

Show HN: Kwak, a real-time discussion platform - vhf
https://kwak.io

======
meritt
> "real-time discussion platform"

So... it's chat?

~~~
dedif
Chat is more of a generic term. The discussions we refer to are content based
(right now centered around one hashtag or a Tweet). We will have other
contents soon (hint: original content).

------
dedif
Hi, we wanted to show you a little something, so here it is.

We suggest you also read the manifesto[0] we wrote, telling more about our
mission on this project.

[0] [https://kwak.io/blog](https://kwak.io/blog)

~~~
bastijn
In my opinion you could have chosen a far better moment to launch, and a far
better launch than the current. Don't expect your potential users to start
digging for info for themselves (launch content) on a product they don't know
and which on first sight is only irc (launch timing: better launched a bit
later when you had a killer feature).

To me it is like you are introducing the iphone1 with the same famous talk by
jobs, but stopping just before the it is one device killer punch line. Instead
you are promisingbthat the 3 devices will become one in the future, with a lot
less credit than Apple had at the time.

Lets end with saying good luck. I hope to see a subsequent announcement one
day which reaches the FP, telling us you made it :).

~~~
dedif
I totally get your point. Nearly everyone we talked to said "Great idea". We
are simply applying the MVP principle, hopefully we'll grow from there :)

------
toggle
This looks exactly like Shout[1]. This seems to be an IRC channel, and you
have a web interface (using Shout) hosted on your domain, with some of Shout's
features removed so that people can't use it to connect to other IRC servers.
And you aren't giving any credit to Shout.

*EDIT: My apologies, I totally jumped the gun there. I didn't see the "?" at the bottom, which states that that's exactly what this is. I still think that you could give a little more credit to them, though. In my opinion, this is more than just "based" on Shout, as your credits say.

[1]:[http://shout-irc.com/](http://shout-irc.com/)

~~~
dedif
shout is MIT opensource, we ack the use of the looknfeel (see our about). Kwak
is by no mean IRC backed, it's our own dev work based on Meteor.

The interface will change eventually to support all the features that we
intend.

We first started by mapping IRC features and for that shout is super
convenient .. but it is just the start ;)

------
benoror
As I chat with one of the founders, If I had to describe the service I would
write something like:

"kwak.io: a discussion-based (channels), real-time (chat) platform (server)"

which forme it sounds like: server + chat + channels === 'IRC'

Nowdays we have plenty of modern alternatives to good-old IRC: Slack, Gitter,
Hipchat. So I asked where does kwak.io fits in?

For me it's a fun but unclear experiment. According to their manifesto
([https://medium.com/@kwak.io/kwak-s-
manifesto-14c69104e70](https://medium.com/@kwak.io/kwak-s-
manifesto-14c69104e70)) I get the "IRC communication style" part, but I'm not
totally clear how will they achieve the "mixed with modern social features"
part.

------
pixellab
Very nice start! Dope logo.

Good idea to go MVP and get it out in the world and get some learning going.
Of course the down side to MVCs is the user doesn't know it's MVC — some
comments might reflect that ;)

Looking forward to seeing where you take this IRC-esq revival!

------
Phemist
I like the name. A platform to leave our 'kwakjes'. And in real-time.

~~~
nemoniac
For those who might be wondering, it's a Dutch word for 'ejaculate'.

~~~
tomsmeding
Uh no not really. It means quack or "to slam down", or something. But that's
not the common meaning. Are you flemish? Don't know whether it might have
extra meanings there.

~~~
nemoniac
You might not be aware of it but it is indeed a common usage in both Dutch and
Flemish, especially in the diminutive.

Phemist's tongue-in-cheek remark drew attention to it to suggest that the name
might not be well chosen for those parts of the world.

See sense 2.2 here:
[http://www.vandale.nl/opzoeken?pattern=kwak&lang=nn](http://www.vandale.nl/opzoeken?pattern=kwak&lang=nn)

Or just google it (nsfw).

------
degenerate
Very nice. The UI feels slightly slower (more sluggish) than web IRC chats.
The ability to enable audio on messages or @mentions (in settings) is a good
addition. But how does kwak want/expect people to use this? www.kwak.io just
has 4 hashtags and jumps me straight into a chatroom. Either I am missing
something or there's nothing more to this "Show HN" than literally showing it?

~~~
dedif
We haven't dig too much into optimization yet, it's _almost_ vanilla Meteor
with MongoDB. The hashtags are created by the users, and they automatically
rank based on activity, we will have many more interesting ranking algorithms
to come.

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aaron-lebo
Where did this sudden interest in reinventing IRC come from? It seems we get
one of these every day now.

~~~
CephalopodMD
It seems like this is, in fact, just a skinned IRC and not a reimplementation.

~~~
dedif
What makes you think it's skinned IRC?

\- you can't change nick

\- you can go full anonymous

\- Hashtags (or channels if you like) are automatically ranked)

\- you can post media

\- ...

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fiatjaf
This is IRC. Also the interface is the same of the Shout IRC client:
[http://shout-irc.com/](http://shout-irc.com/)

~~~
fiatjaf
That said, I've read the manifesto and I liked the idea. This has my support.

------
Dirlewanger
Sooo, a Gitter clone?

~~~
dedif
More of a Slack for the rest of us. Please have a look at our manifesto:
[https://kwak.io/blog](https://kwak.io/blog)

------
loomi
nice logo finally!

~~~
dedif
With a Meteor backend.

