Shown, not told · shift 3 and shift 4
A Pool is one file on its keeper’s own domain. Any app can read a public one, so the same people can come through many doors, and leaving an app is not leaving anyone. Here is one real Pool from the library, read three ways; one mentoring Pool in all three layers, as a page, as a file and as a card in four apps; one person who switches apps and loses nothing; and one peer-support Pool opened by two readers and a host.
Invented example. Wren, Jonah, Cormac and everyone in these panels are invented, and so are The Circular, the digest and every app but one. Mycelial is real; Alderwell, the Grove it is shown with, is invented. The Pool file is real JSON: date-me-docs-cascadia.json. Nothing here is sent anywhere.
The same 4 people from Wren’s List, a public Pool, read by three different readers. Each chose its own look and its own order of business. None of them holds the people.
Invented example
Suits someone who wants one app for dating, and wants it to open full, reading the Pools they already joined.
Jonah reads through this one.
Wren’s List Date-Me Docs: Cascadia
Public: anyone may read itKept by Wren Alvarez Signed in with OAuth
“Date-me docs from people in the Northwest, from British Columbia down the coast, who asked to be listed. A doc says who you are and what you want in your own words, on a page you keep. This list only points to it. No ranking, no scores, no paid placement.”
via Wren’s List
Wren Alvarez she/her
Signed in with OAuthPortland, Oregon
Keeps a list of date-me docs from the Northwest. Reads every doc before she asks. Thinks a good doc says what you are like on a Tuesday.
wren-alvarez.example
Wren takes a first message from anyone verified.
via Wren’s List
Maya Lindgren she/her
Email verifiedSeattle, Washington
Date-me doc. Nurse practitioner, 36, climbs on weekends, wants kids someday. My doc has a section called “Things I will not pretend to like.”
docs.example/d/maya-lindgren-date-me
Maya wants both people to say yes before a first message.
via Wren’s List
Ellis Nakamura he/him
Signed in with OAuthVancouver, British Columbia
Date-me doc. Urban planner, 39, divorced, good at soup and bad at small talk. Looking for someone to argue about transit with.
docs.example/d/ellis-nakamura-date-me
Ellis takes a first message from anyone verified.
via Wren’s List
Farah Siddiqui she/her
Email verifiedPortland, Oregon
Date-me doc. Public-radio producer, 31. My doc links to three playlists and one strong opinion about breakfast.
docs.example/d/farah-siddiqui-date-me
Farah wants both people to say yes before a first message.
via Wren’s List
Jonah Price he/him
Email verifiedPort Ellery
My date-me doc. Boatbuilder, 34. I cook on Sundays, read on the ferry, and I am looking for something that lasts. Write to me if you like early mornings.
docs.example/d/jonah-price-date-me
Jonah takes a first message from anyone verified.
That is everyone: 4 people, in the order they said yes. Nobody is scored.
Invented example
Suits someone who would rather not install anything. Email is the floor (§6.1): any Pool can reach any inbox.
Jonah reads through this one.
From: Wren’s List <wren@wrenslist.example>
To: you
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2026
Subject: Date-Me Docs: Cascadia: 4 people, this week
Date-Me Docs: Cascadia. Kept by Wren Alvarez Signed in with OAuth
public · universal-opt-in · everyone listed said yes.
> Date-me docs from people in the Northwest, from British Columbia down the coast, who asked to be listed. A doc says who you are and what you want in your own words, on a page you keep. This list only points to it. No ranking, no scores, no paid placement.
1. Wren Alvarez (she/her), Portland, Oregon
Signed in with OAuth
Keeps a list of date-me docs from the Northwest. Reads every doc before she asks. Thinks a good doc says what you are like on a Tuesday.
https://wren-alvarez.example
Wren takes a first message from anyone verified.
2. Maya Lindgren (she/her), Seattle, Washington
Email verified
Date-me doc. Nurse practitioner, 36, climbs on weekends, wants kids someday. My doc has a section called “Things I will not pretend to like.”
https://docs.example/d/maya-lindgren-date-me
Maya wants both people to say yes before a first message.
3. Ellis Nakamura (he/him), Vancouver, British Columbia
Signed in with OAuth
Date-me doc. Urban planner, 39, divorced, good at soup and bad at small talk. Looking for someone to argue about transit with.
https://docs.example/d/ellis-nakamura-date-me
Ellis takes a first message from anyone verified.
4. Farah Siddiqui (she/her), Portland, Oregon
Email verified
Date-me doc. Public-radio producer, 31. My doc links to three playlists and one strong opinion about breakfast.
https://docs.example/d/farah-siddiqui-date-me
Farah wants both people to say yes before a first message.
