This is just a random idea I had, and I’m curious what others think.

Has anyone ever considered potentially attempting a federated, anonymous imageboard/message board—something in the spirit of 4chan, 8chan, or Plebchan, but using ActivityPub or another decentralized protocol?

What technical, social, or legal obstacles would need to be overcome?

Would federation (like ActivityPub or something custom) actually help, or would it just replicate the same problems at scale?

I know these platforms have reputations that turn people off (and often for good reason), but I still think there’s value in the format—especially for niche or “grey zone” communities that often get booted from mainstream platforms.

Plebchan already shows that decentralization can work in this space. It’s serverless, adminless, and built on the Plebbit protocol, which itself is a decentralized, peer-to-peer social media protocol. Plebchan just acts as a frontend for Plebbit, which uses IPFS for data distribution.

I’d honestly love to try building something like this myself, but I don’t have the dev skills or the time.

Still, I wonder:

Has anyone tried federating something like Plebchan or building an ActivityPub-compatible client like it?

What challenges would something like this face, both technically and socially?

Would there be room for such a project in the Fediverse, or would it be rejected outright due to associations?

Genuinely curious to hear others’ thoughts.

Plebchan: https://plebchan.org/

Plebchan Github: https://github.com/plebbit/plebchan

Plebbit: https://plebbit.com/

  • Teknevra (She/Her) @lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    211·
    1 day ago

    Key Differences Between 4chan/8chan and a Lemmy Community

    4chan/8chan (now 8kun):

    • Type: Imageboard websites where users create and moderate their own boards.
    • Structure: Each board is independently run by a board owner with minimal site-wide moderation.
    • Content: Known for a wide range of content, including controversial and often unmoderated discussions. These sites have been linked to hate speech, conspiracy theories (like QAnon), and have faced criticism for hosting illegal or harmful material.
    • Anonymity: Users typically post anonymously; there is little to no user account structure.
    • Moderation: Very limited, mostly left to individual board owners, which has led to significant issues with illegal and harmful content.

    Lemmy Community:

    • Type: Part of a “federated” social platform inspired by Reddit, where users create topic-based communities (similar to subreddits).
    • Structure: Each community is moderated by appointed users, and rules are typically clearer and more strictly enforced than on imageboards.
    • Content: Focused on discussion, link sharing, and community engagement, with a strong emphasis on moderation and decentralized control.
    • Anonymity: Users have accounts and can build reputations, though they can still use pseudonyms.
    • Moderation: Community-driven moderation with platform-level tools to prevent abuse and illegal content.

    In short: 4chan/8chan are anonymous, minimally moderated imageboards with a history of controversial content, while Lemmy communities are user-moderated, account-based discussion forums with stronger moderation and decentralized control.