, only to find out if he's won or lost. I"m not on place to get 500
words, but is 500 words just a construct of my own mind? Did anyone even
mention 500 words? What I had assumed was that as I typed there would be ever
vanishing text that would sort of creep on my current progress, eventually
overtaking it. And that would lead to a feeling of stress and turmoil. This
doesn't feel stressful or full of turmoil at all, more of confusion. Ok, I
just noticed that my cursor is red. Was it always red? Does it mean I'm
running out of time? My guess is that it does mean something but that I'm
overstating it's meaning. Well that's another metaphor. We run through life
overstating meaning again and again, missing the things that are actually
meaningful. Ok, my time is over. I think it's ove

------
farns
The lack of spell-check was pretty great in helping to focus in on writing. I
will try turning that off when I write in the future, returning to the old way
of running spell-check after I have gotten the thoughts down on the page. Five
minutes essay below... also, first post (hello!) to Hacker News.

This is a test of the most dangerous writing app in the world. I am typing in
whatever comes to mind in a stream of consciousness, but with proper
capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. I could never tolerate a stream of
consciousness essay on a standardized test, such as the ACT. For example, when
I was a junior in high school, I encountered one of these beasts which I found
nearly impenetrable to digest, followed by thirty-odd questions asking for my
detailed interpretation of the steaming pile, which I am sure was never
written to be used to abuse young adults just trying to set up the next step
in their academic career. I can imagine some panel of experts somewhere
picking out this shining example of obtuseness as the essay for the test,
cackling to themselves about how useless this is either predicting future
success, or as a test of any specific (useful) skill. On the other hand, maybe
we all have that one colleague at work who writes email in stream of
consciousness mode. Who knows, if I didn't face-plant on that ACT back in the
day, maybe I would never have brushed up on unlearning English. Such is life,
we will never know. I do know however that I paid for that test, and I paid
for the next test after that thanks to that essay. Ok, now this brings us to
the present day. Here I am, writing in to a random screen buffer on the
Internet, which promises to delete my text if I do not continue generating
words for five minutes straight. It is especially evil in that A) there is no
timer and I didn't think to check the clock; B) I do not know where or if this
will be posted somewhere; and C) this is yet another useless life skill. Or is
it... maybe the next time I am bumping up against a proposal submission
deadline, I will think back in fondness to this experience on the most
dangerous writing app.

~~~
CogitoCogito
> The lack of spell-check was pretty great in helping to focus in on writing.
> I will try turning that off when I write in the future, returning to the old
> way of running spell-check after I have gotten the thoughts down on the
> page.

I write everything in vim and then copy it over/generate it/whatever
afterwards. I can't stand all the different spelling corrections, auto-
completes, and everything else getting in the way. It's so totally
distracting.

~~~
sethammons
Spell check was a godsend for improving my spelling. I don't have as many
errors now,but I would stop at every error,and retry the word over and over
until I got it. Sometimes I wouldn't be able to figure it out and have to
right click to see the suggestion, but it all worked to improve my spelling.
Similar but less effective was grammar improvements.

------
yoz-y
I don’t think this is particularly useful as it does not let you to fully form
an idea in your head. Granted, it forces you to spew out your mind but in that
case I would prefer to have a voice recorder with good speech to text
algorithm.

Also I would like to have a mode when an amount of text, rather than the
length of session would be considered because for things like this HN comment
even 3 minutes is too long.

Now I have to pas this with other things. On mobile it does not auto scroll
down and if I do it manually I can’t see the progress bar anymore. And now I
don’t have anything lef to say so I just write this enormous sentence while I
wait until the counter dies. As I have scrolled down I really don’t know when
this will end but am now too invested in the first part of this comment...
should I just try to quick copy paste the whole thing before it’s lost?

~~~
vmednis
>Also I would like to have a mode when an amount of text, rather than the
length of session would be considered because for things like this HN comment
even 3 minutes is too long.

It has a feature like that, just click on "Words" on the same thing that lets
you change amount of minutes. If you want to do less than 150 words you can
change the limit in URL to anything you want to too.

~~~
yoz-y
Oh, I missed that. Thank you!

