I’ve always missed the high-signal, community-centric feel of old-school Bulletin Board Systems, but the moderation overhead for small communities is usually what kills them. I built SimpleNet to see if we could bring back the BBS vibe using modern tech.
The Tech Stack: The core of the platform is a modern BBS architecture, but the "secret sauce" is the moderation layer. Instead of relying on big-tech APIs or an army of volunteers, I’m using open source LLMs to assist with content moderation and community health. This allows for:
Privacy: No user data is sent to OpenAI or Google for sentiment analysis.
Speed: Instant feedback for users on community guideline adherence.
Sovereignty: The community rules are baked into the local model weights, not a corporate TOS.
Why .directory? I want this to be a jumping-off point for niche communities that want a "back-to-basics" text-heavy interaction model without the doom-scrolling algorithms of modern social media.
I’m a software engineer by trade, but this is my first foray into a public-facing community platform of this scale. I’d love your feedback on the latency of the moderation and the general "feel" of the UI.
Check it out: https://www.simplenet.directory