ListenCircle: A Digital Talking Circle for Real Human Connection

We built ListenCircle to bring the ancient practice of the Talking Circle into the digital world.

It’s a space where every human being can speak and be heard — regardless of where they come from or what they believe.

No accounts. No logins. No stored identities. Just real people, listening.

🌿 What is a Talking Circle?

A Talking Circle is an ancient form of conversation:

People sit in a circle.


Whoever speaks holds the Talking Stick.


The others listen — without interrupting.

When the speaker is done, the stick passes to the next person.

ListenCircle brings this practice into the digital age — for Rainbow Gatherings, community meetings, and anywhere people want to truly listen.

⚙️ How it works

Creating a circle

• Choose a language
  


• Set a topic (or keep it open)
  


• Decide:
  
  
  
  
  • 
    Open Circle — anyone can join
    
  
  
  • 
    Closed Circle — invite only
    
  
  
  
  
  
  



• Limit participants (default: 13)

Joining a circle

• Open circles appear in the lobby
  


• Join instantly — no account needed
  


• New participants must listen through one full round before speaking

🪶 The Talking Stick

• Hold button → speak (push-to-talk)
  


• Release → stick moves to next person
  


• Strict order — no interruptions
  


• Max speaking time: 3 minutes
  

💛 Reactions

While someone speaks, others can respond with:

• 🌿 Aho
  


• ♥ Thanks
  

The speaker sees them live.

🔐 Privacy by design

• No accounts
  


• No stored identities
  


• No IP tracking
  


• No persistent data
  

Audio runs peer-to-peer (WebRTC) — never through a server.

🏗️ Architecture

• 
  Go backend for real-time logic
  


• 
  WebSockets for signaling
  


• 
  WebRTC for direct audio
  


• 
  ForgeCMS for rendering UI via SML
  

Separation of concerns:

• Backend = logic
  


• CMS = UI
  

🛡️ Abuse protection (without logins)

• Session tokens (not IP-based)
  


• Rate limiting
  


• Join throttling
  


• Speaking timeout
  


• Stick timing rules
  

All without breaking anonymity.

🚀 Why this matters

Most online communication is:

• chaotic
  


• interrupt-driven
  


• attention-seeking
  

ListenCircle creates something different:

• one voice at a time
  


• real listening
  


• no identity games
  

It’s not just a tool.


It’s a different culture of communication.

🔗 Open Source

👉 https://codeberg.org/CrowdWare/ListenCircle

🌱 Final thought

What happens when people are truly heard?

That’s what ListenCircle is exploring.

Status

It's not yet ready...we just started it today, but I just wanted to start a discussion and you may add feature requests. Just think about the outcome. Are we able to stop wars this way?

Btw...it's free and open source...host your own server on a 1,- EUR VPS.