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  3. An open source Peer-to-peer serverless decentralized social media protocol built on IPFS

An open source Peer-to-peer serverless decentralized social media protocol built on IPFS

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  • N [email protected]

    Great question! Unlike Lemmy, which relies on federation with dedicated servers, Plebbit is fully peer-to-peer (P2P) and does not have a central server or even instances. Instead, storage happens via a combination of IPFS and users seeding data. Here’s how it works:

    Where Is Plebbit's Data Stored?

    1. Subplebbit Owners Host the Data (Like Torrent Seeders)

      • Each subplebbit owner runs a Plebbit node that stores and republishes their own community's data.
      • Their device (or a server, if they choose) must be online 24/7 to ensure the subplebbit remains accessible.
      • If a subplebbit owner goes offline, their community disappears unless others seed it—very similar to how torrents work.
    2. Users Act as Temporary Seeders

      • Any user who visits a subplebbit automatically stores and seeds the content they read.
      • This means active users help distribute content, like in BitTorrent.
      • If a user closes their app and no one else is seeding the content, it becomes unavailable until the owner comes back online.
    3. IPFS for Content Addressing

      • Posts and comments are stored in IPFS, which ensures that popular content remains available longer.
      • Unlike a blockchain, there is no permanent historical ledger—if no one is seeding, the data is gone.
      • Each post has a content address (CID), meaning that as long as someone has the data, it can be re-fetched.
    4. PubSub for Live Updates

      • Plebbit uses peer-to-peer pubsub (publish-subscribe messaging) to broadcast new content between nodes in real-time.
      • This helps users see new posts without needing a central server to pull updates from.

    What Happens If Everyone Goes Offline?

    • If no one's online to seed a subplebbit, it's as if it never existed.
    • This is a trade-off for infinite scalability—it removes the need for central databases but relies on community participation.
    • Think of it like a dead torrent—no seeders, no content.

    Comparison With Lemmy

    Feature Lemmy Plebbit
    Hosting Model Federated servers (instances) Fully P2P (no servers)
    Who Stores Data? Instance owners (like Reddit mods running a server) Subplebbit owners & users (like torrents)
    If Owner Goes Offline? Instance still exists; data stays up The community disappears unless users seed it
    Historical Content Availability Instances keep all posts forever Older data may disappear if not seeded
    Scalability Limited by instance storage & bandwidth Infinite, as long as people seed

    Bottom Line: No Servers, Just Users

    • With Lemmy: The instance owner has to host everything themselves like a mini-Reddit admin.
    • With Plebbit: The subplebbit owner AND users seed the content—no one has to host a centralized database.
    • If something is popular, it stays alive.
    • If something isn't seeded, it disappears, just like torrents.

    It’s a radical trade-off for decentralization and censorship resistance, but if no one cares about a community, the content naturally dies off. No server, no mods deleting you from a database—just pure P2P.

    Hope that clears it up! 🚀

    B This user is from outside of this forum
    B This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote on last edited by
    #10

    Not only is IPFS not built on solid foundations, offered nothing new to the table, and is generally bad at data retention, but the "opt-in seeding" model was always a step backwards and not a good match for apps like plebbit.

    The anonymous distributes filesystem model (a la Freenet/Hyphanet) where each file segment is anonymously and randomly "inserted" into the distributed filesystem is the way to go. This fixes the "seeder power" problem, as undesirable but popular content can stay highly available automatically, and unpopular but desirable content can be re-inserted/healed periodically by healers (seeders). Only both unpopular and undesirable content may fizzle out of the network, but that can only happen in the context of messaging apps/platforms if 0 people tried pull and 0 people tried to reinsert the content in question over a long period of time.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • R [email protected]

      How long until this gets overrun with 🍕 and nobody wants to use it

      W This user is from outside of this forum
      W This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote on last edited by
      #11

      I bring this point up every time I see someone pushing the idea of P2P or federated social networks with no moderation and no one has a solution for it yet. Because there isn't a solution.

