We believe in building in the open. This post is a transparent look at where Stanza is today, what’s coming next, and where we dream of going. Your feedback shapes every decision.
What’s Live Today
Stanza launched with a comprehensive set of features across six major areas:
Creation Tools
- Text Composer — Standard (rich text WYSIWYG) and Advanced (plain text with line numbers/counts) modes
- Spoken Word Studio — Built-in recorder with waveform visualization, file upload, speech-to-text transcription
- Presentation Settings — Custom background color, 16:9 background image, and ambient music per submission
- Metadata — Poetic form, style, tags, and privacy level selection
Discovery & Feed
- The Stage — 4-tab personalized feed: For You, Following, Trending, and Explore
- Search — Keyword search (Typesense) + AI-powered semantic search (pgvector, 768-dimensional embeddings)
- Community page — Discover Circles, browse shared Lists, and see platform activity
Engagement & Feedback
- Three Reaction Types — Cheers (unlimited positive), Encores (5/month, strong positive), Tomatoes (unlimited constructive)
- Threaded Comments — Nested replies on any submission
- Structured Critiques — 9–10 scored dimensions (Imagery, Meter, Voice, Structure, Language, Sound, Theme, Pacing, Emotion) with line/stanza/timestamp annotation
Social Features
- Following & Friends — Follow system with optional approval gate; mutual follows become "Friends"
- Multiple Profiles — Up to 3 personas per account, each with its own identity
- 5-Tier Privacy — Public, Followers, Friends, Circle, and Private
Organization & Curation
- Reading Lists — Curate collections with sharing permissions (view, edit, add)
- Inner Circles — Private groups with roles, entry controls (open/approval/password), and members-only feeds
Infrastructure
- Notifications — Push + in-app, 15+ types, per-category customization
- Accounts — Email/password and Google Sign-In authentication
- Settings — Profile management, privacy controls, notification preferences
Coming Soon — Discovery & Polish
Target: May 2026
The next milestone focuses on making great work easier to find and the platform more polished:
- Public Discover Page — Curated picks, trending poets, rising voices, and themed collections. The front door of Stanza.
- Advanced Feed Personalization — Interest vectors, mood scoring, and diversity controls so your For You tab shows exactly what you want.
- User Themes for Submissions — Custom backgrounds, fonts, and color schemes per poem. Make every submission a visual experience.
- Plagiarism & Attribution System — Automated similarity detection and proper attribution tools to protect original work.
- Settings & Privacy Overhaul — Comprehensive redesign of the settings experience with granular privacy controls.
- Enhanced Moderation — Better tools for community safety, content reporting, and automated content review.
On the Horizon — Scale & Launch
Target: June 2026
The features that will take Stanza from a platform to an ecosystem:
- Organizations — Publishing houses, literary magazines, school departments, and poetry collectives can create official presences on Stanza. Publish under an organizational banner, manage staff, and build an institutional identity.
- Live Performances — Virtual open mics and real-time spoken word events. Imagine a global open mic night where poets from five continents share the same stage.
- Desktop Apps — Native macOS and Windows applications via Flutter. Full Stanza experience on your desktop.
Plus: comprehensive security audit, performance optimization, load testing, and public launch.
Future Dreams
Beyond the 2026 roadmap, here’s what we’re dreaming about:
- Auto-generated list covers — Beautiful mosaic covers created from the first 4 items in a Reading List
- Smart lists — Auto-populated lists based on saved search criteria. "All sonnets about the sea, published this month."
- List templates — Pre-built list structures for common use cases (workshop syllabi, form collections, themed anthologies)
- Email digest newsletters — Weekly roundups of your top reactions, new followers, and trending work
- Resource guides — CMS-driven educational content about poetic forms, techniques, and literary history
This roadmap is a living document. Features may shift, priorities may change, and new ideas may emerge. We build based on what the community needs most.
Shape the Future
We are building Stanza in the open. Your feedback directly shapes what we build next. Tell us what matters most to you — what features would transform your experience? What’s missing? What should we prioritize?
The Stage is yours. Help us make it extraordinary.
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