u/alex_eu_nl

I recently posted questions about the old internet and things that quietly disappeared from everyday life, and the response was huge. A lot of people mentioned old chat rooms, forums, anonymity, privacy, and real conversations with strangers.

That’s exactly why I’m building AnonChat+ — a small anonymous chat app with daily public topics and temporary private chats. No followers, no profiles, no popularity game.

Do you think this is a real need, or just nostalgia?

I’m building a small anonymous chat app as a learning project in React Native/Expo with Firebase Firestore. The app has a public chat, temporary private chats, anonymous numeric user codes, and basic moderation/reporting.

I’m trying to understand the best way to structure the Firestore collections, handle real-time messages, and avoid performance issues as the chat grows.

For people who have built chat apps before, what architecture mistakes should I avoid early?