The Evolution of SocialHub

“the crew gathered around #SocialHub worked remarkably well for a while, organising good gathering, conferences and very useful outreach of #ActivityPub to the #EU that seeded much of the current #mainstreaming. But yes, it was always small and under utilised due to the strong forces of #stupidindividalisam that we need to balance. Ideas?“

From grassroots origins, #SocialHub emerged as a community-driven platform, rooted in the #openweb principles, focusing on the interplay of technology and “native” social paths. Its initial success lay in its collaborative ethos, free from mainstream interference. This promising start has since failed, due to lack of core consensuses and the active #blocking of any process to mediate the mess making.

Current challenges are from the influx of non-native perspectives, The twitter migrants and rapid #Fediverse expansion has diluted what was left of the original focus. Then in reaction to this the has been a retreat to tech paths over the social paths. This shift toward technical priorities marginalized the social aspects that initially empowered and defined the community, this is a mirroring of broader #geekproblem struggles that are a continuing of the fading of the project.

What actually works is always grassroots messiness and constructive processes, that is messy in a good way, authentic, grassroots movements are inherently untidy, this ordered/chaos is where real social value is born and nurtured. Attempts to overly structure or mainstream these paths risks losing the path, this together with lifestyleism, and fragmented tribalism, distract from meaningful change. These behaviours breed from #stupidindividualism, a core outcome of the #deathcult we pray to, the culture that undermines collective action.

There is a needed role for activism, based on learning from history, to avoid repeating mistakes. This can lead to wider social engagement, and an embrace of messiness to counteract the stifling tendencies of rigid mainstreaming and isolated tech focus. The metaphor of “shovels” is useful to turn the current pile of social and technical “shit” into compost is apt. Grassroots communities nurture a healthier ecosystem that balances tech and social. The imbalance favouring tech over social needs to be addressed, reinvigorating the core social crew with a focus on community-oriented discussions and actions can restore equilibrium.

For this, it can be useful to challenge neoliberal narratives, use the #openweb/#closedweb framework to critique and dismantle pushing of #neoliberal “common sense”. Highlight how these ideologies breed the individualistic and exploitative tendencies that undermine collective progress. The need for vigilance against co-option and the importance of nurturing the messy authenticity of grassroots movements. The path forward requires not just shovelling but planting seeds of collaboration, transparency, and collective action. By embracing the messiness and keeping the focus on social value, the #openweb can flourish as a genuine alternative to the #closedweb.

#KISS

UPDATE: This has since failed

The question, how do we bring more people into this space of stepping away and creating something better?

There is a widespread deep frustration with #mainstreaming culture, strong pushing of the wrong people and prioritizing misguided actions in the current paths. How can we “think better” beyond the traps of the current socio-political mess.

The scum rises, in #mainstreaming culture, those who conform to the system, rather than challenge it, often rise to the top. This creates a cycle where meaningful change is stifled by mediocrity and opportunism.
Grassroots value, social progress has historically emerged from the #grassroots. By using this #KISS step we move away from the toxic #mainstreaming, we can refocus on nurturing these sources of value.
The wrong thing gets done, funders and institutional forces push agendas that diverge from grassroots needs, resulting in projects that perpetuate the status quo.
Paralysis of choice, the perceived lack of viable options (e.g., “you have no choice but to do the wrong thing”) leads to a sense of helplessness and frustration.

If we can take a beath to think better, we need to be on paths that reject the foundations of the current #mainstreaming while building more collective, focused and actions. Let’s look at some broad outline we could take:

Anarchist paths focus on horizontal organization, mutual aid, and direct action. Strengths: Empowers communities, resists hierarchy, and builds autonomy. Weaknesses: Often struggles with long-term scalability and coordination.
Trotskyist/Stalinist paths centralized control with a focus on revolutionary goals and structural transformation. Strengths: Can mobilize large-scale change and challenge systemic power structures. Weaknesses: builds authoritarianism, co-option, and detachment from real grassroots needs.
Liberal paths lead to incremental reforms within existing systems. Strengths: Pragmatic and accessible, with a focus on policy and advocacy. Weaknesses: Co-opted by #mainstreaming agendas, leading to superficial solutions.

