The moment to show the Wave differently

Tuesday, August 11, 2026, at 19:30 UTC, the period does not tell a new explosion of arrivals. After the 500 Free Humans milestone recounted on Sunday in The Wave passes 500 and finds an explanation in 15 languages, the pace has calmed.

But this apparent calm served another purpose: making FreeWillWave solid enough, clear enough, and coherent enough to be shown to people who know nothing about the project. I think that now the site is starting to be worthwhile. I will therefore stop the small paid ads and send FreeWillWave directly to the press and influencers.

The heart of these two days is this threshold change. The Wave does not depend only on a few scattered announcements: it now has a press room redone to tell the ongoing experience, in fifteen languages, with living numbers and a more accurate angle.

A pause in growth, not in work

August 6 had been very strong: 65 arrivals over the UTC day, in the continuity of the movement recounted in The day the Wave learned to spread farther. Then the pace decreased: 26 arrivals on August 7, 13 on August 8, 6 on August 9, 5 on August 10, and 3 on August 11 at 19:27 UTC.

Since Sunday evening, eight new presences have taken their place. Nigeria continued to advance with #505 Ozobodo Micheal (Nigeria), #506 Phenom divine (Nigeria), #507 James Wande (Nigeria), #510 ABDURRAHMAN IBRAHIM (Nigeria) and #511 OBA (Nigeria). Namibia saw the arrival of #508 Kafuma Fillipus (Namibia), and India #509 Mansi (India).

No new country lit up during this window. We remain present in 37 countries, with Nigeria at 163 Free Humans, Canada at 49, the United States at 48, the United Kingdom at 41, France at 36, Kenya at 29, Uganda at 24, and India at 20. The map does not always change by spectacular appearance; sometimes it becomes denser.

This slowdown is important to note honestly. The Nigerian wave of August 6 showed that FreeWillWave could circulate quickly from human to human. These two days show something else: when the movement slows down, the site must be ready for the next person who arrives, and for the one who discovers the project from the outside.

A press kit to put the hypothesis to the test

I have completely rewritten the press narrative. FreeWillWave is no longer presented only as a project to explain, but as a hypothesis put to the test: will humans, all over the world, freely choose to count themselves around a simple sentence — I choose for myself, and I respect your right to choose for yourself?

The press room therefore tells what already exists: Free Humans in 37 countries, invitations, energies, chains, a map, live streams, music, and humans who make all this visible through their free gestures.

What exists now did not exist on Sunday in this form. The press room was redone in 18 sections. The press release was rewritten in the same spirit, with the Liège dateline adapted in each language. The two documents exist in the fifteen languages of the site, i.e., 30 PDF files in total: fifteen press kits of 9 pages each, and fifteen shorter press releases of 3 to 4 pages.

I also made sure that the numbers presented do not become obsolete the next day. A journalist who opens the page must see the day's number, not a frozen snapshot. FreeWillWave presents itself as something alive, not as a forgotten brochure.

This is why I will stop the small paid ads launched during the period, including a video supported by the three-minute film and a campaign targeting creators. The next step will be more direct: contacting the press and influencers with a more solid kit.

Showing the same Wave everywhere

These two days also served to remove inconsistencies that complicated sharing. The written presentation still told the old short version of the project, while the three-minute film had already taken over. It now takes up the film's text itself.

This is important for a person who cannot turn on the sound, but also for everything that reads the site before a human: search engines, answer assistants, previews, translations. If the written page tells an old story, FreeWillWave presents itself with two different voices. Now, the film and the text move forward together.

There were also two faces depending on the shared page: sometimes the brand photo, sometimes a world map. I chose a single image everywhere. When a member pastes a link in a conversation, the preview must look like FreeWillWave, regardless of the door used.

The act of sharing itself has been simplified. The 'Copy link' button now copies the link, and nothing else. A floating share button is present on all pages, with thirty networks. And above all, the 'Share' tile on the home page now correctly adds the member's code: before, it was the most visible sharing surface on the site, but it shared a bare address.

On the page where one takes one’s place, the film now appears next to the form on a computer, with titles that follow the scenes. The idea is simple: someone can understand FreeWillWave and take their place without having to look for another page.

The remarks that avoid losing humans

While trying to take my place myself, I discovered a much more serious flaw: 'we want to click on the Google button, it doesn’t work… I got tricked.' The 'I sign this Declaration' checkbox disabled the Google, Facebook, and email buttons as long as it wasn't checked. The three appeared gray, without explanation. For someone arriving, it looked like a malfunction, not a condition.

This flaw had been there since July 19 on the path where one takes one’s place, and since June 6 on the Declaration page. I replaced it with a sentence: 'By registering, I accept to decide for myself and to act as a free human,' with the link to the full Declaration. The Declaration is still signed only once: now, it is the act of taking one's place that signs it, not a separate checkbox.

It must be said simply: this flaw certainly cost arrivals that cannot be counted. Yet it did not stop growth: 4.6 arrivals per day on average in the six weeks that preceded, then 13.2 per day in the 24 days that followed. It was especially the front door of the site, so exactly what needed to be fixed before going to the press.

Part of the work came from very concrete remarks. #2 Lionel (Belgium) reported a heavy problem on iPhone: the home page ended up killing the tab, especially when the video module appeared on the screen. The page demanded too much from some phones. Images are now served at the size at which they are actually viewed.

The film also had an annoying inconsistency: the bottom button launched the sound, but not the image. Now, regardless of the door used — the poster, the bottom bar, or the phone's media key — the film really starts. For a project that we want to be able to show someone in a few seconds, this detail matters.

#2 Lionel (Belgium) also requested two improvements on the Wave map. The boundary between day and night is now drawn in white beads, more readable on phone. And when an arrival occurs, its country finally lights up live on the map.

#40 Alistair A (New Zealand), for his part, put his finger on a flaw in the energy orb. The one-hour pause could be triggered because of an old remnant, even after a long interruption. Fourteen people had exceeded thirty gestures since opening and could therefore encounter this blockage. The pause is now counted on the current burst.

The other flaw was more deceptive: when an energy was refused, the animation still played. One could believe that a gesture had succeeded when it had not. Now, the energy only plays when it is actually accepted, and the window remains open to allow reading the message.

The energy continues to beat

Even with fewer arrivals, the energies continued. Since opening, 2 396 energies have been sent, of which 907 over the last seven days. In the last 48 hours, 294 energies were sent by 20 different people.

Two progressions stand out clearly. #443 Faharu Muhammad (Nigeria) went from 60 to 122 energies in two days. #341 gideon (Namibia) went from 52 to 87.

As for invitations, they have hardly moved since Sunday. #486 Musa Muhammad (Nigeria) goes from 5 to 6 validated invitations. The big movement remains the one described after the first human chains of August 4 and the push of August 6.

What this step prepares

This period keeps in memory a change less spectacular than a new country or a round number threshold, but very important for what comes next. FreeWillWave has gone from a site still in permanent adjustment to a site that I feel ready to show more widely.

It remains alive, therefore imperfect. A button can be misleading, a page can crash, an image can be too heavy, a sentence can tell the old version of the project. But these flaws were found because humans actually use the Wave, send energies, watch the film, share links, open the map, and take the time to report what blocks.

You can follow the numbers on the Wave in numbers, see the presences on the map, watch the film on the listening page, follow the chains on Watch, listen to the album The Wave, or leave a remark from the messaging.

The next page will perhaps depend on an article, a creator who relays the idea, a link shown at the right time, or a person who takes their place without making a sound. What matters is that the door be clearer when it opens. These two days mainly served that: preparing FreeWillWave to be seen from farther than the current circle, without losing what makes it human.