• 0 Posts
  • 4 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: June 5th, 2023
  • notfromhere@lemmy.onetoProgramming@programming.dev•An open source Peer-to-peer serverless decentralized social media protocol built on IPFS
    172·
    3 days ago

    Great question! Unlike Lemmy, which relies on federation with dedicated servers, Plebbit is fully peer-to-peer (P2P) and does not have a central server or even instances. Instead, storage happens via a combination of IPFS and users seeding data. Here’s how it works:

    Where Is Plebbit’s Data Stored?

    1. Subplebbit Owners Host the Data (Like Torrent Seeders)

      • Each subplebbit owner runs a Plebbit node that stores and republishes their own community’s data.
      • Their device (or a server, if they choose) must be online 24/7 to ensure the subplebbit remains accessible.
      • If a subplebbit owner goes offline, their community disappears unless others seed it—very similar to how torrents work.

    2. Users Act as Temporary Seeders

      • Any user who visits a subplebbit automatically stores and seeds the content they read.
      • This means active users help distribute content, like in BitTorrent.
      • If a user closes their app and no one else is seeding the content, it becomes unavailable until the owner comes back online.

    3. IPFS for Content Addressing

      • Posts and comments are stored in IPFS, which ensures that popular content remains available longer.
      • Unlike a blockchain, there is no permanent historical ledger—if no one is seeding, the data is gone.
      • Each post has a content address (CID), meaning that as long as someone has the data, it can be re-fetched.

    4. PubSub for Live Updates

      • Plebbit uses peer-to-peer pubsub (publish-subscribe messaging) to broadcast new content between nodes in real-time.
      • This helps users see new posts without needing a central server to pull updates from.

    What Happens If Everyone Goes Offline?

    • If no one’s online to seed a subplebbit, it’s as if it never existed.
    • This is a trade-off for infinite scalability—it removes the need for central databases but relies on community participation.
    • Think of it like a dead torrent—no seeders, no content.

    Comparison With Lemmy

    Feature Lemmy Plebbit
    Hosting Model Federated servers (instances) Fully P2P (no servers)
    Who Stores Data? Instance owners (like Reddit mods running a server) Subplebbit owners & users (like torrents)
    If Owner Goes Offline? Instance still exists; data stays up The community disappears unless users seed it
    Historical Content Availability Instances keep all posts forever Older data may disappear if not seeded
    Scalability Limited by instance storage & bandwidth Infinite, as long as people seed

    Bottom Line: No Servers, Just Users

    • With Lemmy: The instance owner has to host everything themselves like a mini-Reddit admin.
    • With Plebbit: The subplebbit owner AND users seed the content—no one has to host a centralized database.
    • If something is popular, it stays alive.
    • If something isn’t seeded, it disappears, just like torrents.

    It’s a radical trade-off for decentralization and censorship resistance, but if no one cares about a community, the content naturally dies off. No server, no mods deleting you from a database—just pure P2P.

    Hope that clears it up! 🚀