------
gnikif
Somebody send it to George Martin

------
allhat_nocode
Would this application stop writers block? Or would it just frustrate you
further? I see some immediate value as my eyes are drawn to the status bar
inching closer and closer to the end of the page. I am now wondering, "will it
delete when complete too?" that would be extra cruel as I am so far
maintaining a high and continual writing pace. This actually is fun in a way,
not just nerve wracking. Did I spell 'wracking' right? No time to spell check
with this app! Well now, let's be sure to not run out of source material. Keep
the creative juices flowing brain!! We're strating to get sloppy and we can
not avoid another deletion. Our ego is on the line here! DO NOT MESS WITH THE
EGO! I am convinced one day I will be a writer of some esteem and failing to
write a page on demand would really poke a whole in that story. So let's
default to a childhood memory for the reader's entertainment. Maybe the time I
ran around the house naked for a stick of gum? Or the time my dad shot a water
moccasin snake's head off as it charged us? Perhaps a sad story would due
better. Like the time I took my prized BB gun outside to hunt birds before
elementary school one morning. I managed to sneak up on a bird feasting on
seed at the feeder outside the kitchen window. Quietly I raised my rifle and
aligned the site with the small featherly creature and squeezed the trigger.
BBQ guns make a dull sound, really a inconsequential noise compared to the
death it brought that morning. The tiny bird fell to the ground and I realized
I had not only hit it but killed it. When I picked up the ball of blue and
brown, I cried. Hard. I knew I had done wrong.

------
vokep
Turned out to be more interesting than I thought, led to a nice perspective
comparing the journey of typing to that of life, though I don't generally
believe in the afterlife as this may imply:

>I'm writing words about things just kidding I'm just typing words to fill
this thing up so far but I mean idk what the actual point of this thing is
other than to be annoying. I guess I'll try to form actual sentences. I just
don't understand why this would be made but I guess it's to explore how a
person types into something like this. Right now I'm already coming up with a
narrative about my experience and opinions on this so that reflects some value
I think. Really though I just wonder what made the creator of this come up
with it. I just wish there was some explaination, which there probably is but
I've yet to look at it. I wish I could have such an explaination here and now.
Maybe this is sort of how life is, true explainations of what or why the
things occuring at the moment exist, but are outside the scope of this
existence. In the same way the truth of this journey of typing exists, but is
not available to me while I'm typing. I could stop typing early and find out
quicker, but that would make this typing sort of pointless. I'm curious to
know what happens when the bar reaches the end of the browser window, does it
save the text perhaps? Maybe if I type enough I get to save it? That would
make some sense and would be cool, but if not it still has been an interesting
adventure in typing rapidly from currently occuring thoughts. I guess someone
could try to plan what they write and write something about a certain topic,
but overall it seems easier to just type what is on the mind. Oh well, looks
like the bar is almost at the end.

------
uuuooobbb
I am learning drawing. A lot of people who are beginners to drawing experience
a block where they struggle to put on the first line on paper, or when they do
it they are not satisfied and erase it and start again. You end up not doing
anything. That's why in beginner's classes you often get exercises to help you
overcome that. Such as covering the whole page with scribbles first and
drawing on that. Or timed exercises where you have to finish your drawing in
five minutes or a minute or less. The point is to get one accustomed to doing
things and doing them again and to realise the first attempt is often not as
good as you want and can. I think digital tools make this kind of block even
harder because it's so easy to draw something, undo and try again, and the
fact you're not wasting film frames, paper or paint makes it harder to get
things done? This is certainly my experience with writing. I think this is a
useful tool to make you think of this and also help you overcome that kind of
block with writing.

------
topicseed
My 3 minutes... RATHER STRESSFUL!!!

Wow, this is insane that I cannot even see what I ma typing... I don't
understand why would somebody ever create something like that? Are you
actually insane or is it just a pet project? Is it even built in react or have
you been fully with the vanilla javascript we all miss so much?

Oh I thought I could stop whenever I wanted but not even possible to go back
in time nowl. I am forced to carry on while watching that progress bar, darkp
rogresss bar, slowly progressing.

Oh, and I have Grammarly installed as a CChrome Extension...... and I can see
the red underlined text so that's not a great sign quite frankly. It's a tad
stressful now as I do feel I am typing without aking any mistake(s) so it's
weird I see red on my screen.

Ok, well, now I am just typing for the sake of seeing the results – most
likely poor. I do enjoy this, though. Quite a fun excercise. I am so confused
with the spelling of exercise right now.

Ok few seconds remaining, and the ordeal will be over. YAY!!!! Cannot wait for
that last second!

