roundtable.audio

Roundtable Name:

Description (180 characters remaining):

Tags (add at least one):

Public to Join as a Participant Private to Join as a Participant

Private Join Link:

Public to Join as a Listener Private to Join as a Listener

Private Listen Link:

Maximum Allowed Participants: 5 10 15 25 100

While roundtables can be used for any adhoc conversation, it can be more interesting to discuss a particular piece of content on the web which would otherwise be trapped in text. Currently, there are two sources we've integrated into Roundtable.


You can turn any Tweet thread into a roundtable by simply tweeting @roundtable_bot and including the words "start a roundtable". Our bot will automatically generate a new roundtable and reply to you on Twitter with the link. This can be a tweet of your own, or in a reply to someone else. Pretty cool, right?

Y Combinator's Hacker News is a great place to find and post interesting stories pertaining to science, technology, entrepreneurship, and more. We built hackernews.roundtable.audio which emulates and collects stories directly from the Hacker News site. All roundtables here are public, and you can paste the link back to the comments on the actual Hacker News site to invite participants.

Future Sources

Eventually, we'd like to add more sources including subreddits, popular news sites, and other places where people gather primarily around text in real-time. This may take the form of browser extensions, embeddable UI's, or something else. Want to contribute? Become a contributor to the open source project on Github, or reach out.

Your Thing as a Source

If you're interested in integrating roundtable into your community, blog, or whatever else you've built, let us know. We'd be happy to hear what you're thinking.

Since ancient times, humans have relied on spoken language to collaborate, organize, and connect with one another. But more recently much of our meaningful dialogue has been locked away in written text - taking the form of email, social media posts, comment sections, and instant messages. And even when we do speak using these new mediums, it's often controlled or moderated by one individual or organization.

roundtable.audio is meant to be a simple conversation tool for the modern internet. We want to provide the ability for people to discuss whatever interesting topic they want in a more fun and meaningful way than text provides.

To get started, simply create or join a Roundtable, share it with others, and let your voice be heard. Or to understand more of what you can do with roundtable.audio, head over to the FAQ section.

roundtable.audio is a blend of Node, Golang, and native Javascript. It was built on top of Pion and Kraken - special thanks to these open-source projects/communities. This project is open-source and all community contributions are welcomed!

If you have any questions, feedback, or inquiries, feel free to email us at info@roundtable.audio.

What is roundtable.audio?

A platform for live, decentralized, broadcasted audio conferencing.

What can I do with it?

Quite a bit. Like a podcast, you can use it as a stage for dialogue. Like a radio station, you can use it to project a message to a wide audience. Roundtables can also be private, meaning they can be used for closed hangouts, meetings, and much more.

What is the distinction between a public and private roundtable?

A roundtable can be:

• public to join and listen to
• private to join, but public to listen to
• private to join and listen to

With these options it provides complete privacy if desired or a powerful stage to project ideas.

What do you mean by "decentralized?"

A roundtable has no moderator. If there are multiple participants, no one person has the ability to mute or kick any one person for the rest of the group. This removes any power dynamic and creates a balance of power between all participants. It has nothing to do with blockchain technology (yet) if that's what you thought we meant.

Is it free? Do I have to register?

It is completely free. At the moment, no registration is required to participate in or listen to a roundtable.

Are roundtables stored? Can I listen to one after it ends?

No. Roundtables are live-only, meaning that once a conversation is over, it's over. We believe this takes the pressure off of folks who are eager to share ideas and opinions but afraid of "going-on record." Of course, we cannot stop people from attempting to record the audio through alternative means, so be wary of this.

Are roundtables monitored? Am I being listened to by the creators of roundtable.audio in a private roundtable?

No and no. We are placing trust in you to use roundtable.audio with respect, and to follow the community standards/guidlines found in the Philosophy section.

Was this created in response to Covid-19? Or the current political climate?

Sort of. The original idea was actually conceived in the Fall of 2019 as a way to combat boredom on a long commute, but when lockdown began it was clear this would be a great time to build it. It was made even more apparent in the heat of the political turmoil later in the year. Now, more than ever, people need to be speaking to one another.

Is this just another copy of Clubhouse?

Fair question, but no. This project has been in progress since before the creators even heard of Clubhouse.

Why does this look familiar?

We recently changed our name from discourse.fm to roundtable.audio. Maybe you've seen it before.

roundtable.audio is meant to be a welcoming environment. People should be able to speak freely and share their opinions, learn new things, and enjoy the company of others. Roundtable are not recorded or stored, which removes some of the pressure often associated with written text in online forums. Additionally, the decentralized nature of a roundtable - having no moderator - should allow for more free-form discussion without fear of being shut-down. We think these two elements will empower healthy roundtable and fun conversations. However, with this power, autonomy, and anonymity, we require community buy-in and respect to make it work.

We therefore ask you to do your part and follow some guidelines:

• You may never create roundtables which are meant to threaten, disparage, or target individuals or groups. We ask that if you see such a case, please report it to info@roundtable.audio.
• When in a roundtable, hate speech is not tolerated in any way, shape or form. We ask that if you are in a roundtable where such speech is occurring to leave the roundtable and encourage others to do so. If you'd like to keep the conversation going, create a new private roundtable without that participant. We think this is a healthier way to discourage this type of behavior without giving centralized power to a moderator.
• Give others the chance to be heard if there is more than one participant. Everyone who has a seat at the table should feel encouraged and included to be a part of the discussion.

If you do your part, we'll do ours. We want to continue to improve the experience of the community and introduce features that empower and encourage meaningful, respectful dialogue. If you have any ideas for improving community standards, we're all ears at info@roundtable.audio.

Disclaimer: roundtable.audio does not take any legal responsibility for what is said while using the service, or any outcomes directly or indirectly relating to the conversations while using the service.

For now, you can get in touch with any questions, comments, suggestions, or inquiries at info@roundtable.audio.

If you'd like to stay updated on our progress follow us on Twitter.