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Comment by ciex | Hacker News Reader

Public networks are a lot more hostile than we realize while we have moderation armies at work. That may not be a sustainable model. I think the way forward is building the right tools to help communities self-manage. It will be more like Discord and less like Twitter.

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It seems like the biggest asset that creators are creating are the communities that form around them and their niche. The people who consume content within a niche tend to be very likeminded and often times quite willing to rally behind and support the bastions propelling the niches that they identify with. Even for smaller creators, I've seen time and time again that all you need is one or two highly dedicated and engaged fans to make being a creator an extremely lucrative endeavour.

I've been working on a platform to help content creators diversify their revenue streams and offer their communities that become a sort of privatized social network as one of their product offerings in addition to their content. The hope is to allow creators to better capture their community and monetize from their niche.

https://sociables.com/creators

I am a content creator (newsletter) where I interview music producers. The main goal behind it is to create a community where we have a place online, and multiple places offline to chill, chat and do our thing.

I am on the lookout to find how the online thing looks like, and honestly, it always comes back to a facebook group. I hate facebook. But it is the option with the least friction, for now.

Every other option, adds friction. From single signups to downloading mobile apps.

I haven't checked sociables yet (gonna, as soon as I hit reply), but I'm letting you know of my thoughts because it's a problem addressed to everyone.

Appreciate the reply. Did you have a chance to check out the platform? We are always looking for ways we can better tailor the platform to serve the needs of people like you.

Cheers

The challenge with moderation is that, in most localities, the service provider is legally liable for content shared on the platform. They generally don't have to catch everything but must show what is, after the fact, deemed to be "best effort" moderation.

Self-hosting content is really the only solution for a social network that doesn't include moderation. Any centralized datastore will be subject to local laws around the globe.

Yep, the biggest problem with all public forums tends to be the moderators. This includes HN.

Step 1: create a walled garden by taking over parts of the internet.

Step 2: algorithmically shadowban everyone you don't like.

This leaves most people with no voice. The only acceptable things to say are what the moderators of like 3 popular forums agree with.

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