>> let people host their own instance

Totally. Why would anyone self-host when it could be written to a blockchain and be decentralized, tamperproof and censorship resistant? Twit-coin could reward influencers for their certified engagement metrics without knowing their underlying physical identity by maintaining value flows virtually. Brave browser is 80% there already.

I literally can’t tell if this is a joke. I’m going to treat it as earnest, because even if you’re trolling this is HN and every mention of cryptocurrency will get _someone_ nodding along in support.

Censorship resistance is only meaningful if there are actual people exchanging ideas and building community. Cryptocoin and 100% free speech is a perfect recipe to create an online space even more dominated by trolls, bots, and conspiracy theorists than Twitter is today.

Unfortunately, between Musk’s obvious enjoyment of manipulating markets however he can and Dorsey’s increasing focus on dWeb/Web3/“magic crypto sprinkles” I imagine they will run full speed towards more or less exactly the model you describe.

“Every tweet is an NFT now! Popular accounts charge Twitcoin to follow them! Advertisers can pay people Twitcoin to follow and retweet!” Etc. Etc.

> I literally can’t tell if this is a joke.

Ambiguity is a spice in life. I was thinking the name "twit-coin" would give the game away.

> actual people exchanging ideas

I enjoy exchanging ideas with ideas and with people. Anyone here may be an actual person or a biological process hosting a meme collection.

> conspiracy theorists

Are "conspiracy theorists" individuals who theorize about conspiracies or groups of people conspiring to promote a theory?

Thanks for bringing up the NFT. I had that in mind to add in but got distracted during composition. Imagine the possibilities of fractional ownership of 144 characters--it would open up a whole new world of ETFs.

Glad this blockchain/crypto thing did not exist over a decade ago. Otherwise we would never have something as cool as BitTorrent. There are so many people who neither understand decentralisation properly nor crypto but wanna somehow become part of conversation so they link the two and derail the conversation.

Amen.

But.. Bittorrent is actually about 20 years old. Maybe getting on for 25.

You forgot “Clients, of course, should be written only in Rust.”