Free Speech Reddit Alternative?

submitted by fschmidt from self.AskSaidIt

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[–][deleted] 10 insightful - 4 fun10 insightful - 3 fun11 insightful - 4 fun -  (25 children)

Viable software options for a reddit-alternative include about half of the projects on this list: https://ramble.pw/f/RedditAlternatives/4041

Your 'ideal platform' sounds a lot like Lemmy to me, with its ActivityPub federation. Lemmy is a very early project and kind of ugly and clunky though.

I can cover costs and legal issues.

Whoa... you don't hear that everyday.

[–]fschmidt[S] 8 insightful - 3 fun8 insightful - 2 fun9 insightful - 3 fun -  (12 children)

Languages:

  • lemmy - rust and typescript
  • postmill - php
  • throat - python
  • mastodon - ruby and javascript
  • ruqqus - python
  • drama - python
  • notabug - javascript
  • saidit - python

Python and Ruby are okay, the rest are not. So that leaves throat, ruqqus, drama, and saidit. All of these programs are big so would require someone who already knows one of them or is willing to invest the time to learn. If someone like that worked with me, I could read the code and make changes if needed. But of course I assume that no one will volunteer.

There is one simple solution. That is that you work with me in setting up a SaidIt clone. I don't need to clone the SaidIt data, starting from scratch is fine. This would be the only free speech Reddit alternative, so it would grow slowly over time. For you this should be very easy. You can use and maintain the same code base for both SaidIt and my clone. Here is what I want:

No pyramid of debate. Mods have total control over their subs. Site-wide rules are minimal: no illegal content and probably no porn or disgusting images. (Free speech, not freedom of expression.) I have run an old forum hosting service called Nabble for many years and dealt with legal issues. I have a great lawyer. I also have a great sysadmin who can handle sysadmin issues.

The vast majority of the 8 billion pieces of human shit infesting our world are useless. So if you want free speech, don't expect anyone else to step forward and do anything. If you are willing to step forward, then we can make a free speech Reddit alternative.

[–][deleted] 6 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 3 fun -  (6 children)

I accept! Give me a week or two to get the codebase running well with docker, so that we don't have to use ubuntu 14 as the server OS. In the meantime you can decide on:

  • two upvotes types like here or the traditional upvote and downvote?
  • use the saidit CSS or start over with the old reddit CSS?
  • do you want the saidit chat add-ons/integration too?

[–]nsopegasusyou 5 insightful - 4 fun5 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

Good luck with the Havana Syndrome and the cyber attacks via hardware backdoors. Don't give up, tho. (Free speech is serious business, they gonna want your head trashed.)

[–]fschmidt[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

https://saidit.net/s/AskSaidIt/comments/8gk8/saidit_clone_design/

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

Wonder why he doesn't like rust, typescript, php, and javascript.

Nabble seems neat. First I've heard of it. Has a forum. Might be a step up if he can transfer all the "Apps" forums to the SaidIt platform. (Lesbian strapon sticks out.)

What about the old-Python ticking time bomb? I'm guessing they would have their own server(s) to run the old code.

This could be exciting.

[–]WhoFlu 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Rust is a fantastic language, although a little challenging to learn. I wish I had the time to invest into learning Rust properly.

Python and Ruby are much simpler languages, and great at first, but usually have significant problems with scaling.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

What about the old-Python ticking time bomb?

I'm addressing that by using Docker. It's a bandaid fix, but a step forward.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

What about the old-Python ticking time bomb?

I'm addressing that by using Docker. It's a bandaid fix, but a step forward.

Neat to know.

[–]RuckusChan 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

Good luck if you are trying but you should also learn the political lessons as to why so many sites fail, stacksity is a 404 503 error, hubski dot com is empty, snapzu dot com changed to a weird spam picture site, social media video site Vid dot me dead, frizbee.co nothing happening now blank page, tildes dot net is a ghost town, Ruqqus dying etc

[–]fschmidt[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

How can I learn these lessons? Maybe you can just tell me what I need to know.