      It's like these people don't even want to look at existing social media with minimal moderation. It doesn't take long on 4chan and other less reputable *chan style sites to see that no matter how much you want to shake off the chains of overbearing moderators, there is a bare minimum moderation necessary for any social media to survive.

      Even social media sites on TOR have moderation.

      When even the darkest, least moderated cesspools online still have some minimal moderation, it should be a massive neon sign that there needs to be some moderation functionality.

      B 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • N [email protected]

        Great question! Unlike Lemmy, which relies on federation with dedicated servers, Plebbit is fully peer-to-peer (P2P) and does not have a central server or even instances. Instead, storage happens via a combination of IPFS and users seeding data. Here’s how it works:

        Where Is Plebbit's Data Stored?

        1. Subplebbit Owners Host the Data (Like Torrent Seeders)

          • Each subplebbit owner runs a Plebbit node that stores and republishes their own community's data.
          • Their device (or a server, if they choose) must be online 24/7 to ensure the subplebbit remains accessible.
          • If a subplebbit owner goes offline, their community disappears unless others seed it—very similar to how torrents work.
        2. Users Act as Temporary Seeders

          • Any user who visits a subplebbit automatically stores and seeds the content they read.
          • This means active users help distribute content, like in BitTorrent.
          • If a user closes their app and no one else is seeding the content, it becomes unavailable until the owner comes back online.
        3. IPFS for Content Addressing

          • Posts and comments are stored in IPFS, which ensures that popular content remains available longer.
          • Unlike a blockchain, there is no permanent historical ledger—if no one is seeding, the data is gone.
          • Each post has a content address (CID), meaning that as long as someone has the data, it can be re-fetched.
        4. PubSub for Live Updates

          • Plebbit uses peer-to-peer pubsub (publish-subscribe messaging) to broadcast new content between nodes in real-time.
          • This helps users see new posts without needing a central server to pull updates from.

        What Happens If Everyone Goes Offline?

        • If no one's online to seed a subplebbit, it's as if it never existed.
        • This is a trade-off for infinite scalability—it removes the need for central databases but relies on community participation.
        • Think of it like a dead torrent—no seeders, no content.

        Comparison With Lemmy

        Feature Lemmy Plebbit
        Hosting Model Federated servers (instances) Fully P2P (no servers)
        Who Stores Data? Instance owners (like Reddit mods running a server) Subplebbit owners & users (like torrents)
        If Owner Goes Offline? Instance still exists; data stays up The community disappears unless users seed it
        Historical Content Availability Instances keep all posts forever Older data may disappear if not seeded
        Scalability Limited by instance storage & bandwidth Infinite, as long as people seed

        Bottom Line: No Servers, Just Users

        • With Lemmy: The instance owner has to host everything themselves like a mini-Reddit admin.
        • With Plebbit: The subplebbit owner AND users seed the content—no one has to host a centralized database.
        • If something is popular, it stays alive.
        • If something isn't seeded, it disappears, just like torrents.

        It’s a radical trade-off for decentralization and censorship resistance, but if no one cares about a community, the content naturally dies off. No server, no mods deleting you from a database—just pure P2P.

        Hope that clears it up! 🚀

        W This user is from outside of this forum
        W This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote on last edited by
        #12

        How are users able to decide what they seed and what they don't? Just because I viewed something doesn't mean I necessarily want to support its proliferation.

        A 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • P [email protected]

          Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

          Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

          this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

          Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

          ENS domain are used to name communities.

          Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

          anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

          Important Links :

          Home

          https://plebbit.com/home

          App

          https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

          FAQ

          https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

          Whitepapers

          https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

          https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

          Github

          https://github.com/plebbit

          https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

          https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

          https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

          https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

          S This user is from outside of this forum
          S This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote on last edited by
          #13

          Technically cool, but it's scary that it tries to emulate the anonymous, unmoderated shithole that is 4chan. Go to 4chan now and try to imagine something even more racist, nazi and unhinged.

