# tinyweb-forum

A link-sharing forum plugin for [TinyWeb](https://codeberg.org/tinyweb/tinyweb). Threads and posts are stored locally and exchanged with other TinyWeb instances over the Reticulum mesh.

## Contents

- [About this project](#about-this-project)
- [Install](#install)
- [How it works](#how-it-works)
- [Moderation](#moderation)
- [Sync](#sync)
- [Storage](#storage)
- [Known rough edges](#known-rough-edges)
- [Security](#security)

## About this project

Code generated by LLMs. Built by one person.

## Install

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

Enable it on TinyWeb's `/style` page under "Forum".

## How it works

- Threads and posts are stored in `~/.tinyweb/forum.db` (separate from TinyWeb's search index)
- Instances auto-discover each other via RNS announces — no manual setup
- Sync is manual by default: click "sync now" on the forum page. Auto-sync every 5 minutes is optional (toggle on moderation page)
- At scale, sync uses epidemic gossip: 20 random peers per cycle, converging within ~O(log N) cycles
- Authors are identified by a short pseudonymous identity hash (no accounts, no sign-up)
- Auto-discovery can be disabled in the moderation page
- Threads are auto-pruned after 30 days (configurable, or set to 0 to keep everything)
- Moderation is local: block authors, mute threads, keyword filters, and gossip block lists with peers (auto-block after 3 peer reports)

### Trust circle

Content exchange is gated by a trust graph derived from your TinyWeb subscriptions:

- Only peers you subscribe to (with forum enabled) are trusted sources of content
- Content from trusted peers propagates transitively: you see posts from their trusted peers, and theirs, and so on — no hop limit
- No open registration: a new identity has zero connections and zero reach. No bot can join without a human vouching for them
- This is structural: spam is not a moderation problem, it's a graph problem

Trust is seeded from TinyWeb's subscription page — each subscription has a "forum: on/off" toggle. When enabled, that peer's forum content (and their transitive trust network) enters your view.

## Moderation

All moderation is local — it controls what you see:

- **Block author** — hides all content from that identity and cascades: the blocked peer's downstream trust network (peers they vouched for) is also removed from your view. If a downstream peer has an alternate trust path from another source you trust, they survive the cascade.
- **Auto-block** — when 3+ of your peers have blocked the same identity, it blocks for you too (with cascade)
- **Mute thread** — hides a thread from the listing
- **Keyword filters** — hides threads matching keywords
- **Instance sync** — choose which peers to sync with; unsync at any time

## Sync

- Instances discover each other via RNS announces — any 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 be disabled (manual instance add only)
- Known peers propagate through gossip — each instance shares its 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 moderation page)
- Set retention to 0 to keep everything indefinitely
- Database location: `~/.tinyweb/forum.db`

## Known rough edges

- Authors are pseudonymous — no identities, no accounts
- No rate limiting on forum POST endpoints
- Retractions are voluntary — peers can ignore them
- Block gossip can be gamed (requires collusion by 3+ peers on Reticulum)
- Threads prune after 30 days by default
- The trust circle replaces open discovery: you can't find interesting strangers through topic blooms alone. Discovery is through the existing subscription graph — you find people your trusted peers already know.
- Best-effort maintenance

## Security

- **No authentication** — The forum inherits TinyWeb's access model. Anyone who can reach the HTTP port (localhost by default) can post, edit, retract, block, and change moderation settings. See TinyWeb's Security section for `--bind 0.0.0.0`.
- **Retractions are voluntary** — Retracting a thread or post sends a signal to peers, but any peer can ignore it. "Retract" is a polite request, not a guaranteed delete.
- **Block gossip can be gamed** — Auto-block triggers after 3 peer reports. On Reticulum this requires 3+ real instances to collude, which is impractical at mesh scale, but is not cryptographically enforced.
- **No rate limiting** — Forum POST endpoints have no throttling. Low risk since the HTTP port is localhost-only by default.
- **Trust circle** — Spam resistance is structural (no open entry), not procedural. The weakest point is social engineering: a trusted human adding a bad actor. Mitigated by cascade removal on block — blocking a peer removes their entire downstream trust network from your view.