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How to run a small social network site for your friends

runyourown.social

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Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#21

Post by kome »

hemloc_io wrote: post #13

I have what I think is a unique perspective on this. Private small self run social media already exists. It's personal Minecraft servers. When I was younger I ran a Minecraft server out of my toaster of a PC. Friends hopped on, made their own little houses, built stuff and talked. Friends would pass in and out and in order to get in you had to be invited! I'd say max there were 10-20 people on there somewhat consiste…

i feel old... wasn't minecraft released like yesterday? like in 2012? how can you be an adult person now?

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#22

Post by joe_the_user »

In my admittedly limited experience as a human being on this planet, you are not going to be able to form and maintain a cohesive group of more than about 50 to 100 people who all basically agree on values and moderation rules and that sort of stuff.

I run a FB group with 5,000 members. It's active daily, on a controversial topic but I don't do a moderation actions more than a couple times a week. I'm in reddit with a million members that does fine too. Clear direction is really helpful. "No trolling at all, none" is much better than "don't do much trolling".

Otherwise, I like the instructions.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#23

Post by deanc »

bcherny wrote: post #11
kody wrote: post #6

I wish there were a way to broadcast "I am a in " and generate a decentralized forum (i.e. phpbb 15 years ago). Growing up, all online friends lived hundreds of miles away; as an adult, all my friends have wildly different interests. Nowadays Discord is The Answer but it's not nearly as intimate as a good message board. Maybe that's a function of growing up, but I can't help but feel disillusioned that $someone hasn'…

Have you tried Facebook Groups? eg. a quick search found a Ham radio group in SD: https://www.facebook.com/groups/856599821517281 . More Ham radio groups in San Diego (you can do a similar search for retro computing): https://www.facebook.com/search/groups?q=ham%20radio&filters... Meetup also has some retro computing groups, though I don't see one in San Diego (why not start one?): https://www.meetup.com/topics/retro…

I'm not going to be the commenter that goes on and on about the negative impact Facebook is having across the world, as this is disruptive to genuine arguments.

To give a clear counterpoint to the idea of using Facebook groups - forums had anonymity. You could be a different version of yourself - for better or worse. It's not possible to do that on Facebook without accountability.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#24

Post by hemloc_io »

kome wrote: post #21
hemloc_io wrote: post #13

I have what I think is a unique perspective on this. Private small self run social media already exists. It's personal Minecraft servers. When I was younger I ran a Minecraft server out of my toaster of a PC. Friends hopped on, made their own little houses, built stuff and talked. Friends would pass in and out and in order to get in you had to be invited! I'd say max there were 10-20 people on there somewhat consiste…

i feel old... wasn't minecraft released like yesterday? like in 2012? how can you be an adult person now?

Haha you should probably feel ancient!

I feel old knowing people in college now were born in the 2000s.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#25

Post by opan »

spurgu wrote: post #9
2Gkashmiri wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is much easier to host with lesser resources

Thanks! I had been considering Mastodon for a private (non-federated) little community. But from a quick look it seems Pleroma doesn't have any mobile apps? That's a dealbreaker for many people.

In addition to the apps mentioned already, the mobile browser UI is actually well-liked by many.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#26

Post by shepherdjerred »

hemloc_io wrote: post #18
countvonbalzac wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i did the same thing, minecraft servers were an amazing social experience for kids

100% and it got me into tech too :) Learn a lot with spare time on your hands and wanting to build something for your friends!

+1, I never would be where I am today if it weren’t for running a Minecraft server.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#27

Post by rapnie »

bcherny wrote: post #11
kody wrote: post #6

I wish there were a way to broadcast "I am a in " and generate a decentralized forum (i.e. phpbb 15 years ago). Growing up, all online friends lived hundreds of miles away; as an adult, all my friends have wildly different interests. Nowadays Discord is The Answer but it's not nearly as intimate as a good message board. Maybe that's a function of growing up, but I can't help but feel disillusioned that $someone hasn'…

Have you tried Facebook Groups? eg. a quick search found a Ham radio group in SD: https://www.facebook.com/groups/856599821517281 . More Ham radio groups in San Diego (you can do a similar search for retro computing): https://www.facebook.com/search/groups?q=ham%20radio&filters... Meetup also has some retro computing groups, though I don't see one in San Diego (why not start one?): https://www.meetup.com/topics/retro…

It is a bit OT to 'run your own social' and 'decentralized forum' though.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#28

Post by joe_the_user »

Nerada wrote: post #14

I miss how every hobby had a forum running on phpBB, SimpleMachines, Invision, etc. HN is great, but it's very point in time. If I find an interesting topic posted over a day ago, it's never getting new replies. It's a snapshot of the thoughts on that topic for that single day, nothing more.

I am still on two different extremely niche forums, one running phpBB (wild skins and all). I sometimes go to other existing forums also. This stuff exists.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#29

Post by egypturnash »

spurgu wrote: post #4
2Gkashmiri wrote: post #3

>The reason I can make these modifications is that Mastodon is open source the pedantic me would like to point out that mastodon is "free software" more than anything "open source" because that terms can mean a lot of things that free software isn't but i get the point. yeah. there is this amazing software called pleromaPi. https://github.com/guysoft/PleromaPi/ so you simply install it on a raspberry pi and you are g…

What makes Pleroma different from for example Mastodon? Why would one choose one over the other?

My experience as a Mastodon admin is that Pleroma is popular among people with anime girl avatars who like to post swastikas, ethnic slurs, and right-wing propaganda.

Re: How to run a small social network site for your friends

#30

Post by dmje »

Really great perspective from a community point of view (if you want a good read, check out the 20-year-old "Design for communities" book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Design-Community-Derek-Powazek/dp/0...).

From a software pov I'm less convinced. Seems to me that "just make a Telegram / WhatsApp / whatever" group is where most online communities seem to be coalescing...?

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