          C 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • W [email protected]

            I bring this point up every time I see someone pushing the idea of P2P or federated social networks with no moderation and no one has a solution for it yet. Because there isn't a solution.

            It's like these people don't even want to look at existing social media with minimal moderation. It doesn't take long on 4chan and other less reputable *chan style sites to see that no matter how much you want to shake off the chains of overbearing moderators, there is a bare minimum moderation necessary for any social media to survive.

            Even social media sites on TOR have moderation.

            When even the darkest, least moderated cesspools online still have some minimal moderation, it should be a massive neon sign that there needs to be some moderation functionality.

            B This user is from outside of this forum
            B This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote on last edited by
            #14

            Because there isn’t a solution.

            This has been discussed and experimented with to death where such networks existed for a long time. Just because you never heard of them or even knew they exist doesn't mean that they don't.

            See Freenet/Hyphanet and the three approaches (local trust, shared user trust lists, web of trust) if you want to learn something. The second one worked out the best from a performance and scalability point of view compared to the third.

            W R 2 Replies Last reply
            0
            • W [email protected]

              How are users able to decide what they seed and what they don't? Just because I viewed something doesn't mean I necessarily want to support its proliferation.

              A This user is from outside of this forum
              A This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote on last edited by
              #15

              Either way you still do. Think about it.

              W 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • B [email protected]

                Because there isn’t a solution.

                This has been discussed and experimented with to death where such networks existed for a long time. Just because you never heard of them or even knew they exist doesn't mean that they don't.

                See Freenet/Hyphanet and the three approaches (local trust, shared user trust lists, web of trust) if you want to learn something. The second one worked out the best from a performance and scalability point of view compared to the third.

                W This user is from outside of this forum
                W This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote on last edited by
                #16

                Holy shit you cannot be serious. In the shortest possible terms: trust systems are forms of moderation. Anything implementing them would not fall under what I was talking about.

                This project doesn't appear to implement that. It doesn't even appear to have a bare minimum way for users to prevent themselves from sharing something they viewed but don't want to share. Viewing something should not imply trust.

                Definitely appreciate the assumption that I'm just a dumbass and you've come to shine the light of enlightenment on me though. That my point of view could only be possible to reach through ignorance. That's always nice.

                B 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • A [email protected]

                  Either way you still do. Think about it.

                  W This user is from outside of this forum
                  W This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #17

                  Please spare me whatever philosophical navel gazing you're trying to do here. I'm asking what should be an incredibly straightforward question about what should be basic functionality in any P2P seeding based system:

                  What control, if any, does an individual user have over what they seed back into the system?

                  Some P2P systems just give each user an encrypted blob of all sorts of stuff, so the individual user can't choose and on paper isn't responsible for whatever it is that they are seeding back in. I'm personally not ok with not having a way to ensure that I'm not seeding nazi manifestos.

                  S A 3 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • P [email protected]

                    Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                    Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

                    this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

                    Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

                    ENS domain are used to name communities.

                    Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

                    anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

                    Important Links :

                    Home

                    https://plebbit.com/home

                    App

                    https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

                    FAQ

                    https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

                    Whitepapers

                    https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

                    https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

                    Github

                    https://github.com/plebbit

                    https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

                    https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

                    https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

                    https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

                    ? Offline
                    ? Offline
                    Guest
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #18

                    From the whitepaper:

                    1. The user completes the captcha challenge and publishes his post and
                      captcha challenge answer over pubsub.
                    2. The subplebbit owner’s client gets notified that the user published to his
                      pubsub, the post is not ignored because it contains a correct captcha
                      challenge answer.
                    3. The subplebbit owner’s client publishes a message over pubsub indicating
                      that the captcha answer is correct or incorrect. Peers relaying too many
                      messages with incorrect or no captcha answers get blocked to avoid DDOS
                      of the pubsub.
                    4. The subplebbit owner’s client updates the content of his subplebbit’s
                      public key-based addressing automatically

                    I may be misunderstanding how this protocol works, but at step 10 what prevents the owner from publishing the captcha answer as incorrect as a method of censorship based on the content of the post?

