Comment by capableweb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by capableweb | Hacker News Reader

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You're effectively describing Scuttlebutt in a nutshell. Small communities that are formed ad-hoc by peering with each other. "Follow" mean you'll help replicate their content for others who follow them + you. Scuttlebutt is already successful even though it's very small so far. Tags and other things can be used to explore content on the network, as long as you've found an entry-point.

I'm a bit split about spreading the word about Scuttlebutt, I don't want to ruin it since it's already so great. But felt it was very related to what you were writing, so here goes nothing :)

In case you wanna join: https://scuttlebutt.nz/

The client I'm using is https://github.com/ssbc/patchwork

The name is awful. I certainly don't want to spread the word about "scuttlebutt". So I guess that's a good thing, keeps it small and cosy.

You sound like the same person who could never work on a ship as there is a "poop deck", and you could of course never refer to it as such, poop is a bad word!

Also, never try archery as some people might try to use the word "prickshaft" towards you. The horror.

What is so awful about "scuttlebutt"? In the old days, when ships were wooden, real sailors were pressed, etc., etc., every ship had a water container available to the sailors -- a water butt -- bigger than a puncheon but smaller than a tun. So sailors would share gossip (probably about how misguided their management was) -- scuttle -- around the water butt, hence "scuttlebutt".

Where's the "awful"?

eta: Exactly what we today refer to as "water cooler chatter/gossip"

Having never been in the old days, the word scuttlebutt isn’t in my vocabulary, but I do know scuttle (scamper) and butt (buttocks). Scampering buttocks, the meaning I would surmise in the absence of your history lesson, is indeed an awful choice of name if the network is aspiring for general appeal.

In the US military “scuttlebutt” refers to gossip. So that’s my first reaction to this name.

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