------
LouisSayers
3 Minutes:

Ok, so this is 3 minute typing in hardcore mode. I'm a little confused as to
why I can't see the text... but oh well. I probably should have tested what
happens if you stop typing in this mode. The idea here of the app is quite
interesting. I think if it didn't really delete your text then that would be
nice.... but then I guess it loses the point. I'm not quite sure though I
understand the point of delteeing the text. But here we are. I think I can
type pretty quick so apologies hackernews people if this is a really long
ramble lol. This app could be really useful though when having to write a
bunch of text for work or study or just to get your thoughts out there
uninterrupted. I am really struggling now to know what to write. Any other
features I can think of that would be useful? well I think if we had a goal of
what we want to achieve and then could somehow indicate tht we had reached
that goal - perhaps that would be useful. But I'm

------
ulucs
Typing on an ipad will makes this easier I hope. Having correct punctuation
and stuff takes quite a long while using the virtual keyboards. Maybe this
writing app is not for fast, lighting-speed thoughts; but for seeing how
bottlenecking your interaction with the writer allows you to construct flows
in a more coherent way. I mean, having five seconds to find where a key is not
a difficult task and when writing a sentence takes quite a while, you find it
easy to construct a continuation of it. Thus, you are able to write sentences
flowing freely from your mind. If I was doing 150 words per minute on a real
keyboard, I would have less than a second to think about what follows my
current thought. When the sentences flow slowly, my mind searches deeply in
the background, expanding my train of thought. I mean really, having a slow
keyboard is like cheating here.

------
biagidp
This was fun, my two cents:

I think backspace should count as a keystroke within the same sentence for the
purpose of delaying deletion.

It would be really cool for this to dump your content into a rich text editor
when your time is up for spell check, cleaning, and editing before download.

~~~
perigrin
So I wanted backspace too, but thinking about it, even within the same
sentence it would damage the purpose of freewriting which is to stop editing
and get words flowing out of your head and into somewhere you can be objective
about it later. On a five minute run (my initial one) I found myself running
up against the red words a few times as I self-edited what I wanted to say,
and it helped me stop that and move forward again. I'm pretty sure I didn't
break the sentence barrier those times either, but then, as you can tell,
especially from this pernicious example, I'm prone to more lengthy run-on
sentences — overloaded and dripping with information in a languid fashion.

------
abbiya
this is nuts but i like it. no time to think no time to caps not time left to
write this is all bull shit but you gotta know it dissappearing text make me
worry right at what i write this may be most fun i had writing hjhhhh ohoh and
i gotta cold and sneezing at work run some laps in the beach in the rain at
5.30 morning had to suffer? she didnt choose me why universe ? why am i like
this ? will i ever find out ? will i ever be with person i love the most ?
this is nuts this app is nuts but i like it its just the thoughts that flows
through your mind through fingers type on

i am out of words but she is my princess jasmin and i need a friend like genie

