Silent Ink

How It Works

You register (email, language, continent); receive a username; write a letter (500–10,000 characters) that gets automatically assigned to another user; the letter travels 'in transit' for 3 to 30 hours; the recipient can respond (starting a correspondence), reject, or report. No attachments, no public profile: just words.

Silent Ink is designed to be simple, elegant, and respectful of the writer's rhythm. Here's how it works, step by step.

Registration

To sign up you need email, language, and choice of location among the 5 continents (North America and South America are distinct). At the end of registration the system automatically generates a username — composed of a prefix (lowercase) and a suffix (uppercase), e.g. hiddenCosmo or infinitePerplexity.

Upon registration you'll receive a welcome letter from the project creator with some tips to get started.

Write and Save

You can write a letter, save it as a draft (maximum 6 drafts) and edit it before sending. When you're ready, you send it.

Letter rules: minimum 500 characters, maximum 10,000. No attachments allowed: text only.

Sending = Automatic Assignment

When you send, the system automatically selects a recipient. In simple terms:

we consider users' activity and interaction levels to choose more compatible matches;
we avoid continuously reassigning the same people and take into account previous reports/rejections;
language is considered when possible, but not guaranteed.

This choice is neither totally random nor totally deterministic: we've balanced elements of variety and rules that help properly distribute traffic among active users.

The 'In Transit' Journey

After sending, the letter enters 'in transit' status: delivery is not instant, and time varies with distance between continents (usually 3 to 30 hours). During transit the sender sees a timer indicating when the letter will be delivered.

Reception: Respond, Reject, or Report

When the letter arrives, the recipient can:

💌

Respond

If they respond (minimum 500 characters) a correspondence is born: from that moment the two users can write to each other alternately (one at a time) without new assignments.

❌

Reject

The letter is immediately reassigned to another user (without new delivery time). The sender won't receive a notification: their letter remains waiting for a possible response.

🚩

Report

The letter disappears from the reporter's inbox; if a letter receives multiple reports it's removed from the system and the author may risk suspension.

The Correspondence

Once created, correspondence follows these rules:

Letters maintain delivery time but NOT expiration time (they cannot be reassigned).
Exchanges are alternating (first one then the other).
There's no limit to the number of correspondences you can have nor to the number of letters within a correspondence.

Limits and Usage Rules

Maximum letters in transit simultaneously (limit per sender).

Maximum non-correspondence letters to receive (limit per recipient), to avoid overloaded inboxes.

Maximum saveable drafts.

Safety and Privacy

Moderation and Safety

You can report inappropriate letters. There are usage rules that prohibit harassment, hate, and violent content; accounts that violate the rules can be suspended.

Anonymity

The only information visible to others is the username, which is unique and permanent. Emails, avatars, bios, or other metadata are not visible. Emails are saved at system level for account management, but are not shown to other users.

Ready to Start Writing?

Join Silent Ink and discover the beauty of slow, thoughtful correspondence with people around the world.