[–]Zvezda 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

No porn at all? I very much agree :D

What is a pyramid of debate?

And would you (I know this sounds bad) allow talk about pedophilia, not glorifying it but just discussion about it. I think ruqqus had a problem like that and took a while to deal with so would be good for you to decide now whether legitimate discussion about it is allowed or not. I am for either to be honest with you, I do not mind banning discussion about it completely but I also think if a discussion about a taboo subject comes up we should be allowed to talk about. I just do not want this to become a pedo story site.

I am useless with technology so I am of no help, but if there is something I can do I would be willing to try.

[–]fschmidt[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

What is a pyramid of debate?

https://saidit.net/s/SaidIt/comments/j1/the_saiditnet_terms_and_content_policy/

And would you (I know this sounds bad) allow talk about pedophilia, not glorifying it but just discussion about it.

Yes

[–]Zvezda 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks 👍

Message me if you need anything for this website, I will try to help if I can :D

[–]JasonCarswell 5 insightful - 4 fun5 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 4 fun -  (6 children)

Whoa... you don't hear that everyday.

He's been saying it for almost a year. The legal thing is new. Not sure what that entails.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (5 children)

I think it means he's down to put his or his lawyer's name on everything, to take the heat if it comes.

[–]JasonCarswell 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

Not sure a lawyer or he would actually take much heat. It would be good to have insightful advice, and a counselors little bite behind the sign, rather than just an idle threat "beware of dog" without a dog, but these days I'm not counting on much. I must have hope and continue to try - without expectations - which will demotivate and let me down. Including my own limited human efforts.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

If he's gonna go big, it's gonna be a proper shitshow. Like when saidit's web host refused to host /s/IP2 So you're playing cat and mouse with DMCA takedown requests and shifty web hosts. Someday the decentralized reddit train* will ride into battle :/

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I wish him/them luck (and hope he can shake off some of his issues). Not sure how big anyone can get in a world dominated by monopolies.

Someday the decentralized reddit trail will ride into battle

I don't understand.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

train* oof what a goof.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Makes more sense.

Not sure I like the 1 dimensional limitations of a train confined to a track - or the possibility of a 50 car pile-up trainwreck. Why ride into battle? I'd prefer to deescalate conflict like a flock of seagulls free to flee.

[–]RuckusChan 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

Gab and Bitchute are there, Bitchute is starting to censor, there is also minds, telegram, odysee and medium. None of these sites are like saidit or reddit, they are more model on the facebook or youtube forumale. Poal could be an option other than saidit but it does censor and its culture changed to more Q-Anon Alt-Right after the Voat exodus, notabug.io even though it claims to be free it easily gets hijacked by bots, degenerate spammers and shills, Ruqqus will be dead soon and should not be on the list, the dot win community are the next big than after Saidit.

[–]fschmidt[S] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Gab is the worst website that I have ever seen. Bitchute is for videos, unrelated. Poal is a cesspool that prevents reasonable people from creating subs through negative karma. https://communities.win/ doesn't work.

[–]HibikiBlack 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

I don't get it. Saidit itself is already ridiculously liberal. In fact, one of the issues I see with the site is the way in which no one gets to force their authority in any way, the level of discourse gets greatly affected. Everything gets reduced to a popularity contest... But well it is the natural result of a lot of free speech.

Another downplay is that if your views are rather controversial enough, more regular users may not allow you to express yourself properly in a meaningful way. But either way, you can create tribalistic subs within Saidit itself, the only downplay is that your sub gets rather isolated, but there are many measures you can take to deal with that and help your guild with that issue.

[–]mahavishnunj 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Saidit itself is already ridiculously liberal.

say whaaaattt? wow

[–]HibikiBlack 6 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I'm not saying liberal in the sense of the right and left divide, but about it allowing free speech, as in liberalism vs authoritarianism.