> "My primary goal for Xnet is to prove that--contrary to everything everyone else says--one does not need a huge, expensive server on a super-fast Internet connection to host a social network with tens of thousands of users"
I don't think "everyone else" believes that. In fact I believe a "social network with tens of thousands of users" can probably be served off a bash script running on a Raspberry pi over SQLite.
I mean, that basically describes a telnetable bulletin board system, and those definitely run off an RPi.
This is a common problem with tech-adjacent types: believing that technology is the solution to all problems, including social ones. If someone isn't using your preferred social networking solution, the problem isn't necessarily that you're not using the latest whizbang language and hardware....... maybe you just haven't given them anything to do on your network. Put another way: the telephone arguably didn't catch on as a utility with obvious use until after the 1878 Tariffville Crash[1]. If you want to start a new network, you need a social nucleation point... whether that's you writing interesting stories, composing music, making artwork, whatever... SOMETHING that people can participate in and interact with in some fashion. Without that you've just got a communications device with no one in particular to reach for any reason.
I don't think "everyone else" believes that. In fact I believe a "social network with tens of thousands of users" can probably be served off a bash script running on a Raspberry pi over SQLite.