this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2026
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Hi guys, same Iranian guy here, first I want to say I really appreciate you guys helping me, love you guys you all are genuinely amazing people.

I read all your comments in my previous post and one thing I realized I'm not qualified for this at all. This is too dangerous and puts my life and many of my friends at risk.

So in the spirit of being pragmatic here and finding best solution meanwhile I figure that out. Where can we have a private community with moderation and admin tools and multi-topic discussions on the fediverse? Is that even a thing? I know that's not how fediverse works so the answer is probably a hard No. Then where should we go? Discord have all this but that's not my preference at all. I know Reddit has private subs but I don't like reddit like many of you guys. What is the compromise here what do you suggest I should do?

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[–] JupiterRowland@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago

Now I'm wondering. Let's assume a Hubzilla forum channel that's configured like this:

  • Default profile is kept away from directories and follow lists
  • Custom channel role for fine-grained permission control
  • Opt-out of search indexing is activated
  • Can see my channel stream and my posts set to Accepted connections
  • Can send me the posts from their channel set to Accepted connections
  • Can see my default profile set to Accepted connections
  • Can see my connections set to Accepted connections
  • Can see my file and image folders set to Accepted connections
  • Can upload/modify my file and image folders
  • Can see the web pages of my channel set to Accepted connections
  • Can see my wiki pages set to Accepted connections
  • Can create/edit web pages in my channel set to Only those who you explicitly allow (so the admin doesn't necessarily have to do it all themselves)
  • Can edit my wiki pages set to Only those who you explicitly allow (so the admin doesn't necessarily have to do it all themselves)
  • Can publish posts on my channel page (‘wall’) set to Accepted connections
  • Can send me direct messages set to Everyone on Hubzilla
  • Can like/dislike profiles and profile stuff set to Only me
  • Can chat with me doesn't matter because the Chat app isn't installed
  • Can quote/mirror my public posts in other channels set to Only me
  • Can administer my channel set to Only those who you explicitly allow (to be able to have more than one admin)
  • "Member" contact role adds nothing to what's inherited from the channel role
  • "Moderator" contact role adds Can administer my channel
  • "Editor" contact role is the "Member" contact role plus Can create/edit web pages in my channel and Can edit my wiki pages
  • "Moderator/Editor" contact role is the "Moderator" contact role plus Can create/edit web pages in my channel and Can edit my wiki pages
  • ActivityPub and Diaspora apps are left uninstalled, no other connectivity than via Zot6 available
  • Superblock is installed for much more effective moderation
  • Privacy groups (essentially Mastodon lists on Tony Montana amounts of coke) are installed so that the admin can directly address to a subgroup of forum users instead of only always all of them
  • There's one privacy group on the forum channel that contains all forum members; the forum channel admin(s) post(s) to that privacy group by default and never in public
  • Additional encryption is activated for those who want to send really private DMs, and who don't even trust the hub admin who has direct access to the SQL database

Consequence:

  • With no additional protocols activated, only Hubzilla and (streams) users can join the forum; users on Mastodon, Lemmy, PieFed, Pleroma etc. can't find it or interact with it in any way
  • ActivityPub-based Fediverse server apps with their total lack of understanding of Hubzilla's permission can't meddle with them
  • The forum channel is neither listed in any directory nor on anyone's list of connections, and search engines like Google don't crawl and index it either; the only way to know about it is from advertising or hearsay
  • Those who do find the forum channel can't see or do jack on it unless they're members; all they can do is send DMs to the forum channel unless they've been Superblocked
  • The forum channel may have its own webpage(s) and/or its own wiki(s), but only an inner circle of a select few forum members is allowed to edit them
  • Nobody can use the forum channel as a channel source, i.e. automatically repost any content from the forum channel (yes, this is a thing on Hubzilla and its descendants)
  • Direct messages are actually private messages; they're made private not only by whom they're sent to, but also by who is permitted to see them; with ActivityPub disabled, they can only go to servers that know, understand and heed this permission; in addition, there's encryption available
  • Even messages from the channel admin(s) are restricted and not public; only forum members get to see them and are permitted to see them; they don't show up on the pubstream of someone's private single-user hub; they can't be shared/quoted; they can't be repeated/boosted

Would you still insist that with all these efforts taken, this forum channel is no more private than a Lemmy community?

Also, with ActivityPub off, would you consider this forum channel as being in the Fediverse, what with the typical Fediverse definition being "it can connect to Mastodon"?