Design with Bonfire

The fediverse is a collective term for the network of interconnected federated instances, each powered by various social networking apps (such as Mastodon, Peertube, or Bonfire). It represents an ecosystem of interconnected yet independent platforms that communicate with each other using open protocols.

An instance is a specific installation of a federated platform. Each instance can be independently operated and customized, running the software and features of its choice, with its own rules and team of admins and moderators. Instances are the building blocks of the fediverse.

In Bonfire, users can create groups that span across different instances. They can be closed groups reserved for members of an organisation or collective, or open to all who share common interests or goals. Groups are often self-governing within the framework of the larger ecosystem, such as having their own rules and moderators.

A community is more of social concept than a technical one, and could refer to the users associated with a particular instance or within a specific group that span across different instances, or to the fediverse at large.

A Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines and rules that govern behaviour and interactions within a community. It serves to establish expected standards of conduct, helping to create a safe and civil environment for all members.

Admins are responsible for the overall maintenance of an instance, ensuring its smooth operation and security. Especially when a new instance is being set up, the user with admin role can configure the instance, choose the default settings, and define and assign roles (such as promoting more admins and establishing a moderator team).

Moderators are responsible for facilitating day-to-day interactions within a community. They enforce the Code of Conduct and address issues among users to maintain a healthy and engaging environment. For example they may respond to a flagged post by trying to resolve a misunderstanding, or deleting an offending comment, or blocking a troll account.

Settings in Bonfire offer users the flexibility to customize their experience, from privacy controls such as whether their posts appear in search engines to appearance such as colors or fonts. While administrators can set defaults for each instance, individual users have the freedom to override these settings, ensuring a personalized and adaptable experience.

An extension (also commonly called a plugin or add-on) in Bonfire is a software component that can be installed on an instance to enhance or introduce new functionality. These allow for customization and expansion of the platform's capabilities according to the specific needs of a community.

In Bonfire extensions are not reserved for bonus features contributed by third parties (as is typically the case for many platforms), but every piece of the core software is packaged in an extension so it can easily be forked or swapped out for another extension with a different design or value proposition.

Extensions installed on an instance can be disabled at any time by an admin, or even by an individual user (while remaining active for other users on the instance).

In software engineering, a fork happens when developers take a copy of source code from one piece of software and start independent development on it, creating a distinct and separate piece of software.

Bonfire is composed of numerous small software components (extensions), as opposed to the more common approach of having just one or two large software packages. This structure enables forking of a specific piece without the need to maintain one's own version of the entire software package.

Circles are a way to manage and understand various relationships in a user's network. They can represent the different layers of intimacy, trust, and context-specific connections one might have with others. Circles enable users to categorize their relationships based on factors like closeness or shared interests, aiding in building and maintaining stronger, more meaningful connections. This tool is especially useful for organizing contacts according to different areas of one's life, enhancing the personalization and relevance of interactions within the Bonfire network.

Roles in Bonfire are a way to define a set of permissions, that can allow users to perform specific actions. Roles play a crucial role in defining the scope of engagement and participation.

By assigning roles, users can establish specific permissions and restrictions, ensuring that users or circles have appropriate levels of access and abilities based on their relationship with you or the purpose of the boundary or nature of the content on which they're applied.

By assigning roles to users and/or circles, you define a boundary (as an example, everyone can read but only members of my team can comment).

Users can define preset boundaries, which can include several users and circles each with their own roles assigned, which can be re-used when making a post or to set the permissions of other activities or spaces (such as groups).

The boundaries of a specific post can also be defined or modified on the fly, before or after publishing it.

If there's a functionality you feel is missing from Bonfire, you can introduce a new feature. This could be anything from a unique tool for community engagement to a specialized feature for content sharing.

For instance, you might envision a feature that facilitates collaborative storytelling or a new method for organizing community-driven projects. The goal here is to think creatively and propose features that bring fresh dynamics and capabilities to social networking which can empower communities.

This would typically be a new extension or could be proposed as an addition to an existing one.

If there's an existing feature in Bonfire that almost meets your needs but requires tweaking, you can make or propose modifications. For example, you might want to add an extra layer of privacy to a messaging feature, or hide certain elements from a community dashboard that aren't relevant to your group. This is your chance to refine Bonfire’s features to better align with your community's specific requirements.

This would typically be proposed as a modification to an existing extension, or the extension could be forked (copied), in which case if the changes are useful for the wider ecosystem it can be published as an extension under a new name.

Sometimes, innovation lies not in changing the feature itself, but in altering how it is used. For instance, a feature originally designed for event planning could be repurposed for organising volunteer efforts in a crisis response situation. This is all about creative reimagining of existing tools for new, unexpected uses.

User interfaces (UI) and user experience (UX) play a crucial role in how interactively and comfortably users engage with their digital space. If you believe a feature's UI could be more intuitive, accessible, or visually appealing, or you envision a different user journey to perform the same action, you can suggest or directly implement those changes. Perhaps it's as simple as increasing font size for better readability or restructuring a page layout for fostering specific outcomes.

In some cases, less is more. If you feel a certain feature is redundant, not useful, or even counterproductive for your community, proposing its removal (or the addition of a setting so it can be enabled/disabled as needed) can streamline and improve the user experience. The key here is to explain why removing this feature will benefit the overall functionality and usability of the platform.

This involves introducing new options or preferences in Bonfire's settings to give users more control over how they use Bonfire. For instance, adding a setting that enables users to customize the frequency of notifications or to choose different fonts for their interface can enhance personalisation and user satisfaction. This is about empowering users with more choices to tailor their experience on the platform.