With these options in mind let’s look at the #4opens approach, it is permissionless to sidestep these systemic failures, yes it aligns with anarchist values of autonomy while addressing their scalability challenges through structured openness and federation. It as some practical steps to nurture grassroots power: Step away from toxicity, recognize when systems and individuals perpetuate harm, and refocus energy on constructive grassroots work.

The path is about muddle through together, embraceing imperfection and collective experimentation. Mistakes are inevitable, but progress emerges from the process. A fist importent step is to push back against funders’ agendas, build alternative funding models (e.g., community support, cooperative economies) to reduce reliance on top-down directives. Focusing on trust networks, investing in relationships and trust-building at the grassroots level. Trust is the antidote to the cynicism of #mainstreaming.

This is about holding space for uncomfortable conversations, leaning into the discomfort of challenging entrenched norms and assumptions within movements. This path of challenge is a very real mess while we’re stuck in a cycle where “the wrong thing” gets done, with the strong pressure from flawed paths. Breaking free is always about stepping away, nurturing #grassroots alternatives, and committing to frameworks like the #4opens that push more collective empowerment over individual gain and #mainstreaming institutional control.

For more of this a bunch of grump old sods working on the same things seizethemeans and for more, add them in the comments please, let’s link the alt as a good first step. The question, how do we bring more people into this space of stepping away and creating something better? Currently, it is not very attractive to the #fashernistas

Where do you see the opportunity for these dialogues

Looking at some of the issues we need to fix

#NGO-driven approach to activism are a part of the challenges of #mainstreaming agendas in both tech and social movements. NGOs at best aim to “make the mess work a bit better” without addressing root causes of anything in an affective way. This band-aid path aligns them too much with the mainstreaming agenda rather than fostering a systemic change agenda. This need for maintaining “relevance” leads to shallow solutions rather than transformative action.

With activist projects, half entangled in this #NGO world, struggling to build shared objectives, collaboration becomes fragmented, and efforts fail to scale horizontally or vertically and sustain much impact. We have historical paths to mediate this, like the #PGA (Peoples’ Global Action) that aligning around clear hallmarks galvanizes collective action. With grassroots tech and user engagement, projects fail without people and communities. If people remain tethered to #dotcons, our work on grassroot projects die before they take off. Activists criticize dotcons but often fail to leave them, perpetuating the paths and systems they oppose, a symptom of the #deathcult worship.

Many radical/progressive tech initiatives focus on aesthetics (#fashernista) or isolated #geekproblem goals without contributing to broader movements like rebooting grassroots media, these efforts become distractions and dead ends, they waste time and focus. What is needed is to provide compelling alternatives to the dotcons that people can genuinely use and build upon to step away, so activism can play a bigger role. Leaving the #dotcons and embracing decentralized, ethical platforms is itself a form of activism, it’s a #KISS path that undermines the #deathcult and creates space for alternatives to thrive.

Composting pointless projects, we need to identify and “compost” projects that fail to contribute meaningfully to broader goals. This isn’t about cynicism, but about redirecting energy toward initiatives that matter. Use the energy of critique to inspire better efforts rather than dismiss entirely. Key question, how do we bridge the gap between critique and action to avoid losing people and momentum in the current mess, and not just create more mess? A first step is to challenge activists to step back, think critically, and act boldly, with a reminder that inaction—or misguided action—is a victory for the #deathcult.

Q. how do you envision the #4opens and #OMN evolving? What can you do to make this happen?

Personality Politics

Liberal personality politics is a big distraction to the change and challenge that we need, it is disrupting progressive projects, especially in tech and social activism paths. This repeatedly derails efforts by prioritizing individual egos and interpersonal conflicts over collective goals. The path to mediating this needs resilient, open, and structured processes that balance the impact of this messy dynamics.

