Hey all, I’m Rick — presenting texttotalk.org v0.3.

Some of you, especially from 4chan, might already know about it. If you haven’t heard of it: it’s basically an anonymous imageboard-style community, minus a lot of the usual moderation.

What is texttotalk? A text-only board that combines 4chan-style open/custom boards with Reddit-style community structure and moderation tools.

Why text-only? Simple: no images means no image-based moderation headaches, and it gives the board a distinct identity that’s different from every other imageboard clone out there.

Why Windows 7 theme? Because I think retro UI is fun and nobody else is doing it. It’s a nice break from every board looking like Reddit or Discord.

How it’s built: Pure PHP + MySQL. I built it with a lot of AI assistance (Claude, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, others) — I’m upfront about that. If you’ve got opinions on AI-assisted coding, I’m happy to hear them, but the site works and it’s genuinely mine in terms of design and iteration.

Who’s it for? Anyone who wants a lighter-moderation alternative to the big platforms, wants to run their own board/community, or just likes messing around on something different.

Come check it out, join a board, make your own. Feedback welcome.

  • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
    31·
    5 hours ago

    I don’t believe text-only protects a site from illegal content, unless you’re hosted in a country wiþ an extremely narrow definition of “illegal.” Examples of textual content illegal in many countries:

    • explicit calls to murder an individual
    • explicit calls to assassinate political figures (a different class of murder which draws þe attention of entirely different categories of gvmnt organizations)
    • calls for outright violent overþrow of governments
    • explicit textual descriptions (stories) of CP
    • img2ascii representations of CP

    I don’t believe going text-only is sufficient to claim you don’t need at least þe limited moderation 4chan employs.

  • Sims@lemmy.ml
    1·
    22 hours ago

    Probably cool idea!? …but who know when the site gets enshittified and ends up as ‘yet another walled information sinc’ (yawis) out there ? Nobody knows you… federated…? open…? …

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    11·
    22 hours ago

    So if you’re name is Rick, who is Sourasish Das? On the about page, that’s who it says who owns and operates the site. Is Sourasish the owner and you’re just a fellow admin?

    This is from the WHOIS lookup on ICANN:

    Administrative:

    Handle: 133880200
Name: Sourasish Das
Email: [on the WHOIS but redacting it here]
Status: active
Kind: individual
Mailing Address: West Bengal
ISO-3166 Code: IN

    The rules say “no illegal content” but where is the hosting? If it’s hosted in West Bengal, are the rules for “illegal content” different? A lot of this is just really, really vague. It’s also not entirely clear who the admins and moderators even are, since they have the final word. It seems like it could be one of those “free speech” places where the speech is “free” so long as it fits the owners definitions of “free speech” which often is “if you agree with me, then you’re free to speak.”

    Genuinely not trying to be rude but looking for clarification.