About

I'm Björn Morén, the guy behind LokiTalk. Currently it is just me running things, but with your help we can make this idea grow. Tell your friends about it, spread the word. Even better: tell me what you like and dislike about LokiTalk, and what features you'd like to have, so I can improve it. Send me a private message at LokiTalk, or use the Contact page.

My background

I'm a software developer from Sweden. I've been a consultant most of my career, developing websites, Windows apps and computer games. I co-founded MapJack, a streetview mapping company that predated Google Streetview. I'm also a musician and carpenter. I'm semi retired, working on projects that interest me.

Why LokiTalk?

Social media is a contentious subject. I really like some aspects of it and strongly dislike its ugly sides. Instead of just complaining, I decided to develop the social media I'd like to use myself. Some inspirations include:

• Twitter/X for its simplicity. Limiting the amount of text in a post forces people to be clear and brief.
• Reddit for the threaded discussion format.
• Kialo for argument maps.

Censorship, biased algorithms and shadow banning has ruined all major social media companies. I think it was inevitable, because if you have god-like powers to control what people can see and say, why would you ever give that up? If X and Facebook really cared about the users, they would let the users control the algorithm. This is not hard to implement from a technical point of view. I intend to prove that with LokiTalk.

Resistance to censorship inevitably leads to free speech absolutism. Take away all central control and this will be the result. As long as people follow the law, then all of us have to tolerate that some people say offensive things. It is part of the cost of an open democratic society.

However, people wouldn't find such a place attractive, unless they could sort away stuff they don't want to see. X and Facebook does this for you with central content moderation. At LokiTalk it is instead done collectively by the users themselves. Align yourself with friends you trust, then as soon as you see something offensive, mute it and it will be muted for your friends too.

Unfortunately most posts on X and Facebook is junk that no one wants to read. And there is so much redundant information everywhere. There is a lot of good valuable stuff, but it is not always easy to find. Argument maps is the solution to this. An argument post is a special type of post where you assert something, and people reply with arguments for or against your case. The most useful replies rise to the top.

I picked Loki, the intelligent rebel god of Norse mythology, as the name of the website. He is an agent of change, which I think social media needs. And I picked the triquetra as the logo, because it is a universal symbol of connectedness, unity and eternity.