Strategies to Counter Personality Politics

Shared Principles: Define the project’s mission and values early on, ensuring that these shared early and often to act as a guide for decisions and actions. Frameworks like the #4opens provide an excellent starting point.
Transparent Governance: Establish open and participatory governance models where decision-making is visible and accessible. This reduces opportunities for power grabs and grows trust within the group.
Focus on Objectives: Anchor the project around achievable, practical goals. This keeps efforts aligned with outcomes rather than personalities, avoiding distractions from the work at hand.
Conflict Mediation: Build in mechanisms to address conflicts early and constructively. Mediation processes should prioritize the collective good over individual grievances, ensuring disputes don’t derail the wider projects.

By emphasizing these, grassroots progressive projects build communities that remain focused on their paths, navigating the mess of personality politics, without losing momentum and motivation #KISS

Let’s build tools that reflect human flourishing

One of the strong #blocking forces is #mainstreaming objectives being imposed on non-mainstream projects. This is a strong recurring issue in alternative tech spaces like the #openweb and #Fediverse. This happens because people perceive mainstreaming as “common sense,” mistaking it for adding value. Over time, this mess erodes the radical, decentralizing paths, feeding people back into the centralization of #dotcons and perpetuating the #stupidindividualism we are trying to overcome.

Define and defend non-mainstream objectives with strong clarity of purpose. Clearly articulating the goals and principles of #openweb projects, emphasizing the value of non-mainstreaming paths. This needs to be anchored in frameworks like the #4opens and ethical guidelines such as the #PGA Hallmarks. Build the community agreements to hold these in place to ensure contributors understand and commit to these principles. Actively use documents, onboarding materials, and collective discussions to signpost these paths.
Strengthen “native” culture against #stupidIndividualism by balancing the push for collective governance, we need federated and decentralized governance structures like #OGB (Open Governance Body). These prevent individuals from overriding group objectives with personal agendas. Emphasize trust by fostering a culture that prioritizes relationships and trust over competition and self-interest.
Build post-scarcity #FOSS tools that focus on simplicity and functionality, avoid overloading projects with unnecessary features (#techshit) that complicate usability and dilute the #KISS vision. Prioritize accessibility, with tools that empower communities without requiring heavy technical expertise, making them usable and scalable without compromising their radical foundations. Use the #4opens to anchor technology in open processes, data, licences, and standards to ensure transparency and prevent co-optation.
Compost the stinking pile of #techshit. Shovels are a metaphor for composting, to open spaces for critique and push back #mainstreaming attempts constructively. Use feedback loops to identify and counteract behaviours that undermine these paths. Use real-world examples to illustrate the long-term harm. To combat the “common sense” myths, highlight how #mainstreaming benefits centralized systems and reinforces the #deathcult that meany people worship.
Resilience in the #fediverse and beyond is grown by practical limiting node scalability, in federated flows, understand scalability limits based on moderation and quality. This prevents overgrowth and maintains trust within smaller, more accountable communities. Encourage decentralization, by supporting the diversity of smaller instances rather than a few dominant ones. This ensures resilience and reduces the risk of centralization.

We need to be building tools for flourishing, in a large part to counteract #stupidindividualism and mainstreaming, for this we need affinity groups that focus on post-scarcity tech and tools that foster trust, collaboration, and grassroots empowerment. To make this happen, we need these affinity groups to use the #4opens as a guiding framework and the #OGB to organize collective governance. By prioritizing these non-mainstreaming flows, we expand the #openweb sustainably while preserving its radical, human-centered roots. Let’s build tools that reflect human flourishing, not corporate consolidation. It’s hard work, but it’s the only path forward that can work.

Open-source and #FOSS as everyday anarchism

Build trust structures early. Keep processes open (#4opens). Anchor everything in the commons. Make it harder for outsiders to extract value by building shared meaning instead of market value.

Grassroots Open Source Software (#FOSS) is a powerful example of anarchist organization in action, even if unintentionally. It’s a decentralized, cooperative model where people work together, driven by shared goals, not bosses or hierarchies. #FOSS has proven faster and more responsive than proprietary systems, cutting through bureaucracy to solve problems.

