epicyon/README_goals.md

Epicyon Project Goals

• A minimal ActivityPub server, comparable to an email MTA
• "Small Tech" ethos. Not many accounts per instance
• Centering people and personal computing, not corporate or organizational accounts abstracting people away
• AGPLv3+
• Server-to-server and client-to-server protocols supported
• Implemented in a common language (Python 3)
• Keyword filtering
• Attention to accessibility and should be usable in lynx with a screen reader
• Remove metadata from attached images, avatars and backgrounds
• Support for multiple themes, with ability to create custom themes
• Being able to build crowdsouced organizations with roles and skills
• Sharings collection, similar to the gnusocial sharings plugin
• Quotas for received posts per day, per domain and per account
• Hellthread detection and removal
• Instance and account level federation lists
• Support content warnings, reporting and blocking
• http signatures and basic auth
• json-LD signatures on outgoing posts, optional on incoming
• Compatible with http (onion addresses, i2p), https and hypercore
• Minimal dependencies
• Dependencies are maintained Debian packages
• Data minimization principle. Configurable post expiry time
• Likes and repeats only visible to authorized viewers
• ReplyGuy mitigation - maxmimum replies per post or posts per day
• Ability to delete or hide specific conversation threads
• Commandline interface
• Simple web interface
• Designed for intermittent connectivity. Assume network disruptions
• Limited visibility of follows/followers
• Suitable for single board computers
• Progressive Web App interface. Doesn't need native apps on mobile
• Integration with RSS feeds, for reading news or blogs
• Moderation capabilities for posts, hashtags and blocks

Features which won't be implemented

The following are considered antifeatures of other social network systems, since they encourage dysfunctional social interactions.

• Features designed to scale to large numbers of accounts (say, more than 20 active users)
• Trending hashtags, or trending anything
• Ranking, rating or recommending mechanisms for posts or people (other than likes or repeats/boosts)
• Geolocation features
• Algorithmic timelines (i.e. non-chronological)
• Direct payment mechanisms, although integration with other services may be possible
• Any variety of blockchain
• Sponsored posts
• Enterprise features for use cases applicable only to businesses. Epicyon could be used in a small business, but it's not primarily designed for that
• Collaborative editing of posts, although you could do that outside of this system using etherpad, or similar
• Anonymous posts from random internet users published under a single generic instance account
• Hierarchies of roles beyond ordinary moderation, such as X requires special agreement from Y before sending a post