Wishoom
About
Social wishing platform
We're a small group of people based in Scotland who find solace in the beautiful night sky. It is incredible to imagine our place in the vastness of this universe.
We want to help people find comfort by creating a safe, secure and genuine platform to share their ideas, wishes, prayers and thoughts with the greater universe and others.
Imagine your words, carried as light, traveling across unimaginable distances. Just as a single photon can journey across the cosmos, your message may resonate long after you've sent it, touching corners of the universe we can only dream of.
To keep things genuine, we:
By default, encrypt each message and transmit the encrypted version. No one, not even the transmitter, can see the contents.
Never sell platform data, such as message count or activity, to third-parties.
Partner with charities to give free credits to good causes.
Community Rules
By using Wishoom, you agree to abide by our rules and community guidelines. We reserve the right to remove any content that violates our rules, and to suspend or ban users who repeatedly engage in prohibited activities.
For public wishes
Be Kind and Respectful: Treat everyone with courtesy and respect. Personal attacks, harassment, bullying, or any form of intimidation will not be tolerated. The diversity of thoughts, beliefs, and experiences is what makes our community rich; please be mindful and respectful of these differences.
Keep It Positive and Supportive: This is a space for encouragement and hope. While we understand that wishes can arise from challenging situations, we require that all interactions remain constructive and supportive. Do not post content that is graphic, violent, or promotes self-harm. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please contact your local emergency services.
Respect Privacy: Do not share private or personal information about yourself or others. This includes, but is not limited to, full names, addresses, phone numbers, and financial details. Respecting each other's privacy is paramount to creating a trusted community.
No Hate Speech or Discrimination: We have a zero-tolerance policy for content that promotes discrimination, disparages, or incites hatred against individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic.
Authentic and Genuine Interactions: We encourage genuine and heartfelt wishes. Spam, commercial solicitation, and the spread of misinformation are not permitted. Please do not use our platform for promotional activities or to drive traffic to external websites.
Uphold the Law and Our Terms: Do not post content that is illegal or violates our platform's terms of service. This includes respecting copyright and trademark laws. Only share content that you have the right to share.
What about private wishes? Private wishes are encrypted on your browser with random temporary keys, no one can see their content. We hope you would still follow our guidelines for a better and more positive experience.
Accounts Policy: Usernames, bios and pictures must not contain deceptive, harmful, or impersonating content. We reserve the right to modify your username on a case-by-case basis. Verified entities and people may claim their username, even if it is currently in use by another user, to maintain the platform's authenticity.
Frequently asked questions
What is the purpose of this website?
The purpose of Wishoom is to allow people to send and share wishes. Each message is encrypted and then transmitted using a laser.
How does sending a message to the universe work?
The encrypted message (without decoding unless it is a public wish) is sent in Morse code using a laser. The laser is turned on and off to create the dots and dashes people are familiar with. Since the message remains encrypted, the transmitter cannot read your messages.
Does the laser signal actually leave the atmosphere?
The Earth's atmosphere has several "windows" or regions of the electromagnetic spectrum where it is relatively transparent to certain wavelengths. The red (650 nanometers) or near-infrared lasers sits in these atmospheric windows where the absorption is minimal.
Even a low powered laser (~5mW) emits around 16,400 trillion photons a second. So even if a small portion of it gets absorbed or scattered, billions of photons from your message will travel through to outer space.
You can learn more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_window
https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/satellites/absorb
https://pace.oceansciences.org/atmos_light.cgi
What technology do you use to send the messages?
Your message is first encrypted using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a key length of 256 bits if you do not wish publicly. The encrypted key is generated randomly and we don’t store it. The content is also hashed using SHA256 to ensure it is not tampered with. The encrypted message will be like a random string of characters: ZW5jcnlwdGVkLCBidXQga
A transmission request with the encrypted data is published to a cloud-based message queueing system, we use NATS at the moment.
A red (650 nanometer wavelength) laser transmitter connected to a Raspberry Pi pulls the transmission requests. We currently interchange between different transmitters depending on load.
The laser is turned on and off to transmit the encrypted message using Morse Code and the transmission time is recorded.
The original message record is updated with the transmission time and its encrypted content is deleted.
Learn more at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2
How long does it take to transmit a message?
The transmission time depends on the length of the message and the unit time of a dot in Morse Code. We adjust the unit time to ensure shorter messages are transmitted for at least 1 to 2 seconds. There is no upper limit and longer messages take more time to transmit. The duration of the dash is 3 times that of a dot and follows the international standards of Morse Code.
How long is the transmission queue?
The approximate queue time can range from less than a minute up to 10 minutes depending on how busy the platform is.
Where do you transmit the message from?
Our main transmission laser is located in rural Scotland, United Kingdom.
Is my message private?
Unless you wish publicly, your message is encrypted in your browser from the moment you start typing and never gets decrypted. So we send the encrypted message and no one, not even the transmitter can decode it. After the message is sent, the encrypted content is deleted from the database.
Is there a cost to send a message?
The infrastructure required to operate the website includes server costs, cloud-based message queueing and a laser transmitter in a rural location connected via mobile connection. This is why we have a credit based system and allow 1 free message a day to all the users.
We find this also keeps public wishes more genuine and in line with our community guidelines.
How often can I send a message?
You can send a message as often as you like. However, the messages will be queued and might not be sent immediately. Depending on how they are queued, the messages might also not be sent in order. The approximate queue time can range from less than a minute up to 10 minutes depending on how busy the platform is.
Will my message be stored anywhere?
Unless you wish publicly, the encrypted version of your message is stored in a database until transmission. The original plain text message is never stored. No one, including you, can access the original message content after it is encrypted.
Can I delete my message after it's been sent?
For private wishes, you don’t need to! We delete the encrypted content of the message after transmission.