Many people in our community's Facebook group are extremely disenchanted with Zuckerberg's decision to remove all constraints on misinformation mongers.
I'd like to see WordPress.org -- or someone who wants to make some money -- create a plugin that replicated the functionality of a private Facebook group.
Include the FB UX as one option, but make it more flexible if desired.
@dangillmor Given the current mess in the WordPress world, that seems like a risky approach.
There's lots of old-school forum software that still works quite well, and many small companies selling hosted versions.
See for instance this article on how well they work for slow devices. https://danluu.com/slow-device/
The real problems are discovery and network effect. One of the biggest Facebook groups for expats in Japan tried to move to a paid forum model. I don't know how it's going.
@slowenough @dangillmor @ktneely I was an admin on a public phpBB bulletin board for many years. Web bulletin boards aren't perfect, but the transition from independently-run public Web forums to centralized public social media like Reddit to private, centralized spaces like Discord has been disappointing to watch, to say the least.
I use Signal, but there must be better places for semi-public communication. There might be Fediverse solutions.
@auspicacious @dangillmor @ktneely I hear that! Most people are either okay with private groups, or are just starting to see the challenge if most groups which used to be public go dark. Separate silos have a harder time cross-connecting, building the weak links that make for powerful networks, etc.
Even once one considers the challenge, the answers are going to differ widely for different groups at different times. And that's okay. 1/2
@auspicacious @dangillmor @ktneely We need a good spread of tools in the commons which can handle different needs, w adjustably permeable membranes. And good information about those tools, and how to find and use them, widely known. The Fediverse / ActivityPub is clearly a win filling some of that gap.
Bluesky if there is success with https://freeourfeeds.com/ (or any wider adoption o AT protocol outside of Bluesky).
Nextcloud probably has something forumish.
And then there's stuff like Polis!
And ActivityPub compatible!
Looks more like a forum software, similar to Discourse. Bonus points for the ActivityPub support though (seems Discourse also has it).
Yeah, just found it in Alternative.to.
OSSN also looks similar to Facebook, even more so. Has groups that work the same way, there's a demo on the site (go through its Login, no need to register).
Hubzilla looks interesting:
https://hubzilla.org
There are server-side applications that replicate it well enough. I researched one or two years ago when I thought I was going to be creating an independent online home for a local (freethought) discussion group that I started, but it didn't happen and I can't recall the names of them. Such does - or did - exist independent of Wordpress, however.
@dangillmor Answers here may be of interest:
Does the Fediverse have the capacity for private groups? Asking because I'm in some Facebook groups for therapists (resource sharing, general support, not private client info!) and many are looking to ditch Meta finally but are struggling to find alternatives. Basically needs to be a closed community that can be moderated.
not a wp plugin but zulip is worth a look: https://zulip.com/
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