While not perfect (projects can fail due to poor organization or lack of interest), this path outpaces the traditional alternatives bogged down by debt, delay, and rigid management structures. It thrives because skilled teams self-manage, focusing on tasks that matter without over-management, a path and principle that resonates far beyond software.

Anarchist solutions don’t need to be perfect; they just need to be better than the deeply flawed paths we walk now. And #FOSS proves that they can be #KISS

The #OGB is a tool to push this out as a social tech path native to this.

The #NGO and #dotcons use of #FOSS is a whole another subject we do need to talk about.

The Problem: Postmodernism, Hate, and #StupidIndividualism

The influence of postmodern thinking among #fashernistas—people more focused on appearances and trends than substance—has eroded the core purpose of activism: fostering positive social change rooted in love, solidarity, and mutual aid. Meanwhile, the rise of a new breed of right-wing “activists” using hate and fear to advance the agenda of neo-liberalism’s #deathcult highlights the stark difference between activism and fascism. It’s critical to reclaim language and purpose in this context to clarify and reinvigorate progressive movements.

Confusion, postmodernism’s emphasis on skepticism and deconstruction has undermined the unifying narratives that once drove collective action. While useful for critiquing power, it results in fragmented movements without clear goals. This confusion allows #fashernistas to dominate activism, prioritizing visibility and personal branding over systemic change.

Hate-based “activism”, where the right-wing movements use hate and fear to build “solidarity” based on this fear, by reinforce the “stupid” part of individualism, feeding off the #deathcult of neoliberalism. These movements weaponize the language of activism, but their actions serve fascist goals of division and destruction.

This is the core of #stupidindividualism poison that neoliberalism breeds, isolated people and erodes the collective bonds necessary for transformative activism. This individualism poisons movements, turning them into echo chambers of self-interest rather than engines of solidarity.

Even the conservatives think we are in a mess

Ideas for antidotes, reclaiming activism for progressive change:

* Redefine activism anchored in solidarity, and collective care, rejecting hate and fear as tactics. Clearly differentiate between activism (which builds and unites) and fascism (which destroys and divides).

* Center collective narratives, move beyond postmodern fragmentation by building shared stories and visions for the future. Activism that connects people to a larger purpose and community. Embrace horizontal structures, by foster decentralized and inclusive decision-making processes, thus reducing reliance on vertical, personality-driven leadership. This actively counters #stupidindividualism with collaborative frameworks like the #4opens.

* Focus on systems and paths, not individuals, shift away from individual heroics and saviour complexes. Build tools and strategies that empower communities rather than centring individuals.

* Reclaim language, use honest language to name problems and solutions. Call hate-based movements what they are, fascist. Avoid diluting terms like “activism” with actions that lack integrity and constructive purpose.

Building a liveable, humanistic future, needs us, to reclaiming activism, grounding in principles that resist the #mainstreaming influence and cultural by-products like #stupidindividualism. Movements that reject hate and fear as tactics, fostering instead the solidarity needed to challenge oppression and resulting environmental destruction. The antidote lies in collective care, shared purpose, and tools like the #4opens to ensure accountability and #KISS progress. We need foundations to build from, with this we counter the cultural decay of the #deathcult and take paths toward meaningful, sustainable change we really need.

Grassroots Radical Media: A #4opens Path

To revive radical grassroots media, we need to return to the basics, and that means embracing #FOSS, #opensource, and the #4opens. These aren’t just technical choices; they’re political ones. The 4 opens: open data, open standards, open process, and open licenses act as both a key and a lock. A key to unlock collaborative, transparent networks and a lock to keep out the dilution and co-option that comes with #mainstreaming.

Activism vs. Mainstreaming. Activism seeks to challenge and change the system. Mainstreaming, often via NGO channels, seeks to manage and defuse resistance. One leads to transformation. The other leads to stable careers, conferences, and incremental tweaks. If we’re serious about building change, we must know the difference and act accordingly.

