This is just a thought I had that I wanted to bounce off people who know more about ActivityPub/the fediverse— would it be feasible (and would it make sense) to build an open-source, ActivityPub-compatible dating app as an alternative to Tinder/Bumble/etc.? And if so, what could that look like? Obviously the small userbase would be an issue, but I feel like there’s enough frustration with the mainstream apps that there’d be at least some migration if a good decentralized & non-commercial option existed. I know I’d use it. What do y’all think?
How would you manage stalking, harassment, impersonation, assault and various other kinds of violence? This is not a place for laissez-faire management.
You need to consider the social side prior to the technical side.
If you are in the US, how are you going to manage compliance with FOSTA SESTA? or your local equivalent?
If you could figure that out, pick some sort of small market in which to establish it, such as a certain subculture in a limited geographic area. That’s how things used to get released and it is much more amenable to success. Do you remember when facebook or craigslist “opened” in your location? It’s better to have 100 people on a dating site that are in physical proximity than 1000 people who are remote from each other. Even better if those 100 people share some sort of affinity. If you are thinking of a hetro(/bi/pan) site you are going to need something that lots of women are interested in, so federated social networks can’t be it.
These are great things to think about, thank you! It definitely feels like it would be a big undertaking if it did happen, and starting small seems like the right move.
@audrbox I am interested to know if you have any thoughts on the questions I raised.