ddit

Ddit is a fictional online community and content-sharing platform designed to host topic-based communities, or 'dits,' where users can submit links, text posts, and media, and vote on content. The platform emphasizes open discussion and self-organization, with content organized into subcommunities that govern their own rules and appearance. Users gain reputation through participation and upvotes, which influence post visibility within and across dits.

Ddit was created by a small software team in 2019 as a study in scalable community moderation and open governance. The public beta launched in 2021, with a focus on simple moderation tools and an accessible API for developers. The project is maintained by a non-profit foundation to emphasize community control and privacy.

Key features include post submission, comments, upvote/downvote scoring, and sorting by hot, new, and top. Each dit can customize its rules, appearance, and moderation policies; moderators have tools to remove content, ban users, and configure automod filters. Ddit offers user profiles, private messaging, and real-time notifications, plus an API for personal clients and bots.

Governance and moderation: Ddit uses a hybrid governance model combining elected moderators within each dit and a central community council that can set platform-wide policies. Appeals processes exist for contested moderation actions. The platform emphasizes transparency, with public logs of major moderation decisions and community discussions about policy changes.

Reception to ddit has been mixed. Proponents praise its emphasis on user autonomy and privacy, while critics worry about fragmentation and inconsistent moderation across dits. It has attracted interest from researchers studying online communities and from developers seeking an open alternative to centralized social networks.