~~~
kieckerjan
Using the app is fun, but I am not sure it's wise to publish the results. :)

~~~
sus_007
We'd better avoid the comment section of this thread. :D

------
mdemare
This also exists for voice. It’s called “Siri”.

------
reirob
what will happen if I stop writing? will something happen? Oh it is possible
to have capital letters! That's neat. I like how it presents itself, almost no
distraction, you are typing on an empty page, the cursor being red is a nice
touch too.

Very nice idea. Now I get it. As soon as I stop writing the text starts to get
blurry! Very nice! Well, I like it, because I am using a similar technique
when I am very stressed and need to get some air off my chest. I have this VIM
mode that will put the font color the same as the background color, which
means that you cannot see what you type. This will force you to type the same
way as you speak, because it is impossible to correct words, to go back,
delete. So you have to type the way you speak. Which is in a way just like
talking, but without having the need to talk with someone else. At the same
time it allows you to write everything in a public place, where other people
can see your screen. They will probably think that you are crazy, or that they
got some problem with their vision, because they cannot see anything. But you
do not care and continue typing. And after some time you realize that typing
blindly as well helps you to formulate your sentence before you type it.

Well, now the 5 minutes are over, it was a nice experience, but I like my VIM
s0u7-mode better

------
quickthrower2
We’ve reached peak programming, where now code is too perfect so we need to
add artificial constraints. Flappy bird, Snapchat, etc. recently we had the 5%
battery life chat, and now this!

------
fb03
my session:

so i've been trying to use this dangerous writing application for like 10
minutes now and it's been a valuable source of inspiration and a little bit of
stress as well. i know that if i stop writing the whole text will be lost and
because of that, i am constantly forced to keep writing whatever comes to my
mind, and since nothing is coming to my mind right now, i am writing about
this very same writing process that is unfolding as i go. i have just stalled
a bit and the text started to blur which startled me a little bit and i found
the red+blurry effect quite amusing. i believe they have used the red color
because it usually means danger/blood stuff for us human beings. i can write
very slowly and it doesn't blur, so it's not linked to typing speed. you just
need to be consistent and don't stop for too much.

i believe this kind of tool is amusing but i am a little worried about what
kind of usage would i get from this in a coding endeavour like developing a
system or something. i surely have to stop for several minutes at a time to
think about solutions or designs for my code and having it wipe out everything
if i stall surely sounds counterproductive, altough i wouldn't know until i
actually tried. maybe if the code was wiped out the design would still be in
my head and i'd be able to write it down again in a more concise (and revised)
manner, potentially improving my structure and forcing me to rethink about
everytime it gets wiped out... so yeah, there is a big chance this might even
surprise me as a tool to be used in a coding environment. still, the idea
sounds really silly, specially when you consider huge files. maybe it could
wipe out since your last git commit

------
falcor84
Based on the title, I assumed someone might have implemented the notebook from
Death Note. I'm both disappointed and much relieved that it's not the case.

------
Etheryte
Not sure if this is intentional or not, but the page doesn't blur out if you
just continuously press a letter and then delete it again.

------
realshowbiz
Kinda reminds me of psdoom, I think because of the gamified self-destructive
element.

Psdoom is doom, except the bad guys are mapped to processes IDs and shooting
them sends renice and eventually kill signals.

[http://psdoom.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html](http://psdoom.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html)

------
aytekin
Looks like an amazing solution for doing Morning Pages. Here is how I do it
currently: [https://medium.com/swlh/how-ive-used-morning-pages-to-
grow-a...](https://medium.com/swlh/how-ive-used-morning-pages-to-grow-and-
define-my-business-b3af3b5f269)

~~~
dondawest
Can I get a non paywall link?

~~~
fheld
outline sometimes helps:

[https://outline.com/D7aP8s](https://outline.com/D7aP8s)

------
stared
Feels like playing a game or watching an interactive, in which you need to
make a choice against a clock. Just... in a more open-ended word.

Or as writing homework when being totally sleep deprived, and any break means
a risk of falling asleep (blurry graphics reinforce it a lot).

Or writing an important email, when there is 2% of battery life.

------
blue_devil
More stress and typos, less pithiness and thought, writing to die over - name
is correct, it is dangerous.

------
daurnimator
From the title I guessed it would be something with a typing pattern or
keyboard shortcuts that were a fast way to RSI.

I'm curious if anyone has a story about a particular writing application
(could even be from the typewriter era and have a custom terrible keyboard!)
that caused physical injury?

------
mhd
I always thought that WordPerfect was the most dangerous word processor, due
to its userbase.

~~~
mirimir
Huh? What dangerous userbase did it have?

~~~
mhd
Lawyers. WP was really, really common amongst the legal profession for a
while, and from what I've heard, being forced to migrate to Word is still much
lamented. But it's quite a bit harder to pull a GRRM there.

~~~
mirimir
Damn. I was almost going to guess that. One of my clients was still using
WordPerfect for DOS in the late 90s. They didn't want to deal with the
retraining cost for secretaries and paralegals.

I always did like WordPerfect much more than Word. It was fundamentally a
markup-style text editor. And you could switch to raw-text mode if necessary,
and actually edit the markup. Word, on the other hand, is entirely opaque.

~~~
quickthrower2
Word is pilcro hell. God knows where what formatting came in. Onenote is a
disaster. There’s a reason these apps have a “format painter”.

~~~
mxuribe
TIL the name pilcro; thanks!

~~~
quickthrower2
Apologies to all I have mislead! It's actually spelt "Pilcrow".
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilcrow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilcrow).
¶

~~~
mirimir
So I looked, and found:

> Scribes would often leave space before paragraphs to allow rubricators to
> draw the pilcrow. With the introduction of the printing press, space before
> paragraphs was still left for rubricators to draw by hand; however,
> rubricators could not draw fast enough for printers and often would leave
> the beginnings of the paragraphs as blank. This is how the indent before
> paragraphs was created.

Amazing. Had no clue.

