#tomo update for anyone interested in seeing how the sausage is being made with a new decentralized #nntp based better-than #reddit network:
the server software is a fork of Rocksolid-Light
the back-end for connecting to the server and reading/writing posts is 100% nntp protocol compatible.
you can connect to a tomo shard from any newsreader like thunderbird (win/mac/linux), tin, SeaMonkey, NewsTap (iOS) or even classic programs like Forté Agent and Netscape Communicator
posts written on the tomonet.* discussion group hierarchy are shared across all tomo shards.
posts written to private groups on your shard, stay only on your shard.
i'm currently rewriting the front-end so you can do anything from the web interface, without dropping to shell:
create your own discussion groups
delete messages, delete groups
permit/deny access to admin and moderator areas
the big job this week was writing a Roles & Permissions system (RBAC) so group owners, admins and moderators control who can read/post, create/delete groups, and so on.
running a tomo shard is running a #BBS in 2023: as a sysop you are responsible for your users' data, dealing with moderation, and carrying (and not carrying) the kinds of groups your users are into. i'm putting a massive amount of care into providing sysops and mods with the front-end tools for making running a shard enjoyable
@vga256 In response to a discussion about using a modified NNTP server as a new federated social network. I had thoughts about global forum names.
Here is a story about forum names. Mostly it’s a story about humans.
Zane is a scientist who studies animals, some of the animals he studies are cats. He frequently posts to bbs.animals.cats about house cats. Their diet and behavior etc. He also posts to bbs.animals.sharks and bbs.animals.beetles sometimes. He is happy and he’s totally sure his cat information belongs under bbs.animals, and it’s important to his thinking processes. Zane is not the owner or moderator or bbs.animals.cats.
Polly is a pet enthusiast, who loves cats and dogs. She is very knowledgeable and helpful about all kinds of pet information. She is very active in bbs.pets.cats and bbs.pets.fish. In her world view, all the information in bbs.animals.cats really belongs in bbs.pets.cats instead. Polly is not the owner or the moderator of bbs.animals.cats
Obviously if Zane and Polly make no effort to understand each other’s perspective this is not going to end well. The core problem is getting Zane and Polly to use empathy and compassion towards each other and to try to connect.
As a system owner and a technologist it’s tempting to want to give Zane and Polly technical tools to “solve” their problem. For example, assign owners to groups, force system-wide unique names and tolerate the “land grab” mentality that permeates all shared namespaces on the internet today.
However the human solution is to let the audience in general decide where they want to post their messages to, and where they want to read messages. Humans have the ability to post the same content in multiple places or to copy content by hand from one place to another. That human ability allows them to try their own non-technical solutions for social problems.
@tezoatlipoca i only wish i had 4 hands! 🤣 i'm trying to get as many core functions in as possible before i release a v0.1 of the server and let people start running their own groups.
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