5. Jonah Price (he/him), Port Ellery
Email verified
My date-me doc. Boatbuilder, 34. I cook on Sundays, read on the ferry, and I am looking for something that lasts. Write to me if you like early mornings.
https://docs.example/d/jonah-price-date-me
Jonah takes a first message from anyone verified.
That is everyone: 4 people.
To write to someone, reply to their page’s address. To leave this Pool, send one message; it takes effect within 60 seconds.
Invented example
Suits someone who likes to read everyone at once, on a Monday. The Circular prints this Pool in its Personals section.
Jonah reads through this one.
The CircularClassifieds · Personals · Monday, September 28, 2026
Date-Me Docs: CascadiaWren’s List
Kept by Wren Alvarez Signed in with OAuth
public · universal opt in · dating · date-me-doc
Date-me docs from people in the Northwest, from British Columbia down the coast, who asked to be listed. A doc says who you are and what you want in your own words, on a page you keep. This list only points to it. No ranking, no scores, no paid placement.
WL1-01
Wren Alvarez. Keeps a list of date-me docs from the Northwest. Reads every doc before she asks. Thinks a good doc says what you are like on a Tuesday.
Signed in with OAuth
Takes messages from anyone verified.
WL1-02
Maya Lindgren. Date-me doc. Nurse practitioner, 36, climbs on weekends, wants kids someday. My doc has a section called “Things I will not pretend to like.”
Email verified
Takes messages from anyone verified, and only once both have said so.
WL1-03
Ellis Nakamura. Date-me doc. Urban planner, 39, divorced, good at soup and bad at small talk. Looking for someone to argue about transit with.
Signed in with OAuth
Takes messages from anyone verified.
WL1-04
Farah Siddiqui. Date-me doc. Public-radio producer, 31. My doc links to three playlists and one strong opinion about breakfast.
Email verified
Takes messages from anyone verified, and only once both have said so.
WL1-05
Jonah Price. My date-me doc. Boatbuilder, 34. I cook on Sundays, read on the ferry, and I am looking for something that lasts. Write to me if you like early mornings.
Email verified
Takes messages from anyone verified.
4 ads. Nobody pays to run an ad.
The people, the charter and the consent are identical in all three; only the door differs.
A Pool is a page on its host’s site, a file anyone can read, and a card in any app that reads the file. Here is one that has nothing to do with dating: Cape Tarrow First-Gen Alumni, public and universal opt-in, kept by Bertrand Lomax at the alumni office of Cape Tarrow. It lists first-generation graduates who are glad to talk to students who are. Follow one of them, Cormac Doyle, through all three.
Layer 1 · the site
In the library, the alumni office has no site of its own, so its Pool is shown on Midspan’s home page, which reads it, and its files are served beside Midspan’s. Its well-known file lists it, so any app or registry can find it.
Kept by Bertrand Lomax at Cape Tarrow since April 1, 2025 · public · alumni.capetarrow.example/pools/first-gen-alumni.json
Priya RamanEmail verified
Lorena CastañedaSigned in with OAuth
Maribel SotoSigned in with OAuth
Cormac DoyleEmail verified
The person in the cards below.
Abebe GirmaSigned in with OAuth
Layer 2 · the data
The manifest: the charter, the curator, the tags, who can see it and how people join, and one entry per person, each with the record of their yes (§3.4). Here it is with Cormac’s entry, as the file has it.
