The Dome

A free anonymous room, spec’d by the people who refused to pay for letters. One prompt a week, a wall of notes underneath, no likes and no names. 92% of the fans who came took part, and it costs the creator one sentence a week.

The Dome was spec’d by the people who refused to pay.

Role: Founding designer, Hotly
Timeline: Feb – Jul 2026
Mine: The room, the prompt loop, the weekly reflection emails
Result: 1,435 notes, one sentence a week from the creator

The week Bailey started charging for letters, a few comments under her launch pushed back: connection should not cost money, make one for all of us. Bailey replied: “That sounds like a beautiful idea!” So we built the free room. One prompt from her a week, an anonymous wall of notes underneath. No likes, no feed, no names.

myst_woods_ Bailey, I wondered if you can make the community more interactive, so we, as an audience can also help each other. Will love to have a platform that is regulated by you.

29 w6 likesReply

bailey.schildbach @myst_woods_ can defiantly add that to the list! That sounds like a beautiful idea!

29 w9 likesReply

somebodys.watson Here’s an idea - a gc specifically catering to this where people just write letters in general, to each other, addressing people anonymously, the works. It can be done, and it might be beautiful when it is.

29 w4 likesReply

azris.pursuit I’m going to put forth an alternate idea: Penpal community, s.t each week the letters go public in the community, and anyone can reply to anyone else within it! So it’s like a many-many penpal where the whole community gets to know each other. Just a random thought!

29 wReply

jin_mu_won__nb Is it free btw to join?🫢

29 w21 likesReply

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The comments under Bailey’s paid-penpal launch, and the reply that became the product brief.

best brief i ever got, and nobody wrote it down.

The directions I explored before Bailey picked one. She chose the dome: “a wall of text for people to be welcomed in.”

The room

Then we watched what strangers do in a room like that. One prompt, “what would you tell your younger self,” pulled 575 notes. People came back to answer each other. Somebody wrote, in full: “choose yourself.”

One prompt: what would you tell your younger self? Built for “stumbling upon a piece of gold.”

Writing a note: any name, or none. And if a thought is too private for a public wall, one nudge offers to send it to Bailey directly instead.

A conversation under one note. There is still nothing to like — you reply, or you move on.

Chart of parent notes versus replies by week, with the reply share climbing past half by July — The share of each week’s writing that was replies to someone else. By July, more than half.

The week’s reflection, sent back to the room. I wrote these in Bailey’s voice.

The record

1,435notes

575on one prompt

1 dayto hit a one-week target

Osi’s challenge was 100 engaged fans in the first week. It took about a day. 1,435 notes later, the wall still stands, and it costs Bailey one sentence a week.

Starting a room of your own is one question. “Don’t overthink it — you’ll write a new one next week.”

Chart of communities created over time, climbing steadily from three to the mid-eighties — Domes created, week by week. Nobody marketed this — every wall carries one quiet “Create your dome” button.

The same room, desktop to phone.

The Dome wall today: a wide view of the current prompt with a wall of anonymous notes beneath it — The wall today. Still no likes, no feed, no names.

i thought free would cannibalise paid. it did the opposite and i still can’t fully explain why.