Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
Show HN: RelayBeam – A multi-port real-time contextual messaging platform (relaybeam.com)
17 points by supritgandhi 678 days ago
Hi HN! I am Suprit. I am building a new messaging platform - RelayBeam.

RelayBeam is a Multi-Port Real-Time Contextual Messaging Platform. With a unique multi-port feature; it organizes conversations based on context through the user-defined ports and hence offers a streamlined alternative to traditional email.

Following are some problems with email and other messaging platforms:

- With multiple channels and threads, users struggle to maintain context, often jumping between discussions. - It is time consuming to manage overflowing inboxes. - Users are distracted due to constant notifications. - Spam and security risks. - Platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams are generally preferred for internal communication, they often complicate interactions with individuals outside the organization.

To solve these problems, I have developed a multi-port architecture in RelayBeam. Users can create and use different ports for communication across various contexts. I've explained in detail about it with some examples at https://relaybeam.com/about

Feel free to use RelayBeam and let me know your thoughts on it. Also, do share what additional features you would like to see!

3 comments

I agree with the problem description but I don’t understand how RelayBeam is addressing the problem. If I use RelayBeam, how will that solve my overflowing inbox problem or information scattered across Slack threads/channels?

It seems RelayBeam also has an inbox (it has N inboxes instead of one), and it encourages private messages between closed groups, which completely silos information making it worse than slack where at least most channels are open and you can go read the history when linked to gain context.

Thanks for your comment!

Using ports (as inbox) users can segregate the messages as per the context, this should simplify the information management, because users can search for information in the relevant port.

Users can compose new threads for different topics of discussion, hence these threads will only be relevant with respect to their topics.

As and when the new messages keep coming, there will be some threads where the discussion is no longer active, and users don't need to keep track of such thread discussions. This should solve the problem of overflowing inboxes.

Do you have any suggestions on how this can be further improved? I'd be happy to discuss.

You are improving the +part of email?

I.e. i use my email like this:

orlie+HN@myhost.com Then I add a filter on my webmail client to send all emails that have TO: field set to orlie+HN@myhost.com to a specific folder

Yes, that is one of the feature I am trying to improve, given many people who are not that comfortable with email might find it difficult to configure it.

Also, email is generally used when people can't use apps like Slack or WhatsApp for communicating. Here, I'd like to provide a better alternative through RelayBeam.

It's a fun idea, I quite liked reading about it.

Presumably data ownership would be a problem? I don't think my company would enjoy not being able to see/purge my work messages.

Thanks for going through it! Will providing a self-hosted configuration for enterprise accounts solve this?