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Comment by ndriscoll | Hacker News Reader

> you have seen it all, go outside

Or "you've seen it all. Bored? Click here to let your friends know you're looking for something to do/see who else is bored". Or "Bored? X needs volunteers!" Or some other positive suggestion to try to prevent a "eh guess I'll doomscroll something else" reaction.

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That would be such a killer feature. And it could find other friends in the area and that are also free. Not like Meta doesn't have some kind of model for all that data already probably.

Yes. I'd love to find other nerds into retro computing, UNIX, and pottery in my area without wading into groups or joining a forum. They know everything about me, match me up with some people I'd most likely get along with!

Isn't this what ancient local BBSs did? Back in the 90's when in my teens/twenties that was how I found interesting local groups of people/organic raves (i.e. not ones organized by promoters) outside my established circles in Santa Cruz/the bay area. Also some of the most uncomfortable/awkward unsocial/nerdfest social evenings so not everything was a hit.

I'm guessing that there are now Discords that fill this niche?

Just put a chatbox at the end of the feed, that all the locals get dumped into when they also hit the end. Maybe based on IP or something. Grouped based on which articles you clicked on. "Hey, we think you guys will like eachother. Why don't you organize a meetup?"

> That would be such a killer feature.

"Alice, what if we made a button that improved overall human wellbeing, while somewhat reducing our ad-revenue and lowering the engagement-metrics we use to sell shares to investors?"

"*sigh* We've been over this, Bob: We only build features for customers--not cattle."

If you want revenue, send them all to a nearby bar or other venue and work out a deal with that venue. "Hey, there's a bunch of Redditors and Joe's Bar right now! Take this coupon for 20% off and go meet them."

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