LOTO

I kept thinking about the "take a book, leave a book" shelves you see in neighbourhoods. There's something about that exchange — you give something, you get something, and neither person knows the other. I wanted that feeling but for the stuff that actually lives in your head: a secret you've never told, a song that changed your week, a thought you had at 2am. The internet is full of broadcasting. I wanted something closer to passing a note to a stranger. Most social platforms reward performance — followers, likes, clout. That incentive warps what people share. I wanted a space where the only reason to write something is because it's worth saying. No profile, no followers, no algorithm optimizing for engagement. You leave something real, you get something real back. The anonymity isn't a feature — it's the whole point. It removes the performance and leaves just the message. Early on I was focused on the exchange mechanic — the circular buffer, the pool system. But as I used it, I realised the quality of what you receive matters more than the cleverness of the system. So I added weighted selection based on reactions: messages that resonate get surfaced more. That created a natural quality flywheel without needing moderators or upvote/downvote. The other big shift was realising the UI needed to feel like a ritual, not a feed. Dark, minimal, one message at a time. Every design decision moved toward making the exchange feel intentional.