------
cryptozeus
There is a version with prompt as well by squibler who is maintaining the app
with domain name

[https://www.squibler.io/writing-prompt-
generator](https://www.squibler.io/writing-prompt-generator)

------
justaguyhere
Reminds me of Oulipo writing, different forms of constraint I guess. This app
was fun!

~~~
kieckerjan
An important contrast is that Oulipo's constraints sought to boost a book's or
story's quality, not quantity, mainly by forcing authors to pick words
unusually scrupulously. An illustration of such a constraint would consist of
radically omitting that most popular symbol in our vocabulary. An important
Oulipo alumnus got to author a book wholly in that way. (Look it up: A Void.)

------
gmueckl
In Neal Stephenson's novel Cryptonomicon, one of the characters is tied to a
cabinet containing a bomb and a laptop sitting on top of it. The character is
then told that the bomb will explode the moment he stops typing.

~~~
a_imho
The office worker and the mortgage?

~~~
gmueckl
I don't honestly remember who was the victim of that contraption. And I don't
have to book nearby to re-read the passage. It's just that the silliness of
that idea is somehow burned into my memory.

------
threeme3
This is a solution to my problem: as writing for me is always a struggle due
to the tendency to keep more focussed on optimizing previously written text
then on continue writing new. This app allows me to write like a flow.

~~~
thedudemabry
This tool reminds me of the advice once given to NaNoWriMo participants
(National Novel-Writing Month, super fun if you've never tried it in
November). If you can't think of anything to write, just repeat "Ninja. Ninja.
Ninja…" over and over again until you think of something. Just be sure to get
words out and keep your mind-to-fingers connection nimble when first-drafting.

------
quickthrower2
Looked at the source (F12 not Github) and I see the old
"registerServiceWorker" code meme, probably from one of those "create-react-
app" type jobbies. We really don't need that do we?

------
martin-adams
I've been using Flowstate on Mac for this. It certainly forces some sense of
pressure, but is a great way for scoping out an initial draft of a blog post
which I can then rewrite with more care and attention.

------
anExcitedBeast
At the risk of taking the fun out of this, you can recover "failed" text.

After you fail, close the tab. Then restore the closed tab from browser
history. Your text should rest ahead of the prompt.

------
wellpast
Don't worry, guys! I'm working on a browser plugin that will continuously save
your work if you're using this app and reload your writing when the app
deletes it.

------
nonbirithm
I whipped up a version for Emacs here.

[https://github.com/Ruin0x11/downdraft](https://github.com/Ruin0x11/downdraft)

------
mvdwoord
Interesting concept!

On mobile at least, you can simply press space every couple of seconds.. And
backspace.. so just a tad shy of what it says on the tin if you ask me.. ;)

------
vaillancourtmax
I like the "no bullshit, just do it" approach. Great for preventing analysis
paralysis, and generally curbing off procrastination.

------
ajxs
First attempt: [https://pastebin.com/axqVuzHU](https://pastebin.com/axqVuzHU)

------
mirimir
Ah, you can paste. I pasted ~6000 words of "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, ..."
in hardcore mode, before I gave up.

------
qazpot
This is GRRM's favorite writing App.

------
eternalny1
I failed when I got bored and copied the text, but I'm slightly proud of my
random thoughts.

\----

On one summer night, I was staring at the sky pondering the mystery of the
universe. Why are we here? What are we? What is consciousness? Does
consciousness exist outside of the body? Where do we go when we die? How did
the universe come to be? Is God the answer? Why are the laws of the universe
set precisely the way they are? The answer can't be the multi-verse, because
in that situation there are an infinite number of universes.

In an infinite number of universes, an infinite amount of possibilities exist.
That means, in any given unverse, ANYTHING can and will happen.

That means, in one of them, as I'm typing this silly nonsense, a naked clown
will kick in my door, but he will be killed before he attempts to strangle me
by a piece of debris that crashes through the roof, which let loose from an
airliner flying overhead.

If that's not weird enough, in one of those other infinite universes, he won't
be attempting to strangle me, he will have a butcher knife. In another one, he
will have a shotgun.

In another universe, he won't kick in the door, but will blow it up with
grenades. And in one, he won't be naked, but dressed in a tuxedo. In one
universe, the plane would drop an engine on him. Or me. Or it won't be an
engine, it will be a large piece of frozen lavatory ice.