                    ? K P 3 Replies Last reply
                    0
                    • W [email protected]

                      Holy shit you cannot be serious. In the shortest possible terms: trust systems are forms of moderation. Anything implementing them would not fall under what I was talking about.

                      This project doesn't appear to implement that. It doesn't even appear to have a bare minimum way for users to prevent themselves from sharing something they viewed but don't want to share. Viewing something should not imply trust.

                      Definitely appreciate the assumption that I'm just a dumbass and you've come to shine the light of enlightenment on me though. That my point of view could only be possible to reach through ignorance. That's always nice.

                      B This user is from outside of this forum
                      B This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #19

                      Apologies if I was presumptions and/or my tone was too aggressive.

                      Quibbling at No Moderation = Bad usually refers to central moderation where "someone" decides for others what they can and can't see without them having any say in the matter.

                      Bad moderation is an experienced problem at a much larger scale. It in fact was one of the reasons why this very place even exists. And it was one of the reasons why "transparent moderation" was one of the celebrated features of Lemmy with its public Modlog, although "some" quickly started to dislike that and try to work around it, because power corrupts, and the modern power seeker knows how to moral grandstand while power grabbing.

                      All trust systems give the user the power, by either letting him/her be the sole moderator, or by letting him/her choose moderators (other users) and how much each one of them is trusted and how much weight their judgment carries, or by letting him/her configure more elaborate systems like WoT the way he/she likes.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • P [email protected]

                        Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                        Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

                        this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

                        Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

                        ENS domain are used to name communities.

                        Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

                        anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

                        Important Links :

                        Home

                        https://plebbit.com/home

                        App

                        https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

                        FAQ

                        https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

                        Whitepapers

                        https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

                        https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

                        Github

                        https://github.com/plebbit

                        https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

                        https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

                        https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

                        https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

                        B This user is from outside of this forum
                        B This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #20

                        This again? It's basically lemmy but less secure, stop advertising it

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • ? Guest

                          From the whitepaper:

                          1. The user completes the captcha challenge and publishes his post and
                            captcha challenge answer over pubsub.
                          2. The subplebbit owner’s client gets notified that the user published to his
                            pubsub, the post is not ignored because it contains a correct captcha
                            challenge answer.
                          3. The subplebbit owner’s client publishes a message over pubsub indicating
                            that the captcha answer is correct or incorrect. Peers relaying too many
                            messages with incorrect or no captcha answers get blocked to avoid DDOS
                            of the pubsub.
                          4. The subplebbit owner’s client updates the content of his subplebbit’s
                            public key-based addressing automatically

                          I may be misunderstanding how this protocol works, but at step 10 what prevents the owner from publishing the captcha answer as incorrect as a method of censorship based on the content of the post?

                          ? Offline
                          ? Offline
                          Guest
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #21

                          Do you mean spamming faulty captcha answers to trigger the DDOS protection on the peers?

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • P [email protected]

                            Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                            Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

                            this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

                            Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

                            ENS domain are used to name communities.

                            Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

                            anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

                            Important Links :

                            Home

                            https://plebbit.com/home

                            App

                            https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

                            FAQ

                            https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

                            Whitepapers

                            https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

                            https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

                            Github

                            https://github.com/plebbit

                            https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

                            https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

                            https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

                            https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

                            ? Offline
                            ? Offline
                            Guest
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #22

                            No moderation seems like a recipe for disaster

                            T ? P 3 Replies Last reply
                            0
                            • P [email protected]

                              Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                              Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

                              this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

                              Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

                              ENS domain are used to name communities.

