The first Splash took place, and the Wave learned to watch itself rise

On September 7, 2026, FreeWillWave experienced its first Splash. For one hour, at 18:00 UTC, humans gathered at the same time on the site to invite, send energy, open links, and watch the Wave move live.

The day also added 77 presences, all arriving by invitation. After The 11,000th Free Human takes their place, and the Wave prepares its first Splash, then 11,111 presences, a common appointment, and a project carried by one person, this Monday therefore moved the Splash from idea to fact.

It is not yet a great tide. It is better than that for a first time: it is an appointment that now exists. It has its numbers, its people present, its first gestures, and it will return tomorrow.

UTC day of September 7	Result
Free Humans at the start	11,174
Free Humans at the end	11,251
New presences	77
Arrivals by invitation	77
People who invited at least one person	26
Countries represented at the end	100
Energies sent during the day	3,715
People who sent at least one energy	307

77 more presences, without a new country but with more depth

The map remains at 100 countries, as since the passage recounted in 99 more presences, and a Sunday put back in its proper place. But a map does not grow only when a country lights up for the first time. It also grows when the countries already present fill up with new presences.

We went from 11,174 to 11,251 Free Humans. The last presence in the record is #11251 Abid Mehmood (Pakistan), arriving at 23:13 UTC. I like these late arrivals: they remind us that the day is never truly fixed before the last minute.

New presences by country	Result
Nigeria	34
India	14
Egypt	6
Ukraine	4
South Africa	4
Brazil	2

Nigeria adds 34 presences, India 14, Egypt 6. Ukraine and South Africa add 4 each, Brazil 2. The detail remains visible on the Wave in numbers, but the main movement is simple: invitations continue to bring new humans into the story.

The very first Splash really took place

The Splash of the day took place from 18:00 to 19:00 UTC. It was the very first Splash since the site opened.

The principle is deliberately simple: every day at 18:00 UTC, for one hour, members invite at the same time, send energy, open links and watch the number rise together. It is not a meeting nor a video conference, no one speaks, there is nothing to prepare; one can just watch, and the one you miss returns the next day. On Sunday, this appointment becomes the Grand Splash.

During this first common hour, 22 people were present at the same time at the peak of the Splash. 183 invitation links were opened, 4 new presences arrived, 360 energies were sent, and no support was received during the hour.

Congratulations to #7788 Ibrahim Aliyu (Nigeria) for the invitations of the hour, and congratulations also, for the energies of the Splash, to #9125 Adamu Bello (Nigeria), #1 Serge (Belgium) and #10451 Hamza Muhammad Lawan (Nigeria). For a first hour, these gestures gave the appointment its real shape.

The Splash page keeps the explanations and the results. This is important: the Splash is no longer just announced, it is now measurable, tellable, and improvable.

Invitations, energies, and gestures that keep the Wave moving

The 77 presences of the day all come by invitation. Thank you, for the invitations of September 7, to #10451 Hamza Muhammad Lawan (Nigeria), with 4 direct invitations, to #7788 Ibrahim Aliyu (Nigeria), with 3, and to #805 Chizo1germany (Germany), with 2.

Since the opening, #805 Chizo1germany (Germany) reaches 3,688 direct invitations. #2029 Nura USMAN MUSA (Nigeria) has 184, and #869 Ibrahim Sani (Nigeria) 170.

Energies were very present: 3,715 energies sent during the day, by 307 different people. The cumulative total since the opening reaches 44,084 energies. Nigeria accounts for 3,252 during the day, Belgium 90, Egypt 62.

Thank you, for the energies of the day, to #9125 Adamu Bello (Nigeria), with 368 energies, to #11103 Idris Uthman (Nigeria), with 360, and to #10451 Hamza Muhammad Lawan (Nigeria), with 334. Since the opening, #9125 Adamu Bello (Nigeria) reaches 2,223 energies, #9166 Sunusi Mande (Nigeria) 1,819, and #3377 Babayo Haruna (Nigeria) 1,763.

On the support side, two gestures of $5 are recorded since the opening: mine, in Belgium, and that of #79 Oddur Tom (Australia). The Support the project page remains open for those who want to help FreeWillWave continue.

What I made clearer during the day

The Story now knows how to say what it covers. An article can be the story of a day, the recap of a week, or that of a month. It had become necessary: on the articles page, nothing made it possible to clearly understand that a text like the one about 11,111 presences was a weekly recap. Now, a badge indicates the scope of the text on the Story page, on the article itself, on the home page and in the Podcast tab.

I also repaired the way the Splash enters the Story. Without this work, the very first Splash could have disappeared into the day's totals: the arrivals and energies would have been true, but the appointment itself would not have been told. Now, when a Splash has taken place, it has its place in the article, with its own numbers and congratulations, without becoming a second big ranking.

The support part has been simplified. The promotion card was removed, because it did not match the spirit of the site. The form keeps two possibilities: support anonymously, or with your name. The old pages linked to the cards redirect to the support page, and the texts that still promised a card, a logo or a link have been corrected.

I also removed a small absurdity: when a member supports with their name, they do not need to give a separate identity again. A member is already someone, with their number, their country and their profile name. For support without an account, the field remains necessary; for a connected member, the site can simply use the identity already known.

The support currency works correctly again. For a month, the selector offered practically nothing other than the dollar, because the rates were no longer updated. The visible result is much simpler to tell than the cause: the support page now offers 32 currencies, including the naira. For a project where a large part of the members live in Nigeria, this is not a decorative detail.

FreeWillWave TV also had an interesting day. Twitch reopened the channel without explanation and without any change on our side. The live stream works again there, but I saw that some viewers did not have a lighter version available: the source was therefore the access floor. I lowered the bitrate sent to make the live stream more accessible, and I repaired the update of the channel title, which had remained stuck after the suspension.

Finally, I prepared a denser mode for energies on the map. When many energies arrive at the same time, showing them one by one ends up cutting the announcements and freezing the rotation. The new mode groups the gestures better: country pulse, trail, visual field, name band, and a permanent label so that we understand that these are energies. It starts closed, to keep the current behavior as long as it is not activated, but it prepares a more readable Wave when the hour becomes more alive.

These changes make no noise when they work. That is even their best compliment. A person can read the right type of article, support in a currency closer to them, watch the live stream with less blockage, understand the Splash, or see the energies without the map starting to blink as if it had drunk three too many coffees.

What this first hour opens

September 7 adds 77 presences, 3,715 energies, 77 arrivals by invitation, and above all an appointment that now exists in fact. The Splash brought together 22 people at the peak of the hour, opened 183 invitation links, welcomed 4 new presences and carried 360 energies.

The continuation can take several very simple paths: look at the Wave map, follow the numbers on the Wave in numbers, listen to The Wave, discover the film of the experience, invite someone, send an energy, support the project, or send a remark via Send an idea or a remark.

The first common hour has passed. It does not need to be perfect to count: it took place, it left a trace, and it returns tomorrow at 18:00 UTC. That is often how a thing really begins: not with a great speech, but with a few humans present at the same moment, each making a free gesture, and making the Wave a little more visible.