Waldi
Ranked 9 of 12 blogging platforms by recommenders
People like its quiet, anti-engagement design, where strangers' posts surface new blogs and writers reach readers. Critics note most posts are in languages many readers can't read, and that the AI-written copy feels tone deaf.
People like its quiet, anti-engagement design, where strangers' posts surface new blogs and writers reach readers. Critics note most posts are in languages many readers can't read, and that the AI-written copy feels tone deaf.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 53%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Anti-engagement concept, rebellion against dopamine
“Great concepts, great execution. A rebellion against the dopamine dealers.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” “I like the concept of the message in a bottle.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Posts often in languages readers can't read
“that's a solid bootstrapping strategy until non-English writers starts to join”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” ““today’s stranger” was written is Arabic, so I wasn’t able to read it.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” “after signup I got a single blog post in a language I don't speak”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” AI-written blurb and readme feel tone deaf
“It seems unusually tone deaf to call it a place for writers, and then let AI write the blurb.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” “Tone deaf to have an (excessively verbose) LLM-generated readme for a blog product.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” “The Claudese of the README turned me off on the idea.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” Account required to read posts
“Why put content behind a wall if you're a content distributor platform?”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read” “It does not let me access any posts without creating an account.”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Waldi: A quiet place to write, and to be read”
Other blogging platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other blogging platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | 87 | 161 | 35% | 12 | 3 yrs5 owners | — |
| Leaflet (leaflet.pub) | 22 | 1 | 96% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Ghost CMS | 21 | 4 | 84% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Bear Blog | 18 | 4 | 82% | 9 | — | Approved |
| WaldiThis page | 8 | 7 | 53% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It does not let me access any posts without creating an account.”
“your tool to help translate has added a lot that will negatively affect the translation's impact”
“at that point it becomes no different than a blog template/framework”
“Great concepts, great execution. A rebellion against the dopamine dealers.”
“after signup I got a single blog post in a language I don't speak”
“The Claudese of the README turned me off on the idea.”
“the account creation is for getting random stranger posts every morning to find blogs that you didn't know existed”
“Why put content behind a wall if you're a content distributor platform?”
““today’s stranger” was written is Arabic, so I wasn’t able to read it.”
“Tone deaf to have an (excessively verbose) LLM-generated readme for a blog product.”
“that's a solid bootstrapping strategy until non-English writers starts to join”
“I like the concept of the message in a bottle.”
“the form basically reported no errors nor success”
“It seems unusually tone deaf to call it a place for writers, and then let AI write the blurb.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.