
How to run a small social network site for your friends - catacombs
https://runyourown.social/
======
jasode
_> Why to NOT run a small social network site [...] If you choose to run a
site like this, it means that people will now depend on you for something
that's important to them. People on Friend Camp are very forgiving when we
have down time, and sometimes that down time can last hours if I'm asleep or
at a movie or otherwise busy._

Kudos to the author for responsibly mentioning the caveats and setting
realistic expectations. Before asking friends & family to _depend_ on a
personal Mastodon server, consider carefully if you really want to take on
that burden of responsibility to become a sysadmin and defacto tech support.

~~~
SiVal
Yes, I think we'd be better off if we had equivalents of much of Facebook or
Twitter implemented as distributed protocols like email rather than as a
centralized system. You'd have your own @fred@example.com rather than just
@fred at the One Big Company. Most ISPs could include them with the basic
package or you could get them from someone else online the way you can get
email from your ISP or gmail, hotmail, etc.

You could then still run your own server, just as you can with email, but you
wouldn't have to take on that responsibility to get most of the benefits of
taking control of your social media.

~~~
OrgNet
isn't what [https://about.riot.im/](https://about.riot.im/) is?

~~~
omnimus
no

~~~
OrgNet
why not?

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newscracker
That was a really well written article, and though I didn't agree with some
points, I couldn't stop reading it until I finished it. Something about the
layout, the line spacing and such was engaging enough (of course, the content
and how it was organized was the biggest influence).

I too feel that identity migration (or the lack thereof) is an issue that
needs to be solved. I'm not sure if there's a technical solution that would be
easy for people to follow. At the very least, users should be able to take
their content out and have it migrated/hosted elsewhere, similar to how email
content can be moved somewhere else, even if they're forced to get a new
address.

I personally believe that Mastodon and other Twitter like solutions are too
noisy and disjointed, without clear and prominent topic/subject and threading.
Facebook groups has a better interface for handling this kind of conversation.

One point I disagree with is the "neighborhood" classification. Most users
will not really understand it or get what it means whenever the neighborhood
servers change (new ones get added, some get removed). It seems way too
complex. The concept of local vs. global on Mastodon is in itself a cognitive
barrier for many people to overcome. Global vs. "friends" is the easiest
distinction to understand and use. In my observation most of the users on
Facebook tend to use one of these for their posts, and nothing else.

~~~
vermilingua
> I'm not sure if there's a technical solution that would be easy for people
> to follow.

Why not? It should be no harder than specifying the server you want to migrate
to, and the handle you wish to use there. Everything else should be handled by
the backend, and the receiving server’s mod team.

------
SOLAR_FIELDS
The absolute greatest discovery I made on this article is oulipo.social, a
social network where the letter e is banned. The text on the page has to be
one of the greatest things I have witnessed in a long time. There is a fully
functional and amazingly well written FAQ all without the letter e:
[https://oulipo.social/about/more](https://oulipo.social/about/more)

Here’s question 6 from that page for a taste:

 _What synonym should I sub in for [x]?

Try to stop looking for synonyms; if you try to swap out individual words,
you'll find it tough going. Pull back and think abstractly about what you want
to say and find words for that. _

~~~
gerikson
Ironically the URL for the FAQ contains the forbidden later, but it sure
sounds like a cool concept.

~~~
gerikson
"Letter" not "later" , damn you autocorrect and also damn the window for
editing comments is short :(

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herghost
I think what I mainly worry about is that whilst I’d be happy keeping it
pretty small - friends of friends, and family - I know that some of my family
believe (and share socially) some abhorrent views, as too do some friends of
friends, and so I’d necessarily be anointing myself censor-in-chief.

I left Facebook because it was a Sisyphean task to simply point out the
glaring omissions and outright fabrications that my “friends” shared. Here?
I’d have to actually _deal_ with it, and probably also be somehow responsible
for it.

~~~
curiousgeorgio
It sounds exhausting to have such correct views about everything and yet be
surrounded by so many people of inferior intellect. If only we had more brave
souls willing to publicly point out how the rest of us are all wrong... :)

~~~
bronco21016
So you ignore it. Then what? The only ones speaking have their ideas become
the ‘truth’ simply because they’re the loudest majority. Next thing you know
the earth is a disc or vaccines cause Autism.

~~~
brigandish
Isn't this what block and mute are for? Or simply posting a better, more
persuasive argument. Not sure why a top down censor is needed.

