For example, for me, here are some things I wish to see (or would implement in my design) :

  • design around ease of self-hosting. A non technical user must be able to self host easily and at a very low cost.
  • Embrace content sorting and filtering algorithms, but on the client side, with optional control by the user.
  • Standardize tags on all content. So many of the different ways different platforms classify or organize content can be implemented as tags, which increases interoperability between them.
  • Abandon obsession with real-time-first implementations for use cases that don’t explicitly need it.
  • Transferable user identity (between instances)
  • User identity and authentication as separate service from social network instance

Would love to hear yours!

  • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
    5·
    11 days ago

    Uh, I’d love someone to have a try at full-blown direct democracy. Most aspects being controlled (and ideally owned) by the very same people who use the platform. Not sure if that’s good or feasible, though.

    And what I always love is to see design principles that foster a nice, amicable atmosphere. Some online communities, games etc have aspects of that. It’s somewhat more rare on modern social media. I sometimes wish hanging out on the internet was a bit less about politics, trolling and memes, getting agitated amongst random anonymous people. And a bit more like an evening at the Irish Pub with friends. Or getting to know new friends there.
    We do things like that. I just think good platform design still has potential to achieve way more than we currently do.

      • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
        3·
        10 days ago

        I think the most obvious one is moderation. What gets deleted, who gets kicked out. Then for example community rules, what’s the topic and rules of discussion. Every user/member could have a say in that. Maybe we could do some more structural and organizational decisions.

        It gets a bit tricky with technology. Ideally we could do things like democratically decide to have a voice chat (if that’s what people want) and somehow 3 months later the platform has a voice chat… But it’s not that easy, software development doesn’t work this way.

        • Pamasich@kbin.earth
          1·
          10 days ago

          I do think that some direct democracy would be good, but there’s a reason why Switzerland still has representatives too.

          Having to vote on every single moderation action would be a pain to deal with. Not just in terms of fatigueing users and causing only few to actually participate, but also because it’ll slow down the process and empower bad actors to cause more damage.

          What should be a thing imo is what Switzerland has: the ability for regular users to propose new rules and then vote on approving them, and the ability to undo any moderation action through a democratic vote. Both of those being binding.

          Also of course the ability to vote a mod out if they’re abusing their power. That’s something we’re lacking IRL too.

          Edit: On your other point:

          It gets a bit tricky with technology. Ideally we could do things like democratically decide to have a voice chat (if that’s what people want) and somehow 3 months later the platform has a voice chat… But it’s not that easy, software development doesn’t work this way.

          I think one thing that’s possible is to copy the GOG model. Have a wishlist of features that people can add to and vote on. The highest voted features you prioritize in development.