frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Show HN: Private blogging and journaling with a simulated audience

https://tempblog-psi.vercel.app/
38•beerd•2h ago

Comments

beerd•2h ago
Hey team! I find journaling for a fictive audience to be more effective personally; since it forces me to try digest my thoughts for an external listener.

Then why not add the actual fictive audience through LLMs? That's how this was born. Feel free to leave your thoughts/feedback here.

bwb•1h ago
Gotcha, why?
throw20251220•46m ago
So you didn’t “get him”?
multjoy•1h ago
Given that LLMs have no understanding of the text, what is the point of it?
beerd•1h ago
I feel people talk to LLMs in chat format just so they feel there's someone listening. This puts thats in a journaling/blogging context, hopefully delivering the same value in a unique context.
acron0•1h ago
What do you mean by "no understanding of the text"?
pessimizer•34m ago
To shuffle it up in semi-random ways that make you think. If you're determined to hate LLMs for any reason or any purpose, just think of them as an elaborate game of Exquisite Corpse or Ultimate Mad-Libs.

You don't have to think LLMs are smart or real people to think of them as useful. I love it when I can make an idea clear enough in text that an LLM can completely regurgitate it and build upon it. I also love it when an LLM trips over and misses the one real novelty that I've slipped into something; what better for an originality test than trying to choke an automatic regurgitator?

Transistors have no understanding of what I'm doing, but somehow I still find them useful.

blitz_skull•1h ago
My condolences for building something cool to share with the world, just to have HN folks commenting on it.

The purpose and utility of this seem obvious to me, but I can already see the stream of typical HN responses coming in.

Godspeed.

acron0•1h ago
As some one who constantly chats to AI about an array of topics, I can immediately see the value in this. Thank you for building this. As other commentators have already said, I also predict a frosty reception but please don't lose heart. This is cool and will make people become better writers.
basscomm•29m ago
> Hey team! I find journaling for a fictive audience to be more effective personally; since it forces me to try digest my thoughts for an external listener.

Okay, but I don't understand the benefit of writing to an entirely fictitious AI construct instead of writing to the ideal of the kind of reader you'd eventually like to have.

I mean, I get that it's frustrating to pour effort into writing something that effectively nobody reads (i.e. you never connect with a wider audience), but engaging with an entirely fictitious audience seems hollow to me.

chente•1h ago
This seems like a surefire way to build a private echo chamber. I doubt a simulated audience is going to challenge your thoughts or help find what you are trying to say.
pickleglitch•1h ago
Echo chambers seem pretty popular tho.
beerd•1h ago
That's (in my view) also not the point of journaling, but rather to blow off some steam and digest internal dialogue.
stavros•1h ago
It might be interesting to have some of the "commenters" challenge or critique, as an option?
beerd•1h ago
Yes definitely, I'd love to have a balance of empathy and alternative perspectives
stavros•1h ago
Do the commenters reply to things now? It might be nice to have personas that usually reply, others that reply rarely, etc, and that way you might get long discussion chains, or drive-by comments, or anything in between.

Very interesting idea, in general!

tossandthrow•1h ago
Very much like most of the substacks I see.
SilverElfin•1h ago
Public social networks are already building echo chambers. At least this one could be made to not have supremacist spam all over it like Twitter/X. Is it really any worse? I guess it wouldn’t have real life impact with an audience of humans.
oidar•1h ago
Can I include an asshole AI? Or one that nitpicks my grammar? Also need someone to explain how I am wrong about nearly everything and should give up writing? Otherwise it would feel super fake.
beerd•1h ago
Haha yeah I'm experimenting with a few personas. Should add a good grumpy troll hermit library of commenters.
yakattak•1h ago
I appreciate you sharing this and it looks made with care. It also seems like a cool take on how to use LLMs.

This isn’t for me, but thanks for sharing.

beerd•1h ago
Ofcourse! Thanks for the kind comment :)
stavros•1h ago
I do the opposite of this (release stuff publicly and don't have comments enabled) but this looks really nice for a specific kind of audience. I'm curious to see how it'll evolve and be received, good luck!
saaaaaam•1h ago
“Here, your words matter - to readers who always listen”

Alternatively go and find a nice railway bridge to stand under so you can shout loudly and hear your voice echo back at yourself. No code required, and it gets you out of the house. You might even meet an actual human on the way.

stavros•50m ago
I love how you see this super introverted thing for super introverts and your advice is "maybe meet a human".

Well, here's what this human has to say: Maybe you just aren't the target audience.

browningstreet•41m ago
There may, in fact, be limits.

Also, the typical misapplication of what introversion actually refers to..

mrtesthah•20m ago
Using AI for companionship is poison.
beerd•38m ago
Good tip, will add this to a future FAQ section
jstummbillig•1h ago
This is actually genius and obvious and also feels really, really weird, all at the same time.
Lalo-ATX•51m ago
this could be good to help someone steelman their arguments, highlight implicit assumptions, identify communication that's confusing, etc. could be interesting to get reactions from a random sampling of synthetic personalities from within a target audience set.
willturman•43m ago
This feels like one of those moments where you're witnessing history be made in real-time. And I hate it.

It takes approximately zero effort to see how this could be both monetized and used for harm. This episode of Black Mirror is writing itself and congratulating itself in the comments.

willturman•2m ago
At what point is the internet just ... dead? AI posts with AI comments generated for the sole purpose of spamming affiliate links to drop-shipped products we don't need to generate ephemeral satisfaction in fulfilling our purpose as an economics unit of consumption? Where do I sign up for the beta?
moshun•20m ago
Given the rapidly diminishing quality of discourse on the open internet the last decade or so, I understand.