My own wish is that the tools social networks can use to change what we see
would be democratised - I want to be able to choose the algorithms that define
my feed, from anything goes to chronological to safe for children to only
"authoritative sources" etc. Power to the people.

~~~
bronco21016
Those are fine tools as well. I’m not even suggesting a top down censor. I’m
simply pointing out that the parent to my post is being ridiculous in mocking
the grandparent poster for wanting to call out those who are pushing
falsehoods.

If all of the ‘normal’ people just become silent and let the ‘crazy’ people
run rampant because it’s impolite to correct them then we head down a path
that I don’t want to go down. A path where society starts falling apart
because common sense things like getting vaccines is no longer popular because
the vocal ones have made it so and the people who know it’s a good idea have
been silent.

------
deepnet
Small shops can be a diverse ecosystem, en-masse robust and anti-fragile.

Edges, servers at the edges - monopolies are not a free Internet.

Computers run our lives, either we are in control or they are - Stallman is
right - without GNU's four freedoms neither societies nor peoples are free.

------
personjerry
None of those are good enough reasons to want to run your own social network
though. I don't want to pay to maintain it, I don't want to spend time fixing
it and thinking new features. Most of all I don't want to have to police it!
These aren't enjoyable differences and fail to build a convincing case to run
your own social network...

~~~
jmts
Those are not good enough reasons for _you_ , perhaps. They may however be
good enough for others. Your experience is not the only experience.

~~~
Kye
Case in point: witches.live has code for handling the moon.

[https://witches.live/@anna/102403392019217231](https://witches.live/@anna/102403392019217231)

------
lubujackson
I like the small social network vibe because it reminds me of the old BBS
days. I think social networks thrive with some form of exclusivity to keep
them stable - Facebook started by requiring your college email address and
BBSes were limited by the range of your area code (or else you would suffer
long distance calling fees).

A network of 50 friends is interesting, Mastodon seems to group by interest or
topic which is interesting, but there was something special about the local
boundaries of BBSes that created interesting dynamics and let you see the same
people on different boards and in different contexts, all from the same small-
ish pool of people. It was a great mix of self-selection (which BBSes I chose
to visit, the personal variations available) and forced interaction (who else
would visit them and why).

------
im3w1l
Wont your friends be scared of you snooping on their private messages? For all
his faults Zuck wont tell the friend circle what a slut so-and-so is.

~~~
bronson
True, he just tells the ad buyers.

~~~
im3w1l
I have never heard of any leaks of private messages (by facebook, let's not
count shoulder surfing or the counterparty telling) coming back to haunt the
people who wrote them. So the risk you are mentioning seems more theoretical
than the very real risk if a friend runs it.

~~~
yule
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5864427](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5864427)

~~~
im3w1l
Good point. I should have excluded law enforcement et al from my statement.

------
spacebear
Any tips on how to get your friends to actually use the social network? I've
tried and failed with Slack and Mastodon.

~~~
fuball63
This is the biggest question to me too. Whenever I try to do something like
this, my friends will do it for a short while, seemingly in support of me/the
project, then fall off.

I have the same issue with making computer games too. They will try it once,
say good job, and never bring it up again. I now try and approach games like,
1) what is something that I can play by myself that still brings value and 2)
what is that "it feature" that will make someone curious/interested enough to
come back, and focus on that.

Maybe it's the same for community sites.

~~~
latexr
> I have the same issue with making computer games too. They will try it once,
> say good job, and never bring it up again.

Are you picking friends who like to play games (i.e. they play games you
haven’t designed)? If so, are you making the genre of games they like to play?
If having your friends enjoy your games is important to you, consider
collaborating with one of them, making them part of the design process — make
a game _for them_. Better yet, make a game for you to play together, either
cooperatively or competitively, whatever you prefer.

Alternatively, make a game where the characters are you and your friends. Ian
McConville, of Three Panel Soul[1], made a pixel art game “for and audience of
one” where the main character was his girlfriend. At the end, he asked her to
marry him[2]. You don’t need to do something so grandiose, but being a
character in a game might make your friends more invested in playing it.

[1]: [http://www.threepanelsoul.com/](http://www.threepanelsoul.com/)

[2]: [https://www.comicmix.com/2008/06/27/webcomic-news-roundup-
lo...](https://www.comicmix.com/2008/06/27/webcomic-news-roundup-love-life-
and-poop/)

------
jph
Added to a collection of social network plan ideas:
[https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/social_network_plan](https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/social_network_plan)

~~~
nunodonato
I've been brainstorming and planning for a different kind of social network
and found your list very useful!

Are you planning to do something with it, or just collecting info?

~~~
jph
Collecting info to help spur ideas among developers and designers. I'd like to
hear about your perspectives; reach me at joel@joelparkerhenderson.com.

------
2sk21
This is, overall, a great idea but I do worry about security. Even if I keep
all of the code fully patched, I have learned that pretty much anything can be
broken into.

~~~
Kye
[https://masto.host/](https://masto.host/)

You don't get the same flexibility, but they take care of backups, updates,
and security.

------
Lowkeyloki
For what it's worth, I really love the design of this site. It has a really
slick xwindows aesthetic.

~~~
mxuribe
100% agreed! I'll add that its - dare i say - minimalist-designed approach
made it an additional joy to read. I couldn't think of where i saw such a
similar look-and-feel, but now that you mention it, yeah "xwindows aesthetic"
would be a good description for it! Cheers!