This doesn't seem logical, although Donald Trump did just attempt to purchase
Greenland, which does seem very odd and very random.

~~~
krapp
>In an infinite number of universes, an infinite amount of possibilities
exist. That means, in any given unverse, ANYTHING can and will happen.

Not necessarily. An infinite set can still have bounded properties, and
probability doesn't work that way.

For instance, the set of even natural numbers is infinite, yet they still
never contain an odd number.

So it's entirely possible, even within an infinite set of infinite universes,
for some events to never occur.

------
RichardHeart
Keyboard: Alt-PrtSc takes a screenshot of in focus window. paste in paint and
save. OCR later :)

------
khendron
So I need to keep writing and if I stop for too long I get stopped and lose
everything. I wonder what that black bar going across the top of the screen is
for. Is that an overall time limit?

I guess I will tell a story. How about the time I was in grade 6, competing in
the inter-school track tournament. My sport was the standing broad jump. I was
amazing! I could jump, from standing, 2 meters 30 cm. Nobody could come close
to me. I was a shoe-in for the gold medal.

At the track meet, on a fine day in early June, I was really confident. Until
I saw this one competitor. Supposedly he was 12 years old, but he was almost 6
feet tall. 12 years old my ass!

Anyway, he beat me. I jumped 2 m 31 cm (personal best), and he jumped 2 m 32
cm. Nobody else in the competition was even close. 3rd place was something
like 2m 10 cm.

I've never been so disappointed with 2nd place. Just goes to show, not matter
how confident and able you are, you can still fail. Yes, the world kept
turning, and the sun still came up in the morning. I was just a bit more
disappointed than the day before.

OK I am at 222 words. And I have run out of things to say. And the black bar
is almost across the top of the

------
viach
What's the business model? Paid extension to make no-typing interval longer?

~~~
Signez
Not every webpage need a business model :)

------
pkhamre
This is awesome! It needs a short domain so it's easy to access :)

------
rl3
Cool idea. I like how it times out even while backspacing.

------
dirkc
Thanks, I wrote for 5 minutes

------
ThouYS
phew, exhausting. Neat idea, only annoying thing: makes my computers fans spin

------
leeny
"It's not a bug, it's a feature"

------
zhte415
I failed.

------
RazvanS
Op HV fwg fwgn kk we r n look injured mg lol o om 9

------
kavalec
This is a test, I'm looking at this app, seeing if it's worth my time. So far,
nothing impressive. This thing is supposed to be timing me, I have to type for
5 minutes. Or should I say 'write' instead of 'type'. Lets see:
oui[fjrea'prjtpro paojfa'mypiQWHBHVA It did NOT object to that, so I could in
theory just monkey-bang on the keyboard for the next two/three minutes and it
would be happy. Hmmm... 73 words by 'hmmm', how many by the time I get to five
minutes? Is that the 'danger' in "the most dangerous writting app"? Or is it
dangerous because it gets one into the habit of flowing out to the written
word? If the latter, I may have to try this a few more times.

~~~
nkrisc
Sure you could write gibberish for five minutes but why would you waste your
time doing that?

------
jiggawatts
I think I "won":

okay what the hell is this application? Like... what's the point? I don't get
it. The front page doesn't explain! And now I'm doing it. I'm doing whatever
it wants me to do. See: I'm typing like a good little monkey at a typewriter,
generating a stream of conciousness. So why am I participating in this. I
don't know. Perhaps curiosity. Perhaps sheer stubborness. Possibly self-
loathing. Maybe it's the scientific mind, wanting to learn about human
capability. Maybe it's introspection: I just want to know what I'm capable of,
whether I'm up to the challenge or not. But lets be honest: I'm a lazy bum,
and now I'm just doing this because I'm too invested, not because I can
actually be bothered. Hmm... I wonder if the 5 minutes is up yet, it certainly
feels like it's approaching. Maybe another minute? I want to look at the
clock, but I can't do that and type at the same time. I need a break, my arms
are starting to hurt, which is just embarrassing for someone who normally
types several hours a day. Now I'm thinking how many typos have I made so far?
Two? Three? More? I'm doubting my own English education, which is ironic
because I hated English in high school. I hated it with a passion. I jumped
with joy when I finished my last English exam, and I vindictively told my
English teacher this fact: I will never need to use these skills ever again!
Never! I'm going into Science. Cold, hard science, the world of numbers and
equations and facts. No wishy-washy feelings or emotions, opinions and
perspectives. Just graphs and numbers. How wrong I was! My current net worth
owes a lot to my English skills, which is now probably a hundred times more
important than anything I ever learned in Science...