I recently restricted comments on my blog or 15 years to existing subscribers only. It took me a while to accept that after removing the random spam, then the racist, misogynist, homophobic, and other lowlife commenters, I was left with 10-15% of discussions worth reading.

Pretty sad state of affairs, and it’s clear it’s degrading faster every day.

adhamsalama•16m ago
Thanks. I hate it.
haritha-j•15m ago
A good extra use-case could be to test an article out and tease out any flaws before releasing it to a live audience.
gflorit•8m ago
This is sarcastic, right? I refuse to believe people are doing this for real.
jrm4•6m ago
OP, pay no attention to the haters. Brilliant idea, especially given the slop out there. For my journaling, I've been experimenting with similar.

That being said, whatever I do I'm going to keep completely in-house, as in offline with local LLMs only, because privacy.

Show HN: StegCore – a decision boundary for AI systems (truth ≠ permission)

https://github.com/StegVerse-Labs/StegCore
1•the_rige1•10s ago•0 comments

Ask HN: How to gain a solid understanding of IMUs?

1•feefifoflux•5m ago•0 comments

The AI Reality Check: Deconstructing the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey

https://nitinahirwal.in/posts/Stack-Overflow-Survey-2025
1•foobuzzHN•7m ago•0 comments

Vanslist – No middlemen. No fees. Just people

https://vanslist.com/
1•netgeniuskid•7m ago•0 comments

Do you believe in society's lies?

https://samkriss.substack.com/p/do-you-believe-in-societys-lies
1•paulpauper•7m ago•0 comments

Why Everyone Loves Japan

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/why-everyone-loves-japan
1•paulpauper•8m ago•0 comments

The 2m Peak

https://writingcosmo.substack.com/p/the-2m-peak
1•tsterin•9m ago•0 comments

The Misfit Tree

https://collabfund.com/blog/the-misfit-tree/
1•herbertl•9m ago•0 comments

Leaker Who Apple Is Suing Says 'Screw It,' Here's the Foldable iPhone Early

https://gizmodo.com/leaker-who-apple-is-suing-says-screw-it-heres-the-foldable-iphone-early-20007...
2•achow•10m ago•0 comments

I Killed Color on My Phone. The Result Shocked Me

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/opinion/smartphone-color-grayscale-addiction.html
2•mikhael•10m ago•0 comments

Konami Code

https://craigatallahfrost.com/post/2025/12/23/konami-code
1•herbertl•13m ago•0 comments

Laid Off After 25 Years in Tech [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeMA9WGKxOg
2•akhilnchauhan•13m ago•0 comments

Affiliarena Kickstart Challenge – Mehr Verdienen ALS Online Marketer

https://simon-veith.net/jetzt-geht-es-los-mit-der-ki-revolution/affiliarena-kickstart-challenge-m...
1•hellocosmetics•14m ago•0 comments

Chess960v2 – the first championship has officially started

https://chess960v2.com/en
1•lavren1974•14m ago•0 comments

Metastable Failures and Interactions Between Systems

https://charap.co/on-metastable-failures-and-interactions-between-systems/
2•todsacerdoti•15m ago•0 comments

Apple's M-series chip 5 years later

https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/cpus/apples-m-series-chip-gamble-5-years-later-how-ditching-i...
2•AshleysBrain•16m ago•0 comments

Workflow Automation: Letting AI Write Workflow Code

https://blog.codesolvent.com/2025/12/workflow-automation-letting-ai-write.html
1•Edmond•18m ago•0 comments

Show HN: FYI - Product Events Tracking and Notifications for Elixir Phoenix Apps

https://github.com/chrisgreg/fyi
1•bustylasercanon•19m ago•0 comments

AI Village

https://theaidigest.org/village
2•kruipen•19m ago•1 comments

OpenStreetMap QA for Power Grids

https://apps.dynartio.com/mapyourgrid/gridinspector.html
2•protontypes•21m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: What problems do you have building / managing AI in production

1•zarathustra333•21m ago•0 comments

The most friendless place on Earth

https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2025/12/18/the-most-friendless-place-on-earth
1•andsoitis•22m ago•1 comments

FFmpeg has issued a DMCA takedown on GitHub

https://twitter.com/FFmpeg/status/2004599109559496984
5•merlindru•22m ago•1 comments

Have Anna's Archive Spotify scrape songs that have been pulled?

1•Tommix11•23m ago•0 comments

Why Your RAG Sucks: The Art and Science of Chunking and Hybrid Search

https://medium.com/beyond-bits/why-your-rag-sucks-the-art-and-science-of-chunking-and-hybrid-sear...
2•laxmansharma•28m ago•0 comments

Are you verifying that products are readable by AI shopping

2•David_0101•28m ago•0 comments

Vector Embeddings: AI Doesn't Understand Words. It Understands Math

https://medium.com/beyond-bits/a-deep-dive-into-vector-embeddings-ai-doesnt-understand-words-it-u...
2•laxmansharma•28m ago•0 comments

ICE's interest in high-tech gear raises new questions: 'What is it for?'

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/26/ice-high-tech-surveillance-lower-privacy-guardrails-0070...
30•standardUser•33m ago•17 comments

Show HN: I was tired of link shorteners, so I built Rediredge

https://leotrapani.com/blog/rediredge
2•trapani•35m ago•0 comments

Pg_textsearch: PostgreSQL extension for BM25 relevance-ranked full-text search

https://github.com/timescale/pg_textsearch
4•jascha_eng•37m ago•0 comments