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(seedling-d.app)

56 pointsdnpotter12y ago44 comments

Initial version of my decentralised publishing platform for articles and blog posts - like a Web3 Medium. It's open source and [almost] fully decentralised. Runs on the Polygon network.

Current version lets authors publish markdown content from their GitHub account and lets users tip articles. No wallet or GitHub account is needed to browse content.

Authors link their GitHub account or organisation to their wallet address via oauth and an on-chain user registry, after which they can submit article URLs directly to the on-chain content registry. The content registry ensures only registered users can publish, and only from their registered GitHub account.

By adding different hosting options and expanding the feature set, the ultimate goal is to create a platform for independent journalists to publish without fear of censorship or repression, and to fund their journalism through direct tipping, subscriptions and profit sharing models.

44 comments

dfox2y ago

If there is requirement to link a github account, then there isn't any kind of decentralization, as github is then the one centralized point.

And well, the original idea of blogs was completely decentralized (“there is this thing accessible through HTTP”) with bunch of ad-hoc API surfaces for metadata and “pingbacks” (ie. back references). Then in the last few years there is Medium.

Bottom line: You are solving solved problem and have some kind of path-dependent view of that problem space that does not really make sense.

quickthrower22y ago

I agree, if you have to use github they have pages.

A better thing to use to be decentralised is ipfs. Which worse comes to worst if your file gets unhosted then do your own node.

Or Nostr would be good and might avoid needing a blockchain (and thus the expense and complexity)

dnpotter1OP2y ago

IPFS and Nostr are both brilliant but they have their limitations. The main issue I see for an app like seedling is that by submitting your content you lose control over it. You cannot edit or delete.

Ideally many different hosting options should be supported.

It's an interesting project. I think you should mention that your contract takes a 10% cut of the tips. Also, why not let any wallet publish? Why the dependency on GitHub?

dnpotter1OP2y ago

It was an easy way to get the app up and running without needing to worry about hosting, editing features and user profiles. I.e. release minimal functionality then expand if people like the app. Intention is to add other hosting options, like IPFS, at which point it will remove the dependency on GitHub and decentralise hosting.

cmeacham982y ago

From my understanding, they're relying on GitHub for the hosting of the blog posts themselves.

TylerE2y ago

So the opposite of decentralized then. Why do crypto people love inventing new middlemen to take a cut? Oh right, they’re the middleman. That’s why.

soap-2y ago

But why specifically GitHub, instead of just git? Every git hosting provider could work with this model

marsknight2y ago

I'd rather use Nostr and a client focussing on long posts :) Like https://habla.news/

dnpotter1OP2y ago

Oh, that's really cool! I wasn't aware of Habla - thanks. I'll check it out.

quickthrower22y ago

Is that habla as in idiot (feminine) in Arabic?

manuelmoreale2y ago

I’d bet is Spanish.

Quick note that it might be better for this audience to link to the code: https://github.com/Bubble-Protocol/seedling

dnpotter1OP2y ago

Thanks.

What does the chain part provide that's not available right now through any page with an interledger link in meta and maybe an .eth link if you want to be fancy with anticensorship?

TylerE2y ago

Lets him skim 10%.

dnpotter1OP2y ago

Lol! It’s not my intention for this to be a get rich quick scheme but there are running costs (user registration and TheGraph network payments). If the platform is to be self sustaining it needs to cover its costs.

Is there a reasonable long term platform fee that you would find acceptable? Say 1% or 0.1%?

dnpotter1OP2y ago

It provides a discovery service

spaceman_20202y ago

How is this different from Mirror.xyz?

dnpotter1OP2y ago

Other than no funding and a team size of 1? ;-)

Slightly different vision and approach but both are publishing platforms. There’s plenty of room for competition in this space, I think.

Monetisation: Seedling uses direct tipping instead of NFTs. Plans for paid subscriptions to private content. Crowdsourcing will offer share of tips for investment.

Architecture: Seedling is primarily a discovery service and will allow content to be hosted on different platforms. Seedling has no backend server to deliver content.

spaceman_20202y ago

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

Any plan on integrating other chains? This would be great on Solana

What happens if Github doesn't like the content or gets leaned on by a government agency?

Not OP but generally in this kind of system GitHub is just an convenient example. The payload is pointed to by on-chain state and that pointer can be both multi-valued and accommodate multiple protocols. So you can for example point to a self-hosted Gitea or similar, IPFS CID and so on, besides the LCD of Github.

treyd2y ago

Where are the actual content payloads stored?

dnpotter1OP2y ago

Currently, on GitHub but could be anywhere.

Need to balance the freedom to publish anonymously with the risk of people claiming credit for other people’s work.

Perhaps the platform should allow any url to be published and restrict tipping to only authenticated users’ content.

david_shi2y ago

Do you have a link to the contracts?

dnpotter1OP2y ago

Source: https://github.com/Bubble-Protocol/seedling/tree/main/src/co...

UserRegistry: https://polygonscan.com/address/0x5Ec6A3284049E8b3e5966882fd...

ContentRegistry: https://polygonscan.com/address/0xF86eFfA878F484DF4a2D2d1703...

TipJar: https://polygonscan.com/address/0x1c4a6b233DABf5566Ae7196657...

firedexplorer2y ago

wow, that's cool

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