Coding a Decentralized Discussion Forum from zero

[epsi1on]

I was thinking about making a decentralized discussion forum from ground up, Is there anybody who is interested?

I actually did some job regarding the documentation and design of such forum which you could see here:

https://github.com/epsi1on/theforum/tree/master/doc/Architecture

[1715238661]

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[1715238661]

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[citb0in]

First things first: please avoid consecutive posts, merge them using the EDIT button 

Creating a decentralized discussion forum that is built on block chain sounds like an ambitious project! While the idea is intriguing, I'm curious about your motivations behind it. What inspired you to embark on such a venture? Have you identified specific problems or shortcomings in existing centralized forums that you aim to address? Additionally, decentralization brings its own set of challenges, such as scalability, governance, and user adoption. As well as cost questions (hardware, hosting, service, etc.) How do you plan to overcome these obstacles?

I'd love to hear more about your ideas and intentions for this project.

[epsi1on]

Have you identified specific problems or shortcomings in existing centralized forums that you aim to address?

I think biggest shortcoming is that it is centralized.
About challenges you are right. these are my thoughts:
about the scalability, I think there could be multiple in-depended networks, and since users are identified with public key instead of username, they could present on any network with a single ID.
Each forum category could be assumed as a separated network (with its own blockchain). not sure about governance and user adoption
Also the cost could be small, i.e. a single docker hosting can server tens of persons. maybe hundreds.

[hugeblack]

Bookmarked 

I think that the main problem is that the forum must be available to everyone and easy to use for beginners. If the group is closed or Nodes could have a firewall, this will reduce the features of the forum.
How large is the blockchain that the client needs, and how can shares be modified, deleted, does it require approval from all nodes, or can the user change it? Since there is no encryption/decryption, losing the private key or having another party know it means you need to create a new account, or is there a way to solve this problem?

[epsi1on]

Bookmarked  

I think that the main problem is that the forum must be available to everyone and easy to use for beginners. If the group is closed or Nodes could have a firewall, this will reduce the features of the forum.
How large is the blockchain that the client needs, and how can shares be modified, deleted, does it require approval from all nodes, or can the user change it? Since there is no encryption/decryption, losing the private key or having another party know it means you need to create a new account, or is there a way to solve this problem?

The main idea for such decentralized forum, came from here which i'm going to describe. I think it will clear things a little.
Imagine this very centralized forum (bitcointalk). every post i do send, a mysql query will be generate like this pseudo code:

insert into Forum_Posts (user, text, date, ...) values ( 3311025, 'the post context', date.now()) -- note that my userid on bitcointalk is 3311025

My main idea was to convert these queries into blocks, and form a blockchain with them.
Every new user first need to download the blockchain, apply it to a local DB and it have a readonly forum on localhost.

Nodes can have or have not firewall,
About pvt key, losing or exposing of it will be same as losing pvt key of a wallet in bare bitcoin network. all funds will be lost/taken.

About simplicity of use, i think it will be available as software like bitcoin core.

[citb0in]

Every new user first need to download the blockchain, apply it to a local DB and it have a readonly forum on localhost.

I am not sure whether this is in the interest of a user of the decentralized Internet forum. I find it hard to imagine that they would want to do without the convenience of the usual internet forums and provide extra resources for this. It's important not to lose sight of what the user would actually gain from such an architecture. Decentralized administration is opposed to user-friendliness, all of which must be justified, otherwise potential users will lose all interest in something like this. So you have to make it somewhat palatable to them. Just calling it "decentralized" won't be enough. Additionally, don't expect them to buy extra hardware or provide extra ressources just to being able to run this software

[epsi1on]

Every new user first need to download the blockchain, apply it to a local DB and it have a readonly forum on localhost.

I am not sure whether this is in the interest of a user of the decentralized Internet forum. I find it hard to imagine that they would want to do without the convenience of the usual internet forums and provide extra resources for this. It's important not to lose sight of what the user would actually gain from such an architecture. Decentralized administration is opposed to user-friendliness, all of which must be justified, otherwise potential users will lose all interest in something like this. So you have to make it somewhat palatable to them. Just calling it "decentralized" won't be enough. Additionally, don't expect them to buy extra hardware or provide extra ressources just to being able to run this software

Yes you are right, actually it is not well suited for general users.
From user point of view, actually this decentralized forum is very much like current forums (like VBulletin, SMF or ...) with few key differences:
- It uses public key and signature instead of username/password combination
- Database is on blockchain instead of MySQL, thus anyone can simply fork the whole network
- It is an binary application on client side (need installation), instead of being web based.
- It have way less features and wayyyy more complications versus SMF
I think it suits for pro users which are familiar with cryptography, programming and ...