Introducing Neb - A Social Network For People
This is a working draft. It'll change over time as I refine it. Something working-in-public helps me do.
The first version is still in development. Writing this helps inform its direction which is why I'm doing it now instead of when the app is ready for folks to use.
Introduction
The web sucks right now1.
We lost control. Turning our online lives over to corporations. Focused on their drive for ever-increasing profits, they've taking the best of the web away from us2.
Neb is a new social network. It's designed to regain control. It's not an attempt to go back to the good old days. It's taking the lessons we've learned from history and building on top of them.
The High Level Tech
I've got a full post of thoughts about how to revitalize the web3. It's a long term plan. We'll get there, but we've got to take the first step first. With Neb, that looks like this:
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At it's highest level, Neb is a specification for feeds and files served by individual websites. It uses HTML, CSS, RSS, and Web Components over HTTPs instead of other protocolstktktk add footnotes to the vaiours tech stuff. Talk about the other open protocals that have been developed for social networks and the difference of using them vs web based appraoch.
Said another way, it's a set of conventions for how to build a websitetktktk note that it's more about building an interface to a website, you can still do whatever you want on the site itself too. Any website that follows them becomes available in the networktktktk add footnote about centralized vs decentralized and what that means for givig control and agency to folks. How owning your own domain means you're in complete control (short of government intervention). Also talk about the history of webrings and blogrolls as similar ideas but they lacked standarization that would let them interlink throught a single appraoch to more easily form networks..
- Apps produce feeds for their own site while consuming feeds from otherstktktk add footnote about how anyone can build apps to work with the network. And, how there's no way (short of blowing up the internet) to prevent that from happening unlike other social networks which can and have shut down their APIs. The overall experience is like contemporary social networks. A single app for both reading and writingtktktk cite the difference of read/write vs contemporary RSS readers which are read only.
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People follow feeds of folks their interested in. When they do , they'll also see the feeds those people followtktktk note about only seeing public follows. A one degree of separation look at those around you to see who else you might like to follow.
This is how networks are built and growtktktk talk about how Neb is really more of a system for creating lots of small, personal networks than an effort to make a giant global one.
Combined, those things produces a social network made of websites. That's where the name "Neb" comes from. It's a portmanteau of "networked" and "websites".
Phase 1
I've got a post full of ideas for a Neb app4 - tktktk talk about how one of the primary features is having the ability to publish built into the app itself. Advanced moderation, bookmarking, replies, quote post, etc...
But, first things first. Making a Minimum Viable Apptktktk note about it not being a product. It's free and open-source, etc.... The smallest thing that does something useful. That turns, that's an RSS reader.
The Neb Reader
Since Neb is based off RSS, Neb apps need to be RSS readers. Existing RSS readers can use Neb feedstktktk talk about graceful fall back and progressive enhancement of feeds, but they'll be missing the core experience.
Part of the Neb specification is for extensions to RSS that allow CSS for every post. A feature that opens up a world of creativity for what folks can maketktktk talk about how CSS is used for styling, formatting, and designing posts. There will be some limits on what you can do compared to a stand alone site to add some security protections. e.g. no raw scripts, and only being able to use a subset of CSS. (Implementation will be the responsibility of individual apps, but the standards will be defined for 'conforming apps'.
And that what leads us to the goal of the first iteration of the app: consume and display Neb flavored RSS feeds.
Status Update
So far, I've got a prototype built for how to encapsulate CSS in the RSS feeds6. Next step is to starting building the Tauri7 app to use it.
More to come as progress is made.
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References
Footnotes
Not all of it, but huge swaths.
Overwhelming ads, cookie banners, subscribe now overlays. Never mind the algorithms designed to enrage us because enraged people "engage" more which means more page views which means more ads.
Enshittification, writ large.
They've taking the diversity of the web and mushed everything into the same box. One designed to make it easy for them to package us up as an asset to be used for their profit.
The long term thinking that lead to the idea and creation of Neb.
The specifics of the available HTML and CSS will be aimed at providing security while still allowing for creativity.
A test run for how to make sure CSS from one post doesn't mess with other posts or the overall page.