====== The Tildeverse ====== The tildeverse is the network of tilde communities: public-access Unix systems (pubnixes) where anyone can get a shell account, a home directory, and a web presence on a shared machine. [[https://tildeverse.org|tildeverse.org]] maintains the member list. The name comes from the Unix convention of ''~'' for a user's home directory. Adapted from [[https://brennan.day/here-is-a-person-enter-the-tildeverse/|Here Is a Person: Enter the Tildeverse]] on brennan.day. ===== Origins ===== The model is older than the web. Dennis Ritchie's [[https://cs.nyu.edu/~mwalfish/classes/15sp/ref/ritchie79evolution.html|The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System]] describes Unix as designed for fellowship: remote time-shared machines that encouraged close communication, not just batch jobs. Community pubnixes carried that forward: [[https://grex.org/history.xhtml|Grex]] (1991) was founded by a dozen users who met weekly for six months over potlucks to design a member-owned system with slow group decision-making. [[https://tilde.town/~cmccabe/online-communities.html|cmccabe's pubnix history]] and the [[https://github.com/cwmccabe/pubnixhist|Pubnix History Project]] document the full lineage, and the [[http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/September-that-never-ended.html|Jargon File's Eternal September]] marks the moment the social fabric broke at scale. ===== The Revival ===== In October 2014, [[https://ftrain.com/tweet-516778930515476480|Paul Ford tweeted]] an offer of shell accounts on a fresh server, and thousands applied before he finished the thought. The result was tilde.club: "one cheap, unmodified Unix computer on the Internet," with rules like "no drama" and "total disaster is ALWAYS a possible outcome." See [[https://medium.com/message/tilde-club-i-had-a-couple-drinks-and-woke-up-with-1-000-nerds-a8904f0a2ebf|Ford's essay on what happened next]]. For his birthday in 2015, vilmibm founded [[https://tilde.town|tilde.town]] on the same model with a different mandate: as welcoming as possible to everyone, a bastion against the shit of the networked world. See [[https://tilde.town/~vilmibm/thoughts/year3.html|the third-birthday retrospective]]. Dozens of sibling tildes followed, including [[tilde:pink|tilde.pink]]. ===== Members ===== The full list is at [[https://tildeverse.org/members/|tildeverse.org/members]]. Member status mostly means having a presence on the shared IRC network; the systems themselves are independent, each run by its own sysadmins. ^ tilde ^ created ^ os ^ irc ^ focus ^ | [[tilde:club|tilde.club]] | Sep 2014 | fedora | ''#club'' | the original 2014 tilde | | [[tilde:start|tilde.town]] | Oct 2014 | ubuntu | ''#town'' | intentional community for art, socializing, learning | | [[https://ctrl-c.club|ctrl-c.club]] | Dec 2014 | ubuntu | ''#ctrl-c'' | webpages, chat, linux learning, console games | | [[https://tilde.team|tilde.team]] | May 2017 | ubuntu + freebsd | ''#team'' | teaching and learning unix | | [[tilde:envs|envs.net]] | Aug 2018 | debian | ''#envs'' | minimalist, non-commercial, germany | | [[https://tilde.institute|tilde.institute]] | Nov 2018 | openbsd | ''#institute'' | openbsd pubnix | | [[tilde:cosmic|cosmic.voyage]] | Nov 2018 | ubuntu | ''#cosmic'' | collaborative science-fiction universe | | [[https://aussies.space|aussies.space]] | Feb 2019 | ubuntu | ''#aussie'' | australian tilde | | [[tilde:pink|tilde.pink]] | Apr 2019 | netbsd | ''#pink'' | gopher-focused tilde | | [[tilde:rwrs|rw.rs]] | Apr 2019 | debian | ''#rw.rs'' | experimental software, 199X aesthetic | | [[https://texto-plano.xyz|texto-plano.xyz]] | Oct 2020 | openbsd | ''#texto-plano'' | spanish-speaking tilde | | [[https://tilde.guru|tilde.guru]] | Jul 2021 | freebsd | ''#guru'' | freebsd pubnix | | [[tilde:green|tilde.green]] | Mar 2022 | ubuntu | ''#tilde.green'' | creativity and wildness | ===== How It Stays Connected ===== * [[https://tilde.chat/|tilde.chat]] is the shared IRC network; every member has a channel, and the [[https://tilde.chat/kiwi/|kiwi web client]] works without installing anything * A bot relays silly chat quotes to [[https://tilde.zone/@tildeverse|@tildeverse@tilde.zone]] on Mastodon * [[https://tilde.wiki/|tilde.wiki]] documents the network; anyone with an account on a member tilde can help out * Shared code lives on [[https://tildegit.org/|tildegit]], a self-hosted gitea forge ===== Shared Services ===== * [[https://tildepages.org/|tildepages.org]]: static page hosting built on tildegit * [[https://write.tildeverse.org/|write.tildeverse.org]]: writefreely, a federated blogging platform * [[https://journal.tildeverse.org/|journal.tildeverse.org]]: The Intentional Journal of the Tildeverse * [[https://zine.tildeverse.org/|zine.tildeverse.org]]: articles and other creations * [[https://tilde.zone/|tilde.zone]]: Mastodon, a federated social * [[https://bbj.tildeverse.org/|bbj]]: the shared text forum ===== What Tildes Provide ===== * A shell account and ''~/public_html'' web page at ''tilde.example/~user'' * Gopher holes and Gemini capsules alongside the web site (see [[protocols:gopher:start|Gopher]], [[protocols:gemini:start|Gemini]]) * Shared social tools: internal IRC, bulletin boards, ''finger'' and ''.plan'' files, local mail * A culture of small-scale, self-governed, genAI-free community. See [[tilde:tools|tilde.town Tools]]. The lesson tilde.club taught: you can, at any time, for very little money and effort, stand up a tiny digital community that basically belongs to itself. See [[https://hackaday.com/2024/09/14/taking-back-the-internet-with-the-tildeverse/|Hackaday's 2024 coverage]] and the [[https://media.ccc.de/v/mch2022-83-rocking-the-web-bloat-modern-gopher-gemini-and-the-small-internet|MCH2022 small-internet talk]]. The full lineage back to 1960s timesharing is at [[tilde:history|Pubnix History]]. ===== See Also ===== * [[tilde:start|tilde.town]] * [[tilde:history|Pubnix History]] * [[tilde:join|Joining a Tilde]] * [[tilde:sdf|SDF]] * [[tilde:pink|tilde.pink]] * [[tilde:club|tilde.club]] * [[tilde:cosmic|cosmic.voyage]] * [[tilde:envs|envs.net]] * [[tilde:green|tilde.green]] * [[tilde:rwrs|rw.rs]] * [[tilde:tools|tilde.town Tools]] * [[protocols:gopher:start|Gopher]] * [[protocols:gemini:start|Gemini]] * [[terminal:tools:ssh_tilde|SSH: tilde.town]] * [[indieweb:internet_as_place|The Internet as a Place]] * [[start|Return to wiki home]]