The #OMN Mission is to support that activist path. We don’t chase shiny toys. We focus on the 1% of tech and workflows that actually help people. That means filtering out distractions and rooting projects in shared ethics: the #PGA hallmarks, the #4opens, and a clear commitment to anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, grassroots-oriented collaboration. We don’t need more “disruptive innovation.” We need human-centred tools that support collective work, transparency, and trust.

Why the right is winning (And how we catch up). Let’s be honest: the right wing has outpaced the left on #openweb coordination. They’ve built propaganda farms, community hubs, and direct action tools, while we keep getting lost in over-academic jargon, fractured efforts, and endless reinvention.

We need to reboot and federate, not fragment. Let’s pick up where successful movements left off. Think: #Indymedia, updated for today, grounded in the #4opens, and governed with #KISS principles, to avoid the #deathcult, build for the Commons

Most mainstream tech is built on 40 years of #neoliberal assumptions: that people are selfish, fixed, and controlled. That’s the core ideology of the #deathcult, and most tech just reflects it back at us. Grassroots media must reject that. We build from a belief in people’s potential. That means tech designed for trust, collaboration, and autonomy.

Ask yourself:

"Does this serve the commons?"
"Does it align with the #4opens and the PGA hallmarks?"

That’s the filter we need to apply — especially as we face burnout, co-option, and the churn of #fashernista tech that solves nothing. We don’t need to start from scratch. We need to compost the mess, reuse what works, and rebuild the rest. That’s what the #OMN is: A shovel, A seedbed, A place to federate purposefully. Let’s stop spinning wheels and start building something that lasts.

Join the effort. Shape the future of radical media and open governance. Learn more at OMN on this path, the resurgence of grassroots radical media projects requires a return to foundational principles, particularly the embrace of #FOSS and #opensource practices. These principles align with the #4opens framework, which acts as both a lock and a key for building sustainable and accountable media networks.

Why radical media embrace’s #FOSS and the #4opens

Grassroots radical media has always sought to challenge and reshape dominant narratives. To do this effectively, it must adhere to principles of transparency, accessibility, and collaboration. This is why #FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and the #4opens framework are foundational. They aren’t just technical choices, they’re philosophical commitments to building equitable and resilient systems.

Transparency, open-source tools allow communities to see and understand the code they rely on, ensuring no hidden mechanisms compromise privacy or autonomy. The #4opens—open process, open data, open standards, and open licences—extend this transparency to decision-making, information sharing, and collaboration.
Accessibility, #FOSS tools remove barriers to entry by being freely available, reducing dependency on corporate and proprietary platforms. Grassroots projects should not depend on tools controlled by the systems they seek to challenge.

Resilience and autonomy, open-source systems allow communities to adapt and maintain tools independently, ensuring sustainability without external reliance. This autonomy is key to resisting co-optation or suppression by powerful entities.

Activism aims to build resistance to the dominant flow of power, pushing progressive change. #Mainstreaming, often driven by NGOs, does the opposite, it smooths resistance, aligning activism with the status quo. While this alignment might bring short-term visibility and funding, it undermines radical #KISS goals. Understanding this distinction is crucial for grassroots projects.

Main streaming paths, focuses on making activism palatable to existing power structures. Often funded to perpetuate jobs and programs rather than systemic change.
Activism Goals, challenges and disrupts mainstream systems to create alternative pathways. Prioritizes systemic change over institutional comfort.

To take the activism and grassroots paths, we need help addressing verbiage and over-analysis. The challenge is in combining academia with activism is the risk of losing focus amid jargon and theory-heavy discourse. While these discussions are valuable, grassroots projects need clarity and actionable goals. A balanced approach is essential, to simplify communication use frameworks like the #4opens to distil complex ideas into accessible principles. Prioritize outcomes, ensure discussions translate into clear plans and measurable actions.

