Private beta
Write now.
Arrive later.
Slow Ink is a small, quiet place to write to the handful of people you actually want to hear from. No feed, no follower count, no reason to check it twice an hour.
Groups are forming by invitation while we are in beta — ask for one.
We do not need a thousand followers. We badly need six to twelve people we feel materially connected to — and almost nothing built in the last twenty years is designed for that.
What makes it slow
Slow Ink is defined by what it will not let you do. Each of these is a deliberate constraint, and most of them are set by your group rather than by us.
Group size
A group is six to twelve people, not an audience. Everyone reads everything, which is only possible because there is not much of it.
A pace, not a feed
Posts do not appear the instant they are written. Each member picks the days new writing is delivered to them and the one time of day it lands — every evening, twice a week, whatever suits. At most one delivery a day, and refreshing does nothing.
A wait before you write
There is a minimum time between one member’s posts. You cannot dominate a group by being the most available person in it.
A pause before you reply
A post has to sit with you for a while before you can comment on it. The first thing you think is rarely the thing worth saying.
A budget for comments
Each member gets a fixed number of comments per post. Spend them on a real response instead of a running thread of reactions.
Why
Everything else you post to is optimised for the size of its audience. That is a fine goal for a broadcaster and a terrible one for a friendship. When the room is small enough that everyone reads everything, you write differently — you explain yourself, you answer the actual question, you say the thing you would only say to people who know you. Slow Ink is an attempt to keep the room that size and give people time to think in it.
Is this just a group chat?
No — the opposite. A group chat rewards whoever is holding their phone. Slow Ink holds everything until a time you chose, so being available is not the same as being heard.
Who decides the limits?
The group does, by a standing vote. Every member has a say on every limit — how long between posts, how long before comments open, how many comments each member gets — and the group runs on whichever option has the most votes, counted nightly. The delivery schedule is the exception: that one is yours alone.
What is the business model?
Eventually, people paying for it. There is no advertising, so there is no reason to want more of your attention than you meant to give.
Why the name?
Ink is slow. You think before you commit it to the page, and once it is there it stays. That is closer to writing a letter than to posting.
Get in
Slow Ink is in a private beta. If you have an invitation, it will bring you straight in. If you do not, write to us and tell us who your six to twelve people are.