Tell HN: 48 absurd web projects – one every month

66•absurdwebsite•11h ago

A year ago I posted here about a small experiment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44162363

I build one absurd web project every month and publish it on https://absurd.website

I kept going.

There are now 48 projects.

The idea is still the same - I build mostly unnecessary web projects that sit somewhere between experiments, jokes, products, and art.

But over time they’ve started moving more toward net art than just experimental web.

Some recent ones:

VandalAds - a banner format you can destroy instead of just viewing Type Therapy - instead of talking affirmations, you type your thoughts to change them Slow Rebranding - branding changes so slowly you don’t notice it Guard Simulator - a crime appears for 15 seconds per day, if you catch it you win

I also started releasing some projects only to members, so not everything is public anymore.

What I like most is the rhythm: one public project and one private project each month. It forces me to realize ideas instead of leaving them in notes.

The core is still always the idea and concept - not polish, not execution, not even usefulness.

It’s also interesting to see whether people understand the thought inside a project, discover something else in it, or see nothing at all.

I’m still going, and at this point absurd.website has become a big part of my life.

Thanks.

Comments

absurdwebsite•11h ago

Hey, happy to answer any questions about the projects.

0x1ceb00da•10h ago

Is there a free trial for your "half cremation half burial" service. I need to know if it's a good fit for me and my family.

absurdwebsite•10h ago

Not sure you’d come back to review it :)

absurdwebsite•11h ago

... and would love to hear which projects you liked most.

ritzaco•10h ago

I tried and enjoyed the typing one, very slick.

Curious if you have any paying members? Not something I would pay for, but also there didn't seem to be enough information to convince anyone to pay?

absurdwebsite•10h ago

Glad you liked that one :) Yeah, I do have a few paying members.

I’m not trying to optimize for conversion or make a strong sales pitch. The members part is more like a way to put some projects in a "private layer" and see if anyone is curious enough to go deeper.

Payment also kind of brings the projects to life because they play with startup ideas, paying becomes part of the interaction.

hmhrex•10h ago

I love this. Great work. Huge fan of digital experimentation. It's an art form I feel isn't as popular these days. I've had an idea on the backburner for a bit now of doing a digital quarterly with contributions like this. Kind of a digital experiment punk zine. Maybe it's too niche, but I feel like it could be a good time.

absurdwebsite•10h ago

Thanks! That sounds really cool. Feels like this kind of stuff lives in random corners of the internet now, so having a place that collects it would be really interesting.

Esophagus4•9h ago

VandalAds was fun (and subversive!).

I wonder if you’ve hit on something interesting… are interactive ads a thing? I don’t know much about adtech but it seems like it could be a good idea.

I don’t think I’ve ever encountered one.

absurdwebsite•9h ago

Glad you liked it :)

Interactive ads exist in some form, but they’re usually quite controlled and safe. What interests me more is the moment when the user actually does something to the ad - even destroys it. Then it becomes an experience, not just a banner, and stay in you memory.

The idea actually comes from a personal experience - when I was younger I spray-painted over a real outdoor ad, and I still remember that ad to this day. Not because it was good, but because I interacted with it. In thhis project I basically playing with that same idea in a digital form.

ethan_smith•9h ago

Interactive ads are actually huge in mobile gaming - they're called "playable ads" and companies like ironSource and Unity Ads have been pushing them for years. They consistently outperform static/video ads on engagement and conversion. Outside of mobile games though, they're surprisingly rare on the web, which is kind of what makes VandalAds feel fresh.

Jeremy1026•5h ago

I remember them being a thing back in the days of Flash. Typically nothing super impressive, just small things like cursor trails to grab the eye.

Jimmy0252•9h ago

it was fun

absurdwebsite•9h ago

Thanks.

axeldunkel•9h ago

Great site! I once created muelltonne.de (german for "trashcan") where users could send (spam) mails which they did not like - and got poems or jokes in return that were made from exactly the same letters (plus some remains that could not be used). Reading tweets nowadays cries out for a new enhanced version...

Aany1420•9h ago

This looks cool!

absurdwebsite•9h ago

Thanks.

efilife•9h ago

How much of this HN submission was written by an LLM, and how much influence do they have in your projects?

absurdwebsite•9h ago

I do use LLMs for polishing text or generating some visuals, but the core concept and direction is always mine - otherwise I don’t really see the point of doing this :)

vunderba•9h ago

Nice job. Feedback:

Eyes Dating Site

I used to joke that an Afghan Tinder would just be swiping left or right on pictures of eyes because of the niqab.

Sexy Math

This is sort of a variation on the classic NSFW jigsaw/Rubik’s cube-style puzzle, and of course a number of old ’80s PC games where you revealed a risque picture.

If you want to make this more amusing, you should really include some saucy pictures of actual mathematicians, kind of like a play on the “sexy scientists” calendar in The IT Crowd.

Spot the Differences

There’s a great episode of The Office where Pam distracts Creed, the new acting manager, from destroying the branch by giving him two pictures from corporate and asking him to find the differences. Of course, they’re the same picture.

absurdwebsite•9h ago

Funny how a lot of these ideas already exist in some form - just in slightly different contexts. "Sexy mathematicians" is actually a great direction, didn’t think of that one. Or teachers could upload their own photos and send them as assignments for motivation :))

vunderba•8h ago

True, I also love the equivalent of musical "variations on a theme" so I'm here for it!

Honestly, when I saw the title "Sexy Math," I half-expected to see a picture of Jeffrey Goldblum (the chaos theory mathematician in Jurassic Park).

Jeremy1026•7h ago

Non-absurd societists can also play the 3rd sexy math game by changing the URL, where the other premium things are better blocked by the membership tier.

tuo-lei•8h ago

The monthly cadence is what makes this work. I recognize the feeling of having ideas rot in a notes app because you keep waiting for the "right" version - a fixed shipping rhythm kills that problem.

Favorites: VandalAds (the spray-painting origin story you mentioned makes the whole concept click) and Slow Internet Simulator (there's something real about nostalgia for imperfection). Trip to Mars at 210 real-time days is also wild - has anyone actually completed it?

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