Thanks to everyone who came along to the April meetup!
A big shoutout to Tree Thunk for sponsoring the event — your support means a lot. And of course, a huge thank you to Codeweavers for hosting us again. These meetups wouldn’t be possible without your ongoing generosity.
Talk
StrangerChat – the challenges of an anonymous chatting platform
Patrick Bowen — Software Engineer, Mi-Voice
Patrick shared the story behind StrangerChat, his Discord bot that facilitates anonymous chats inspired by Omegle. The bot randomly connects users for private conversations and has now facilitated over 12.5 million messages among 50,000 people. While the technical implementation was relatively straightforward, the real complexity came in managing safety, moderation, and privacy.
Patrick’s talk covered how content moderation quickly became the most demanding part of the project. Early on, he relied on manual review of user reports, but as the platform grew, this wasn’t sustainable. He eventually introduced automated systems, including OpenAI’s moderation tools, to help review conversations and enforce community guidelines. The platform also added features like age verification and separated NSFW and SFW channels to reduce risks.
Privacy and ethics were central themes of the talk. Patrick spoke openly about the uncomfortable tension between wanting to protect users and needing visibility into conversations to do so. Logging chats raised difficult questions about user consent and data handling, particularly in an environment designed to be anonymous.
Despite the challenges, StrangerChat has found its place as a low-friction, anonymous social tool on Discord. Patrick closed with a personal touch—sharing that his own marriage began with an anonymous chat on Omegle years ago, highlighting how these platforms can facilitate meaningful, real-world connections.
Staffs Web Meetup 