                              Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

                              anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

                              Important Links :

                              Home

                              https://plebbit.com/home

                              App

                              https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

                              FAQ

                              https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

                              Whitepapers

                              https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

                              https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

                              Github

                              https://github.com/plebbit

                              https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

                              https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

                              https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

                              https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

                              kissaki@programming.devK This user is from outside of this forum
                              kissaki@programming.devK This user is from outside of this forum
                              [email protected]
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #23

                              this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people

                              The "giving control of communication" goal seems to contradict the "viewer automatically shares without a choice" and the dependence on good-intent node owners not moderating their node content.

                              If a node owner hosts a community, what prevents them from moderating that community?

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • W [email protected]

                                Please spare me whatever philosophical navel gazing you're trying to do here. I'm asking what should be an incredibly straightforward question about what should be basic functionality in any P2P seeding based system:

                                What control, if any, does an individual user have over what they seed back into the system?

                                Some P2P systems just give each user an encrypted blob of all sorts of stuff, so the individual user can't choose and on paper isn't responsible for whatever it is that they are seeding back in. I'm personally not ok with not having a way to ensure that I'm not seeding nazi manifestos.

                                S This user is from outside of this forum
                                S This user is from outside of this forum
                                [email protected]
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #24

                                I’m personally not ok with not having a way to ensure that I’m not seeding nazi manifestos that were stealthing as a reasonably named subplebbit.

                                I kind of get the feeling this is exactly the content they want to help host when they refer to "censorship resistance". This was also the key selling point of Gab when it launched.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • ? Guest

                                  No moderation seems like a recipe for disaster

                                  T This user is from outside of this forum
                                  T This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #25

                                  Well from their site

                                  Moderation

                                  Since there are no global admins, the administrative control of a subplebbit rests solely with its creator. No one else can moderate content or accounts unless the subplebbit creator grants them permission.

                                  So, it's not that theirs no moderation. It's just "subplebbit" creator/delegates controlled as there is no over arching site wide company able to moderate it on the whole.

                                  It will mean, as a user, you'll have to be liberal with removing subplebbits from your own feed though. I'm sure there will be some.. not so pleasant subplebbits appearing.

                                  C 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • P [email protected]

                                    Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                                    Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

                                    this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

                                    Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

                                    ENS domain are used to name communities.

                                    Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

                                    anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

                                    Important Links :

                                    Home

                                    https://plebbit.com/home

                                    App

                                    https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

                                    FAQ

                                    https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

                                    Whitepapers

                                    https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

                                    https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

                                    Github

                                    https://github.com/plebbit

                                    https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

                                    https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

                                    https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

                                    https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

                                    ? Offline
                                    ? Offline
                                    Guest
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #26

                                    Good job

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • P [email protected]

                                      Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                                      Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

                                      this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

                                      Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

                                      ENS domain are used to name communities.

                                      Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

                                      anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

                                      Important Links :

                                      Home

                                      https://plebbit.com/home

                                      App

                                      https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

                                      FAQ

                                      https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

                                      Whitepapers

                                      https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

                                      https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

                                      Github

                                      https://github.com/plebbit

                                      https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

                                      https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

                                      https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

                                      https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

                                      ? Offline
                                      ? Offline
                                      Guest
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #27

                                      @Plebbitor I could not join the matrix, please check the server is OK 😓

                                      @programming

                                      P 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • P [email protected]

                                        Plebbit is pure peer-to-peer social media protocol, it has no central servers, no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                                        Unlike federated platforms, like lemmy and Mastedon, there are no instances or servers to rely on

                                        this project was created due to wanting to give control of communication and data back to the people.

                                        Plebbit only hosts text. Images from google and other sites can be linked/embedded in posts. This fixes the issue of hosting any nefarious content.

                                        ENS domain are used to name communities.

                                        Plebbit currently offers different UIs. Old reddit UI and new reddit, 4chan, and have a Blog. Plebbit intend to have an app, internet archive, wiki and twitter and Lemmy UI . Choice is important. The backend/communities are shared across clients.

