Dirty Walls - anonymous, location-based messaging
One of my first personal web app projects, and my first git repository. After working on this idea periodically over the last several years, I realize it's time to go public and get some accountability to finish the damn thing!
Several years ago, a few friends and I were having several beers at our favorite local pub, the 9 Lb Hammer, and I excused myself to use the restroom. Chuckling at some graffiti on the wall, I shared it with the others at the table (after washing my hands, of course) and it led to drunken domain registration and grand plans. Sober heads prevailed in the morning, and we never did anything with it.
A few years back, I am back in the same washroom at the same urinal and I happen to see the same graffiti, still written on the wall. I had long-forgotten about the old night, but everything came rushing back to me and I realized that graffiti is an integral part of our urban experience. The raw communication in the places we go are as unique as the people in them. I wanted to build this experience into the digital realm.
After several false starts, not being a JavsScript or PHP guru, I had a working prototype running on a server. I managed to finagle some thumbnails out of Google Street View, store some information in MySQL, and had a functional app! So of course, I scrapped it all and started over - this time with a slightly better understanding of object-oriented concepts and new tech such as jQuery Mobile. Then again, and again.
I am going to start one more time, openly and publicly, and invite anyone to share what I'm building.
Dirty Walls provides a more-or-less anonymous message board at any place on earth, accessible only within a certain distance from that place! Visit your favorite coffee shop and see what other patrons have to say. Ask about the love status of the hot, new bartender at your favorite bar. What corner dealer has the best weed? Dish about the new tenants in apartment 6C. Chat about your boss. Leave notes for your housemates, or view photos that others have shared, taken from the place you're standing right now!
As much as I hate the "x meets y!" approach to describing an app or service, I truly want to create the baby of when 4chan and foursquare drunkenly hooked up one night at the internet awards. Business can embrace and abhor the boards that exist at their location, but they can't do anything about 'em!
I hope the world enjoys Dirty Walls as much as I've had playing with the concept and building it.