Discussion
I've been giving lots of feedback to the @Bonfire@bonfire.cafe guys. They're taking things up SUPER fast. It's been absolutely incredible.
I recommend folks try out Bonfire, because it's honestly shaping up to be the one stop shop platform for social networking, consuming news, eventually handling calendar events, etc.
They just let me know about the new Git they just put up about Bonfire Widget suggestions. What would YOU want to see in Bonfire?
@ozoned @Bonfire I still don’t quite understand what Bonfire is. I already have a Mastodon instance. Would Bonfire be software that I use instead of a Mastodon instance? Is it a fork or a competitor? A suite of apps that includes a Mastodon fork/competitor? Something else entirely? I see mention of it occasionally and links to github repos but I am not a tech geek. Is it for tech geeks?
@annewalk@tootsweet.social @Bonfire@bonfire.cafe great question. It is like Mastodon as you can create messages, like this. And it can connect to other servers. That's where the similarity ends.
Bonfire is being designed in flavors and extensions. So you can tack on what you want. They want you to build your community with it and they offer TONS of out of the box controls.
There's an open science version that yes has toots, but also allows you to search through research papers.
They're adding a calendar so you can create and track events.
I've talked with them about a RSS reader that I can easily toot out articles I enjoy.
They're actually looking for feedback on what extensions folks would like to see on their git.
They're implementing end to end encryption in their direct messages.
They're going to work on. a community flavour that ties communities closer.
When I go to my instance and log in I don't see a wall of toots. I see my dashboard. At the moment my dashboard has news articles shown. And tending topics. It'll ha e more in the future. These are created from the sources I follow.
So it's basically a one stop shop for information I desire, under my control, and oh yeah you can do like Mastodon.
But again, as it's modular you can strip out all of it as well.
It's definitely not for everyone, and it's buggy, but Ivan and Mayel are amazing dudes that are very receptive to the rough edges and bugs.
I did a video installing and showing it off if you'd like to watch it:
tubefree.org/w/3pATRDsqiBu99...
I'm on Matrix, Signal or Discord as well if you want questions. And the Bonfire folks are on Matrix as well.
@ozoned I see. Thanks for the explanation. I think I understand now. Sounds interesting. Not something I need at the moment but maybe in the future!
@marcusxms@friendica.dk totally understand this. I begrudginly made a Github acct a while ago to interact with projects. It solves problems though for a lot of folks. I wouldn't start my projects there, but I'm also a self-hoster that runs my own git. But I'm also not heads down trying to create the next open social network app. 😁 lol
@ozoned I reluctantly have an account there too but I'm going to make it a higher priority to bring GitHub down this year, ie. move projects I'm involved in or know about away from there. Could even consider donating time or (some) money to help others do that.
They could self host, but one could still stick with a hosted, open source solution like Codeberg or even GitLab. Open source, small, community-driven platform or closed source tech monopoly? The answer should be simple.
@ozoned I need them to fix the email issue before I can use it.
@ikklegemzuniverseplus@ohai.social What email issue is that?
@ozoned It's not sending verification emails. I have mentioned it to them a while ago
@ikklegemzuniverseplus@ohai.social Are you sure your mail is set right? When I do an invite link, click it, and email is working there for me.
Or are you referring to a different email process?
The initial invite email works though. Email is a frustrating thing to set up though, I had many issues. Not Bonfire related.
@ozoned It could well be something I've done but it all looks ok.
@ikklegemzuniverseplus@ohai.social Are you running it on a VPS? I know Hetzner, for instance, blocks outgoing email as they don't want to be an email spam farm. You have to request they open it. There are commands to try to connect to email servers from the CLI that you might be able to make sure you have connectivity out.
@ozoned @Bonfire I have high expectations for Bonfire Community, not so much Bonfire Social. A modern UX in the #fediverse with native groups is needed 😊
@jrossstocholm@mstdn.dk oh agreed. I'm dog fooding Bonfire Social, because I want to use Bonfire to help communities build their own socials. Looking forward to more flavors/spins. It's shaping up to be a SOLID base atm though.
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