choom 🌟

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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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._______________.-'____"---._.
\ /
\________________________/
(_) (_)

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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 44%

2 box 56%

18 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 68%

i want something else... 8%

38 votes

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choom 🌟 2026-03-12 08:27 🇻🇳

do you like polls?

yes 89%

no 11%

54 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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choom 🌟 2026-03-05 10:40 🇻🇳

hey all!

i just added a changelog as requested by @zevvi 🌟 and a few others. the link is in the nav dropdown menu. i will be adding feature changes and major bug fix notes there. small visual changes and small bug fixes won't be noted or it would be too much of a mess

cheers all

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choom 🌟 2026-03-02 10:05 🇹🇭

just pushed a few things:
- reply threads to muted users are now no longer shown
- mutes (most muted user) are now added to the leaderboard
- muting toggle button added. you can now turn your muting on and off from the navbar dropdown menu
- small visual bug fixes

/\_/\
= ( • . • ) =
/ \

cheers..

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choom 🌟 2026-02-27 12:21 🇹🇭

muting has been enabled. here's how it works:
- when you mute a user you will not see any of their posts in feeds, replies, etc....
- muting a user does not block them from seeing your posts. they can still reply, like, follow, repost etc.. but you will not be notified or see any of this activity.
- muting is public. muted and muting lists are viewable on user profiles, just like followers and following.

please let me know here if you find any bugs, weird behavior, or want any extended functionality of muting. also do we want a global toggle to turn you muting on/off?

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choom 🌟 2026-02-24 05:43 🇹🇭

thinking to implement blocking, but with a slight twist. you may block users, but globally there is a toggle that enables/disables your block list. block lists are also public. everyone can see who you are blocking and who is blocking you.
the rationale is to allow users to control the general feed but still be able to see it unfiltered.
what do we think about this?

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choom 🌟 2026-02-23 02:38 🇹🇭

i will be pushing some measures soon to help deal with spam

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choom 🌟 2026-02-16 10:54 🇹🇭

hi all. i've added a hashtag cloud that ranks popularity of hashtags. also did some small UI changes and some improvements to the mobile site.

#update

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choom 🌟 2026-02-12 09:29 🇹🇭

by popular demand i have added more info to the profile pages. replies are now visible in a separate tab. a user’s followers and following lists are now viewable by clicking the counts on their profile

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p.s. thanks @magpie.girl 🌟 for the bug reports. working on them

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choom 🌟 2026-02-11 11:51 🇹🇭

hey all, i pushed a bunch of bug fixes today that users brought to my attention:

- double posting if the "post" button clicked multiple times
- stopped stripping leading whitespaces
- replying on notification page character counter wasn't working
- failed account creation does not get rate limited
- various visual bugs

if you find any bugs please submit from the link in the top menu

cool to see the community is continuing to grow 🌳

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following

followers

muting

muted by

following tags

muted tags

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