alt.hn

3/20/2026 at 1:02:19 PM

The Social Smolnet

 https://ploum.net/2026-03-20-social-smolnet.html

by aebtebeten

3/20/2026 at 6:49:54 PM

> with blogs and email, we already had a decentralized social network

I’ve been using this social network lately. As someone whose inbox is mainly a dumping ground for receipts and confirmation emails, it feels kind of transgressive to write to and receive emails from a human being.

I have a blog and I thought about adding a comment section for substantive discussion. But that’s way more complexity, and lowers the bar for useless comments. Instead, I let other platforms handle it. And if people want to email me directly, they can and have.

by janalsncm

3/20/2026 at 4:53:22 PM

> The biggest lesson I take is that "social networks" are not about protocols but about how we use the existing infrastructure.

It's also not about scale and breadth. Focused social networks around niches can be a breath of fresh air compared to the social behemoths. I joined a couple of more targeted social networks recently and it seems like there's a far more positive community when people have a shared interest. Fable[1] has a social network for reading and that has a generally positive and cosy vibe. Bryan Johnson's Don't Die[2] app is focused on health and longevity and it has a supportive atmosphere. You'd think that something like Reddit with its many niche subreddits would be able to replicate this. But it seems like Reddit has its own tone that permeates everywhere.

It seems like social networks that stay small and focused can maintain a fun and productive environment that degrades over time in larger networks.

[1] https://fable.co/

[2] https://dontdieapp.com/

by TimFogarty

3/20/2026 at 5:49:17 PM

> there's a far more positive community when people have a shared interest

Even old fashioned web forums and email listservs are still thriving in some niches and work this way.

I think reddit fails here because it's too frictionless. Requiring a little bit of intentional action to join or subscribe keeps out a surprising amount of drive-by trolls.

HN is pretty big now and has its share of trolls and bots but because it doesn't use social media accounts it's not nearly as bad as Facebook or Reddit.

by SoftTalker

3/20/2026 at 6:05:21 PM

is it because I was young? I still believe phpbb forums were the best!

by ploum

3/20/2026 at 6:06:09 PM

> It seems like social networks that stay small and focused can maintain a fun and productive environment that degrades over time in larger networks

I would love to find some good social networks for myself but discovering them is hard and I don't have the free time to dig like I used to to find the hidden gems

by bluefirebrand

3/20/2026 at 7:43:57 PM

This idea is fascinatingly similar to Dokieli[1], an obscure and barely adopted social frontend previously for ActivityPub protocol, and now for Solid[2]. It's pretty much the same, sans Email: you browse the Web, and if you want interact with some site, you launch Dokieli interface to comment, share, make annotations etc.

[1] https://dokie.li [2] https://solidproject.org/

by bttmchnd

3/20/2026 at 4:22:09 PM

> with blogs and email, we already had a decentralized social network

Yes, coupled with a good WebFeeds solution and we are practically there !

by mentalgear

3/20/2026 at 6:32:06 PM

Just bring back bulletin boards with mods

by homeonthemtn

3/20/2026 at 7:16:59 PM

try gemini://bbs.geminispace.org

by ploum

3/20/2026 at 4:03:58 PM

OK, I love that. I'm going to try it out right now.

by bovermyer

3/20/2026 at 5:01:23 PM

Been saying this for years. The www is already a social network.

by rambambram

3/20/2026 at 6:12:28 PM

[dead]

by iririririr