                                        anyone can contribute, build their own client, and shape the ecosystem

                                        Important Links :

                                        Home

                                        https://plebbit.com/home

                                        App

                                        https://plebbit.com/home#cb2a9c90-6f09-44b2-be03-75f543f9f5aa

                                        FAQ

                                        https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/blob/master/FAQ.md

                                        Whitepapers

                                        https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper

                                        https://github.com/plebbit/whitepaper/discussions/2

                                        Github

                                        https://github.com/plebbit

                                        https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

                                        https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react/releases

                                        https://github.com/plebbit/seedit

                                        https://github.com/plebbit/seedit/releases

                                        sortekanin@feddit.dkS This user is from outside of this forum
                                        sortekanin@feddit.dkS This user is from outside of this forum
                                        [email protected]
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #28

                                        no global admins, and no way shut down communities-meaning true censorship resistance.

                                        "True censorship resistance" is not a desirable property. No normal user wants to deal with moderation. You need to have a structure for delegating moderation and such tasks to other people.

                                        C P 2 Replies Last reply
                                        0
                                        • N [email protected]

                                          Great question! Unlike Lemmy, which relies on federation with dedicated servers, Plebbit is fully peer-to-peer (P2P) and does not have a central server or even instances. Instead, storage happens via a combination of IPFS and users seeding data. Here’s how it works:

                                          Where Is Plebbit's Data Stored?

                                          1. Subplebbit Owners Host the Data (Like Torrent Seeders)

                                            • Each subplebbit owner runs a Plebbit node that stores and republishes their own community's data.
                                            • Their device (or a server, if they choose) must be online 24/7 to ensure the subplebbit remains accessible.
                                            • If a subplebbit owner goes offline, their community disappears unless others seed it—very similar to how torrents work.
                                          2. Users Act as Temporary Seeders

                                            • Any user who visits a subplebbit automatically stores and seeds the content they read.
                                            • This means active users help distribute content, like in BitTorrent.
                                            • If a user closes their app and no one else is seeding the content, it becomes unavailable until the owner comes back online.
                                          3. IPFS for Content Addressing

                                            • Posts and comments are stored in IPFS, which ensures that popular content remains available longer.
                                            • Unlike a blockchain, there is no permanent historical ledger—if no one is seeding, the data is gone.
                                            • Each post has a content address (CID), meaning that as long as someone has the data, it can be re-fetched.
                                          4. PubSub for Live Updates

                                            • Plebbit uses peer-to-peer pubsub (publish-subscribe messaging) to broadcast new content between nodes in real-time.
                                            • This helps users see new posts without needing a central server to pull updates from.

                                          What Happens If Everyone Goes Offline?

                                          • If no one's online to seed a subplebbit, it's as if it never existed.
                                          • This is a trade-off for infinite scalability—it removes the need for central databases but relies on community participation.
                                          • Think of it like a dead torrent—no seeders, no content.

                                          Comparison With Lemmy

                                          Feature Lemmy Plebbit
                                          Hosting Model Federated servers (instances) Fully P2P (no servers)
                                          Who Stores Data? Instance owners (like Reddit mods running a server) Subplebbit owners & users (like torrents)
                                          If Owner Goes Offline? Instance still exists; data stays up The community disappears unless users seed it
                                          Historical Content Availability Instances keep all posts forever Older data may disappear if not seeded
                                          Scalability Limited by instance storage & bandwidth Infinite, as long as people seed

                                          Bottom Line: No Servers, Just Users

                                          • With Lemmy: The instance owner has to host everything themselves like a mini-Reddit admin.
                                          • With Plebbit: The subplebbit owner AND users seed the content—no one has to host a centralized database.
                                          • If something is popular, it stays alive.
                                          • If something isn't seeded, it disappears, just like torrents.

                                          It’s a radical trade-off for decentralization and censorship resistance, but if no one cares about a community, the content naturally dies off. No server, no mods deleting you from a database—just pure P2P.

                                          Hope that clears it up! 🚀

                                          M This user is from outside of this forum
                                          M This user is from outside of this forum
                                          [email protected]
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #29

                                          Is this reply AI generated?

                                          N 1 Reply Last reply
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