The time to #reboot grassroots tech. The current over-reliance on proprietary #dotcons platforms controlled by corporate interests stifles radical change. A #reboot is needed to reinvigorate open tech communities by reviving collaboration around #FOSS and federated tools like #ActivityPub to build decentralized, people-controlled media ecosystems. To make this happen, we need to focus on the Basics and rebuilding solidarity. The question isn’t whether we should reboot grassroots tech, but how. By staying grounded in principles like the #4opens, we can reboot lasting alternatives to the status quo.

Why ideas matter

The important tension in the current state of social change efforts: individualism vs. collectivism, vertical vs. horizontal structures, and the challenges of maintaining fragile consensus. These dynamics have direct implications for how we approach systemic problems like #climatechaos and the creation of alternatives through projects like the #OMN.

On this subject, it’s important to understand why #stupidIndividualism is dangerous, which can be seen in the failure of individual solutions. Relying on individual action (e.g., recycling, personal carbon offsets) shifts focus from the systemic nature of crises. The climate emergency, for example, is primarily driven by industrial-scale emissions and unsustainable policies—not individual behaviour. This emphasis on individualism undermines collective action, which is the only scale at which meaningful change and challenge can occur.

Blind spots in vertical thinking, hierarchical (“vertical”) structures dismiss and fail to understand the dynamics of decentralized (“horizontal”) systems. Vertical systems are focused on control and clarity, at the expense of collaboration and diversity, which horizontal structures thrive on.

The dangers of certainty, consensus vs. certainty, pushing for “certainty”, rigid clarity often destroys consensus. Consensus, while fragile and imperfect, is the foundation of all functioning societies. It is built on compromise, flexibility, and mutual understanding. The insistence that “my view is right” fractures the trust necessary for cooperative systems to thrive.

Why this is destructive, the breakdown of consensus leads to polarization and inaction, both of which are catastrophic in the face of crises like #climatechange. Certainty-driven narratives ignore the complexity and nuance required to address interconnected, systemic issues.

Ideas for moving forward, focus on processes, rather than direct outcomes:

Build systems (like the #OMN) that prioritize open, participatory processes over prescriptive solutions. The #4opens—open process, open data, open licences, and open standards—offer a starting point for structuring this.
Encourage horizontal thinking, foster decentralized systems where power and decision-making are distributed. This creates resilience and allows diverse voices to contribute meaningfully.
Embrace ambiguity and iteration, instead of pushing for rigid clarity, accept that solutions evolve through experimentation and iteration. Social change is a dynamic process, not a static goal.
Reframe certainty as trust, replace the need for certainty with a culture of trust-based collaboration. Trust allows for flexibility and creativity within systems, enabling them to adapt and respond to changing circumstances.
Use crises as opportunities for solidarity, crises often push societies toward authoritarian responses. Instead, frame crises as opportunities to build solidarity, emphasizing shared struggles and collective goals.

This is why ideas matter, the urgency of the #climatecrisis, paired with the inertia of entrenched systems, makes it tempting to lean on familiar, hierarchical solutions. However, transformation comes from collective, decentralized efforts that prioritize flexibility, trust, and inclusion over individualism and rigid control. Projects like #OMN and frameworks like the #4opens are tools for navigating these challenges while staying grounded in the #KISS principles of solidarity and mutual aid.

The Seven Stages of climate denial:

1. It’s not real
2. It’s not us
3. It’s not that bad
4. We have time
5. It’s too expensive to fix
6. Here’s a fake solution
7. It’s too late: you should have warned us earlier

Trolls use all of these stages to deny the reality of #climatechaos

Mediating the damage from #fashernistas

“The problem with most fashernistas is that they are completely untrustworthy. Yet, people trust them because they push #mainstreaming “common sense” this is the definition of evil, what to do? Ideas please?”

