Happy New Year, how is your alternative doing?
Posted by BlazeAlt@reddit | RedditAlternatives | View on Reddit | 25 comments
Checking the status of the different alternatives
Posted by BlazeAlt@reddit | RedditAlternatives | View on Reddit | 25 comments
Checking the status of the different alternatives
Kgvdj860m@reddit
Blue Dwarf has nearly 500 registered users. Unfortunately, most of them are not monthly active users. We can support many more active users than we have, and as I just wrote in another post on RedditAlternatives, the code is now essentially feature complete. Everyone who values the unique perspectives of others and longs to participate in a real, non-corporate-controlled, online community that values free speech without name calling or harassment is invited to join us.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
Hello,
Indeed user retention is usually the biggest issue.
Have you considered implementing ActivityPub? That way you could gain access to the 42k monthly active users of Lemmy, the way Mbin and Piefed do.
Kgvdj860m@reddit
I agree that retention is the biggest issue. I have looked at ActivityPub and decided against it for a number of reasons. One is that it increases the cost of running a server to as much as 5 cents (US) per user per month. As I recall, Blue Dwarf's cost is two or three orders of magnitude (100 to 1000 times) less expensive. I have no intention of asking users for money to run the server, and with Blue Dwarf I have no expectation that I will ever have to. That means that no user should ever have to violate his anonymity to make a payment from a country whose government tracks literally every non-cash financial transactions made by its citizens. In "free" countries like the UK and Australia, people can literally be imprisoned now for saying the wrong thing on social media. The cost and actually integrating ActivityPub with Blue Dwarf's existing code (currently just under 30,000 lines of PHP) are the biggest problems. However, there is also the issue of generally declining levels of free speech on the Fediverse. It see the direction that the Fediverse is going in a number of areas, and it is looking more and more to me like corporate social media. I hope I am wrong.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
That's fair!
Do you have examples?
Kgvdj860m@reddit
Since you asked-- The first change in the Fediverse that I don't like is the reduction in free speech through over-moderation (in my opinion). The next is that I am seeing a lot more advertising. Advertising is the bane of the Web. It corrupts everything it touches by changing the goals of platforms from providing users with the services they want to making users just another product. I think it is perhaps the largest underlying reason people are fleeing the Web in general and corporate social media specifically, whether they recognize it as the source of the problems with the Web or not. So, why would we want to bring it with us onto networks that we control? It makes no sense. Last, I see increasing centralization of the Fediverse, both through the growth of the larger sites and through ideas for centralization like "relays". Once you start designing a network architecture with central servers like relays (or "pubs" on Secure Scuttlebutt), the network is doomed to become centralized. It is only a matter of time.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
Where do you see ads in the Fediverse? I'm on Lemmy quite a lot and never saw any. The only ones that are there are some built-in in some closed source clients like Boost.
Yes, centralization is a risk. I try to always advocate for smaller instances to reduce the overdependency on Lemmy.world
Kgvdj860m@reddit
I have had conversations about ads on the Fediverse before with other people, and they have said the same thing you just said. The ads are more disguised on the Fediverse, but they are there. Some people will do things like showing a picture of a potato chip bag with a caption that reads something like, "It's a (insert potato chip brand name here) kind of day." Then, I see YouTubers advertising their channels. I am looking at one advertisement right now that is a picture of a woman holding a Windows OS box against her cheek, and below that is a link to her YouTube video. The fact that this isn't a corporate ad reduces my dislike of it a bit, but it is still an advertisement.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
Ah, could be on Mastodon or Pixelfed. I've never seen such posts on Lemmy so far, our mods usually identify them quickly: https://feddit.org/post/6749819
UnflinchingSugartits@reddit
I actually have an account on bluedwarf. But i think it got deleted or something. I get an error (can't remember what it says exactly) when I try to log in.
I'll have to make another account. It's a cool website and I do check it.
Kgvdj860m@reddit
I am very sorry to hear that you have been unable to log in. Please feel free to contact me by email at cheapskatesguide@tutanota.com, and I will be happy to work with you to try to find the source of the problem. Blue Dwarf also has a new whitelist (follow the "More" link in the upper-right hand corner of the main page) that allows anyone (whether a current user or not) to submit an IP address for unblocking. Just allow a day or two at most for processing. FYI, in Blue Dwarf's two year and nine month history, no one has ever been permanently block on purpose.
UnflinchingSugartits@reddit
Ty
FanClubs_org@reddit
Happy New Year and thanks for checking in!
I finished the foundation of Fan Clubs and officially launched on January 2nd. A few new members already joined and started clubs, so it’s an encouraging start.
Only one way to go from here! 🚀
busymom0@reddit
I shut down my old alternative about 7 months ago and am rebuilding it from scratch to be simpler to use. I am still building it. Here's a screenshot:
https://i.imgur.com/xmLutdk.png
Any better website name suggestions are welcome!
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
Interesting! Which languages are you using?
busymom0@reddit
Backend is Rust with Postgres as database. Front-end is all server side rendered and I am trying to make sure the website works even with javascript disabled.
Very little vanilla javascript will be used for "quality of life" improvements like being able to reply to a post/comment on the same page without having to leave the page.
I have 3 mottos:
Use as few tools as possible to make the site load as fast as possible (hence server side rendering and very little if any vanilla JS)
Keep the design as simple as possible
Keep the design as dense as possible. I HATE the redesign of reddit (it's been a few years now). I wanna show as much content as possible without needing to scroll or constantly click to expand.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
Interesting to see it's in Rust. Have you had a look at Lemmy?
https://discuss.online/
https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/
busymom0@reddit
Do you run a Lemmy instance? I have seen you around this sub often.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
I don't, I'm just trying to get more people to know about it
mighty3mperor@reddit
https://feddit.uk/post/18443608
busymom0@reddit
Yes, I have looked at Lemmy. I might integrate federation in mine too but I have 3 things to worry about before I do that:
On my site, I really don't want politics, nsfw, nsfl and regulated (drugs etc) to dominate the feed. So I require all users to flair their post with these 4 flairs and users can hide these content if they want.
I am a bit scared about the legal ramifications of federation if an instance spreads some illegal content into my server and then my server spreads it to other servers.
Complexity of fediverse is off putting to many people.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
Interesting points!
busymom0@reddit
That's what I am thinking too. That's why I won't have federation to start off with but will add it in later on but even when I do, I won't advertise it as it makes it sound more complex. New users don't need to know unless they already know about federation.
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
Sounds good. Good luck with your project!
busymom0@reddit
Thank you. Will post here when it's ready!
BlazeAlt@reddit (OP)
On the fediverse side, Lemmy is doing ok, still 42k monthly active users:https://lemmy.fediverse.observer/dailystats
For people curious
https://vger.app/ if you want an app
Piefed and Mbin, which are compatible with Lemmy, are still stable, 140 and 700 monthly active users