# tinyweb-forum

A decentralized link-sharing forum for [TinyWeb](https://git.derickphan.com/lichenblankie/tinyweb). Share URLs and discuss them with other TinyWeb instances over the Reticulum mesh. No accounts, no sign-up, no central server.

## Install

```bash
pip install tinyweb-forum
```

Enable the forum in TinyWeb's customize page (`/style`).

## Development

```bash
git clone https://git.derickphan.com/lichenblankie/tinyweb-forum
pip install -e .
```

## How it works

- Each TinyWeb instance stores forum threads and posts in its own `forum.db`
- Instances auto-discover each other on the mesh via RNS announces — no manual setup
- You click "sync now" to exchange content; auto-sync every 5 minutes is optional (toggle on moderation page)
- At scale, sync uses epidemic gossip: each cycle picks 20 random peers instead of all peers, converging within ~O(log N) cycles
- Authors are identified by a short pseudonymous hash (no names, no accounts)
- No global server, no algorithms, no tracking

## Features

- **Threads** — share a URL or start a discussion with text
- **Replies** — reply to threads, with inline URL extraction and "+ save" links
- **Upvotes** — toggle upvote/downvote, scores propagate via sync
- **Edit** — edit your own threads (new version syncs to peers)
- **Retract** — retract your own threads and posts (retraction signal gossips to peers)
- **Peer discovery** — instances share known peers during sync, growing the network organically

## Moderation

All moderation is local — you control your view:

- **Block author** — `[block]` link on posts and thread meta hides all content from that identity across your instance
- **Auto-block** — when 3+ of your peers have blocked the same identity, it's auto-blocked for you too (threshold is 3)
- **Mute thread** — hide a thread from the listing
- **Keyword filters** — hide threads matching keywords
- **Instance sync** — choose which peers to sync with; unsync at any time

## Sync

- Instances auto-discover each other via RNS announces — just run the forum and any other forum on the mesh finds you
- Content is exchanged as JSON over RNS links
- **Manual by default** — click "sync now" on the forum listing or moderation page
- Auto-sync every 5 minutes can be enabled on the moderation page
- Auto-discovery can also be disabled on the moderation page (manual instance add only)
- Peer discovery propagates through gossip — each instance shares its known peers during sync
- Block lists and retractions are gossiped alongside content
- Only new/updated content is transferred (timestamp-based)
- When >20 peers, each cycle syncs with a random 20 — content converges epidemically

## Storage

- Threads older than 30 days are auto-pruned (configurable on the moderation page)
- Set retention to 0 to keep everything indefinitely
- Forum DB is stored at `~/.tinyweb/forum.db`