spasm-forum

There are a few Spasm frontends developed by different teams, but the official flagship app is a Spasm-powered forum, which is a full-stack solution comprising frontend, backend, and database.

Examples:

• forum.spasm.network
• forum.dark.vegas
• zkpunks.dev

The recommended way to run an instance is to use Docker/Podman or an automated full server setup with Ansible.

Docker mirrors: Forgejo Codeberg Github

Ansible mirrors: Forgejo Codeberg Github

Backend mirrors: Forgejo Codeberg Github

Frontend mirrors: Forgejo Codeberg Github

Imagine a social media platform without accounts, email addresses, or phone numbers, where your community owns the conversation, and your voice can't be silenced. Spasm-powered forums allow users to directly sign all messages with various private keys, such as Ethereum and Nostr, with more keys coming down the line soon.

Messages are stored on your server, providing a typical forum-like experience, and they can also propagate through different networks, increasing your community's exposure. You can optionally federate with other forums, building a larger and more censorship-resistant community.

All forums are highly customizable, enabling you to tailor the experience to fit your community's unique needs. You can modify the UI and enable various modules such as Spasm, Nostr, and RSS modules.

Here are some basic features available on Spasm-powered forums:

Multiple feed filters allow users to find most relevant content. Each instance can choose its own categories and adjust values for activity filters like "rising" and "hot".

All messages are directly signed with private keys, so they can be verified and users remain full custody of their own identities.

Users can sign messages with different private keys. More keys will be added in the future.

To get persistent identities, users can sign messages with existing private keys by connecting web3 browser extensions or using web3 browsers on mobile devices.

To achieve more privacy, users can submit messages using anon identities. Unlike on slave tech message boards like 4chan, a user can submit anon messages from his own Spasm instance or even from locally run frontend to unlock full privacy since that message will then propagate through the Spasm network without exposing user's IP and other browser-related metadata.

Messages can be multi-signed with different signing schemes, allowing user to utilize benefits of different ecosystems. For example, unique usernames from blockchain-based ecosystems like Ethereum, and social graphs from offchain ecosystems like Nostr.

Messages can be submitted to different networks with one lick.

Spasm can also wrap unsigned web2 events, e.g., fetched from RSS feeds, and propagate them through the network.

Users can comment on such wrapped web2 events with URLs as IDs, which means that users can comment on any slave tech content.

Highly customizable RSS feeds provide a subscribe option for users of outdated tech like RSS readers.

It's also possible to subscribe with RSS to events submitted by one author only, which is great for following a podcast.

Web3 events signed with a private key use a unique Spasm ID as GUID to make sure that modern RSS apps can deduplicate the same events coming from different Spasm instances.

Markdown is supported by default, but can be disabled by admins.

Users can attach images, videos, and audio files.

Auto-embedding media files can be disabled by admins seeking to provide their users with the most privacy-focused experience.

Users can tip each other with various cryptocurrencies.

Admins can pin posts via a web dashboard.

Admins can change forum's title, description, SEO values, social links, and much more.

And it's possible to have a fully custom home page.

A forum can be customized with .env file or via a web dashboard.

Spasm forums reject account-based web2-style slave tech architecture, so even all admin events are directly signed with private keys.

Summary

The vast majority of the web3 ecosystem is powered by legacy web2 forums with the outdated account-based slave tech architecture.

Spasm-powered forums provide a better alternative since all messages are directly signed with private keys, similar to how cryptocurrencies and DeFi operate.

This web3 architecture offers serious advantages:

• Users can submit new posts and comments in a truly web3 way without any registration, which increases engagement.
• There's no need to sign any login message or rely on a third party service to handle authentication, ensuring a high degree of privacy.
• Enhanced security because signed messages can't be tampered with since they're verified on both the server and client sides against the provided signatures.
• Your community cannot be censored by a centralized platform.
• You can impose any moderation rules.
• Messages can propagate through different networks, increasing your community's exposure.
• You can optionally federate with a few other Spasm instances, adding more content to your forum.
• Users can sign messages offline and then broadcast them, additionally boosting security.
• Better privacy as users can broadcast messages through relays or locally run frontends.
• Interoperability with other platforms and optional federation increases censorship resistance.
• Users remain full custody of their own identities.

All forums are highly customizable, enabling you to tailor the experience to fit your community's unique needs. You can modify the UI and enable various modules such as Spasm, Nostr, and RSS modules.

Spasm-powered forums are ideal for local communities, open-source projects, DAOs, hackathons, meetups, and other events, allowing community leaders to keep users engaged and grow brands beyond annual events.