The problem with most #fashernistas lies in their prioritizing of style, superficial appeal, and “common sense” #mainstreaming over substance and integrity. Their actions are too often driven by appearances and short-term gains, rather than the principled foundations necessary for long-term trust and genuine change and challenge that we need. This creates a facade of credibility, enabling them to gain influence while undermining collective efforts. How to compost this mess:

Expose the tension between trust and Influence by highlight the contradictions. Make clear how focus on mainstreaming compromises values, transparency and inclusivity. Use storytelling and case studies to show how #fashernistas to often derail projects.
Embed trust in processes over personality, that is, build systems where influence is based on contributions and adherence to principles rather than charisma or status. Use the #4opens to ensure actions align with open processes, open data, open standards, and open licenses. These principles can create accountability that individuals find hard to circumvent.
Empower alternatives, by actively amplify contributors who are trustworthy, even if their approach lacks the flashiness of fashernistas. Build in feedback loops to create mechanisms for communities to critique and shape direction collectively, minimizing the impact of any one individual’s agenda.
Combat the “Common Sense” mythos. Point out where “common sense” solutions fail to address deeper issues, emphasizing the need for critical thinking and alternative paths. Encourage discourse to grow, environments where questioning and dissent are valued rather than sidelined.
Strengthen the focus on horizontal structures to minimize opportunities for top-down influence. One path to this is transparent moderation to ensure that editorial and moderation processes are open to scrutiny, preventing backdoor manipulation.

A balanced approach is needed. The issue with #fashernistas isn’t just their untrustworthiness—it’s that their appeal distracts from meaningful work. Addressing this requires paths, systems and cultures that embed core values into projects like the #OMN or #Fediverse, you reduce reliance on individuals and focus on collective empowerment. Its #KISS

Thinking about news on the #fediverse

We need to reboot “news” on the #openweb to tackle the challenges of our collective #stupidindividualism and the #techshit it pushes in the #Fediverse, this is about focusing on balance, collaboration, and meaningful process. Let’s look at one path away from this “common senses” mess making, an example is the roadmap for #indymediaback and what do we mean by a #newswire. Looking at the current use of #AP on the #Fediverse with this in mind:

Repeats: Strengthen syndication between instances for better information flow.

Replies: Integrate as comments on newswire posts and features to foster engagement.

Likes/Stars: Define their roles to signal endorsements or importance, avoiding redundant or unclear actions.

DMs: Focus these on moderation or editorial inquiries to streamline communication.

Enforcing a balance between creativity and structure, we use editorial collectives to curate content based on established journalistic standards (e.g., the 5Ws of news reporting). Then applying consistent moderation to maintain the newswire as a valuable resource for grassroots reporting, minimizing off-topic or non-news contributions.

Building a robust newswire needs clear editorial guidelines, beginning with strict adherence to “newsworthiness,” rejecting non-news posts (up to 98% initially flow likely) to establish quality standards. Over time, this threshold can relax with user education and feedback. Focus on first-hand reports that embody the 5Ws of journalism (Who, What, Where, When, Why).

The feature process, highlights the synthesize of the best grassroots reports into cohesive narratives, combining text, images, audio, and video for impactful storytelling. Develop the features through editorial consensus, is about growing diversity of perspectives and adherence to the #4opens.

Federation via #activitypub to share content across the organic spreading network, building interconnectivity without duplicating efforts. Allow comments and replies to appear across instances, growing dialogue while maintaining strong editorial oversight.

Dealing with the “Nutter” problem by focus on process, not outcomes. Push the project forward with clear processes built on shared principles, understanding that life and society evolve over time. Avoid getting bogged down by demands for “perfect” solutions – basic, functional systems are a strong start. Reduce misinformation and #FUD by establish user education paths to combat misinformation and clarify project goals. Use editorial tools to label, moderate, and remove false content.

The #OMN vision strong defaults to #KISS hardcoded values and embedding the #4opens at every level of the project to resist the push for dilution of #mainstreaming pushing. Maintaining a grassroots, horizontal path to development to ensure inclusivity and resilience, this needs a cultural shift, addressing the reliance on #fashernistas and those who push “common sense” a part of this is emphasizing long-term, principled growth over short-term popularity. This path keeps the focus on trust, process, and grassroots collaboration, building a stronger, more resilient #Fediverse and revitalizing #indymediaback for meaningful, community-driven media production.

For more information, resources, the OMN wiki is a good place to start. You can fund the projects here

Indymedia based on the #OMN framework?