If you’re a website owner dreading the influx of negativity that comes with adding a comments section, “tech feminist” Tessa Thornton has developed the website extension for you.
Thornton, a developer for Shopify, has released a tiny but beautiful bit of JavaScript code called echochamber.js.
When you install echochamber.js, you will appear to be enabling comments, but there’s a twist. With echochamber.js, you won’t have to read those comments. No one will. Because the only person who can see a comment is the person who wrote it.
“When a user submits a comment,” explains Thornton on GitHub, “echochamber.js will save the comment to the user’s LocalStorage, so when they return to the page, they can be confident that their voice is being heard, and feel engaged with your very engaging content. It does not make any HTTP requests. Since LocalStorage is only local, you and your database need not be burdened with other people’s opinions.”
That’s right: Once it’s submitted, the comment only exists on the commenter’s machine. It never reaches your server—or your eyes.
The product’s motto brings a tear to your eye: “All of the commenting, none of the comments.”
Photo via Picturepest/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
