# Development Story Hi folks! 👋 My name's Peter Taoussanis, and I'm the author and maintainer of Wusoup. Which is another way of saying that I'm the person to blame when something's broken or dumb. I'm a [actual human](https://www.taoensso.com/about-me) - there's no company behind Wusoup. No investors or common sense either, so that's fun. I started working on the project in 2008, around the time the MCU kicked off with Iron Man and a controversial casting choice in Downey Jr. Taught myself how to build a Wusoup. [Launched version 1 on Reddit in 2011](https://www.reddit.com/r/promos/comments/fq9at/hey_reddit_i_was_lonely_and_decided_to_do/). Had to take a break for family reasons. [Launched version 2 on Reddit in 2015](https://www.reddit.com/r/promos/comments/3hgyy8/hey_reddit_i_was_lonely_and_decided_to_do/). Had to take a break for financial reasons. And now **back in late 2024** to start on [[Getting Started/What's New|version 3]]! So, like, clearly a sensible life plan. Why do this to myself? Because I *really* want something like Wusoup to exist, and no one else seems to be trying. This is a [[About/Manifesto#The mission|mission]] for me, and I think that it's **more important today than ever**. The internet has become a cesspool, and division is rampant. If you trust your feeds, half the world thinks you're awful and is out to get you. The future is doomed, and people are basically shit. Good grief! I don't think that's accurate at all, I think it's BS. People are not shit, they're mostly good - even when they disagree with one another. Most people are trying their best, care about their family and friends, and want to see the world better for their kids. We all make sense of things through our experiences and the ideas to which we're exposed. Life is complicated, and we're all living on the same little spinning ball of dirt. We need to talk to each other, and treat each other with kindness and curiosity. Will it solve all the world's problems tomorrow if we do that? No. But if we're _not_ talking, and _not_ trying to build understanding - then I think we're definitely harming our odds. Can we at least start by showing one another empathy? I think so. And Wusoup's an experiment in doing that. A little chat app that tries to incentivise goodwill. One silly person's stubborn attempt to try build **friendship among strangers**, and kindness in the void. Wouldn't that be cool? Isn't that worth trying? ## Links - [My homepage](https://www.taoensso.com) - [My open source](https://www.taoensso.com/open-source) - [My X account](https://www.taoensso.com/x) - [My YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ptaoussanis) ## Nostalgia #todo At some point I might try put together a proper visual history of Wusoup over the years. Have a _lot_ of screenshots going all the way back to ~2008.