We're a friendly community creating a digital corner pub.

Our goal is to enable more people to use free software, have secure digital communications, and to take control over their private data.

We host online services for you and all the people you love. We do this transparently and democratically.

Which leads to the question: what makes one of these work? I’ve been a part of several groups and have tried to stand up many myself and I find the same patterns repeating across all the good ones. The best ones are a “forever dinner party” – good friends and conversation happening in perpetuity. They often share the below.

• Gardener, not carpenter

• Cooling rods and nuclear reactors

• The n-1 group

• Dinner party alchemy

• Gravitational pull of a few topics

• Size and Pruning

• Shared rituals

On the need for a simpler, smaller internet to stand out from the crowd, meet interesting people, and build a calmer business.

Online communities spawn, grow, and die. Why? How? What can be done?

It just happens. Nothing can be done. Accept.