{
"schema_version": "0.1",
"id": "first-gen-alumni",
"name": "Cape Tarrow First-Gen Alumni",
"curator": [
{
"identity": "bertrand@mail.example",
"display_name": "Bertrand Lomax",
"verification_level": "oauth",
"primary": true
}
],
"intent_tags": [
"mentorship",
"first-generation",
"alumni",
"careers"
],
"visibility": "public",
"consent_model": "universal-opt-in",
"curator_contact": "alumni@capetarrow.example",
"charter": "Graduates of Cape Tarrow College who were the first in their families to go to college, and who are glad to talk to students who are. Public on purpose, so any college on the coast can show students who is out there. Each person decides who may write to them. No recruiting, no selling, nothing to pay.",
"geographic_scope": {
"city": "Cape Tarrow",
"country": "United States"
},
"governance_rules": "Anyone who finished a certificate or degree at Cape Tarrow College and was the first in their family to go to college may say yes to being listed. Any college or program may read this Pool; each person’s own rules decide who may write to them, and Cape Tarrow proposes nobody. Leave any time and your line is gone within a minute.",
"messaging_preferences": {
"block_list_subscriptions": [
"https://protocol.kindling.foundation/blocklist.json",
"https://thecircular.example/blocklist.json"
]
},
"status": "active",
"created_at": "2025-04-01T12:00:00Z",
"updated_at": "2026-09-12T15:00:00Z"
}
{
"profile_url": "https://cormac-doyle.carrd.example",
"parsed_profile": {
"schema_version": "0.1",
"profile_url": "https://cormac-doyle.carrd.example",
"display_name": "Cormac Doyle",
"pronouns": "he/him",
"location": {
"city": "Cape Tarrow",
"country": "United States"
},
"intent_tags": [
"mentorship",
"first-generation",
"forestry",
"returning-student"
],
"about": "Forestry technician with the state. First in my family to go to college; I went back at twenty-six. Good on field jobs, summer crews, and what to do when the first semester goes badly.",
"contact_methods": [
{
"type": "email",
"value": "cormac@mail.example",
"label": "Kindling identity"
}
],
"verification": {
"level": "email",
"verified_at": "2025-10-19T16:30:00Z"
},
"messaging_preferences": {
"accept_from": "verified",
"no_cold_messages": true,
"minimum_curator_verification": "email"
},
"kindling_noindex": false,
"parsed_at": "2025-10-19T16:30:00Z",
"parser": "kindling-parser/0.1.1"
},
"parsed_at": "2025-10-19T16:30:00Z",
"consent_proof": {
"handshake_id": "hs-cape-tarrow-first-gen-alumni-cormac",
"accepted_at": "2025-10-19T16:30:00Z",
"method": "email-link"
},
"verification_level": "email",
"added_at": "2025-10-19T16:30:00Z",
"added_by": "bertrand@mail.example"
}
Layer 3 · the apps
Four apps read this Pool, each into a mode of its own: a deck, a room, a dial, a drawer. Each card names the Pool and links back to the page and the file. None of them shows an age, a gender or a picture, because the Pool’s file has no field for them and Cormac’s page adds none. These panels are drawn from the same entry, in each app’s own look; the apps show the same card, live.
Invented example
Its Mentors deck, one card at a time
Cormac Doyle
Cormac
Email verifiedfrom Cape Tarrow First-Gen Alumni, kept by Bertrand Lomax
Graduates of Cape Tarrow College who were the first in their families to go to college, and who are glad to talk to students who are.
public · mentorship, first-generation, alumni, careers · Cape Tarrow Alumni · JSON
Their page has no picture, so Face Up deals the card as a letter, the way their Pool’s own site shows them.
Cormac takes no first messages until you both say yes. Say “Yes, ask to meet”, and if Cormac says yes back, you can write.
Its yes “Yes, ask to meet”, beside “Pass”, the same size. It stays in Face Up, in this deck only.
Invented example
Its Mentorship room, the whole person
From Cape Tarrow alumni · Cape Tarrow First-Gen Alumni, kept by Bertrand Lomax Signed in with OAuth
“Graduates of Cape Tarrow College who were the first in their families to go to college, and who are glad to talk to students who are.”
The same Pool in three layers: On Cape Tarrow Alumni’s site · As JSON · this card
Cape Tarrow Alumni shows Cormac in words, not a picture, and so do we. We never draw a face for someone who has not shown one.
Cormac Doyle he/him
Cape Tarrow
Email verifiedIn Cormac’s words
Forestry technician with the state. First in my family to go to college; I went back at twenty-six. Good on field jobs, summer crews, and what to do when the first semester goes badly.
Your yes stays in Heartwood. Cormac will see it if they open Heartwood; v0.1 has no message for a yes. A note would be held: Cormac asks for no first message until you have both said yes.
Its yes “Yes, a mentor”, beside “Not for me”, the same size. It stays in Heartwood, in this room only.
Invented example
Its “A mentor” dial, one introduction at seven
cormac-doyle.carrd.example
No picture. Cape Tarrow Alumni draws none of its people, and a Pool’s file has no photo field (§2.5). This card is what the file holds.
Cormac Doyle
Email verifiedUnder the Pool
Cape Tarrow First-Gen Alumni Cape Tarrow Alumni
Graduates of Cape Tarrow College who were the first in their families to go to college, and who are glad to talk to students who are.
Kept by Bertrand Lomax Signed in with OAuth
Its yes “Yes, as my mentor”, beside “Not this one”, the same size. It stays in Sundial, on this dial only.
Invented example
Its Mentors drawer, search first
MEN 02 · Cape Tarrow First-Gen Alumni
Doyle, Cormac
Email verified“Graduates of Cape Tarrow College who were the first in their families to go to college, and who are glad to talk to students who are.”
Filed under 1. mentorship 2. first generation 3. alumni 4. careers · public
Kept by Bertrand Lomax · on Cape Tarrow Alumni · its JSON · this card
Cormac takes first messages only after you both say yes. Say yes first; if he says yes to yours too, you can write.
