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Hey folks, back around 2014, alongside my job as a software engineer, I was building a lot of static websites for my own clients, mostly small businesses that just wanted a simple site. To avoid headaches, I went fully static, often hosted on GitHub Pages and similar.
But most clients also wanted a contact form, and a form needs a server running somewhere. I had my own weekend-hacked service for this, which literally just forwarded the form to the client's email.
I didn't invent anything here: one service I particularly remember was FormKeep by thoughtbot, that I really liked.
So I started building my own, mostly because I loved losing myself in side projects like this, and also because I was a cheap ass and thought I could do something similar for less, and without a subscription.
By 2016 I had done about 90% of what I'm showing you today. I called it "The Great Forwarder". Everything was ready: backend, frontend, hosting, Stripe, landing page. I even had a designer friend help with the design (sorry, Valentin, if I've botched it since). Then I started another project, which took off right away and took all my attention for a while. Fun fact: that project has been using this service ever since, and almost every message ever sent through it came from there.
So for years, I kept Forwarder.cc up to date, upgrading libraries and trying new ones: axios, got, Redux, Zustand, create-react-app, webpack, Vite… It became my laboratory for everything I wanted to explore, while always staying up and maintained (again, for my own use only).
The only thing that ever held me back from launching it was a missing help center, and, more honestly, the fear of putting it in front of people.
So today's the day: after 12 years of procrastination, I finally finished the help center.
I know there are a ton of similar services nowadays, but anyway, what do you think of that help center?