Its yes “Yes, a mentor”, beside “Set aside”, the same size. It stays in Card Catalog, in this drawer only.
Public on purpose, so any college or program can show students who is out there. Each person decides who may write to them.
The Pool’s name and charter, Cormac’s words, his verification in this Pool and his rule, no first message until both say yes (§7.2), are the same on the page, in the file and in all four cards. What changes is the door, and the words on its yes. A yes in one app stays there: v0.1 has no message for one (§6.3). The four apps follow a draft proposal, “Reading a Pool on its own terms”, which is not part of the spec yet; the apps page sets out its rules.
Jonah Price is invented. He uses Roomful, and Wren has asked him onto her list. Switch his reader, answer Wren, then leave her Pool, and watch what changes. Only one thing ever does.
Invented example
Jonah Price he/him
Email verified
My date-me doc. Boatbuilder, 34. I cook on Sundays, read on the ferry, and I am looking for something that lasts. Write to me if you like early mornings.
docs.example/d/jonah-price-date-me
Jonah reads Kindling through
Wren’s request · Date-Me Docs: Cascadia
A no is remembered, and leaving is one message. His answer here also counts in Roomful.
| What | Now | After the last step |
|---|---|---|
| His page | https://docs.example/d/jonah-price-date-meHis own date-me doc. No app holds a copy. | No steps yet |
| Verification | Email verified | No steps yet |
| His Pools | None yet | No steps yet |
| Open introduction | From Wren’s List, waiting for his answer. Expires Oct 10, 6:00 PM UTC · 12 days left | No steps yet |
| The reader | Roomful: a room of name cards, grouped by the door each person came through. | No steps yet |
Nothing needs to be. His page is his own doc, the Pool is a file on Wren’s domain, and the request came to his email address (§5.2, §6.1). A reader only reads. Leaving a Pool is one message, processed within 60 seconds (§5.3), and every reader sees it at once, because there is only one Pool.
Not because its makers are careless. Because of where the people live.
If an app is worth only as much as the people in it, letting another app read them gives the worth away. So the room has one door, and the app owns it.
You write it there, and your photos are uploaded there. Leaving means leaving them behind. In Kindling your page stays where you keep it, and photos are never copied.
The people you met there are reachable only there, so leaving the app is leaving them. In Kindling, leaving a Pool is one message, and leaving an app is not leaving anyone.
A closed app keeps its own inbox. Kindling’s messages ride on email, so a conversation is in your inbox whichever reader you use.
An app paid while you look earns nothing when you leave. Kindling defines nothing to charge for between two people, so a reader can compete only on how well it treats you.
Scattered Light Stewards is a public Pool at Scattered Light, a peer network in the library: volunteer stewards a newcomer can write to. Two readers open it, and so does a host, Mycelial, inside an invented Grove called Alderwell. The Pool’s name, charter and tags (peer support and stewarding) are the same in all three.
Invented example
A reader: one card at a time.
Scattered Light Stewards
kept by Inés Calloway at Scattered Light
Volunteer stewards who meet newcomers on a video call and vouch for them into a constellation. Stewards are peers, not clinicians, and give no medical advice. Listed publicly so anyone can find a steward to write to.
public · peer-support, stewarding · Scattered Light · JSON
Each steward is a card of their own. A yes, “Yes, write to a steward”, goes to that steward, by their own rules.
Invented example
A reader: search first.
OTH 08 · Under its own name
Scattered Light Stewards
“Volunteer stewards who meet newcomers on a video call and vouch for them into a constellation. Stewards are peers, not clinicians, and give no medical advice. Listed publicly so anyone can find a steward to write to.”
Filed under 1. peer support 2. stewarding · public
Kept by Inés Calloway · on Scattered Light · its JSON
“Yes, write to a steward”: a yes follows each steward’s own rules.
Real app, invented Grove
A host: the Pool as a ring of Alderwell.
A ring from elsewhere · Scattered Light
Scattered Light Stewards
Linked by Maren Ilves, a garden tender. Their stewards have run a peer network for years; ours write to them about how they keep agreements.
Volunteer stewards who meet newcomers on a video call and vouch for them into a constellation. Stewards are peers, not clinicians, and give no medical advice. Listed publicly so anyone can find a steward to write to.
Curators: Inés Calloway and Clare Whitford. Its Pool, as JSON
“Ask to be added” sends the ask to its curators, who decide who is in it.
What changes is the door: a deck, a drawer, and a Grove whose garden tender chose to link it. A reader opens what it may; a host opens less, on purpose, and keeps its own rings. Both follow the same rules as every app here.
Mycelial is made by TranquilTech, which also maintains Kindling. It follows the same rules as every app here, and gets no special access.