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2 days agoGreat question! Unlike Lemmy, which relies on federation with dedicated servers, Plebbit is fully peer-to-peer (P2P) and does not have a central server or even instances. Instead, storage happens via a combination of IPFS and users seeding data. Here’s how it works:
Where Is Plebbit’s Data Stored?
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Subplebbit Owners Host the Data (Like Torrent Seeders)
- Each subplebbit owner runs a Plebbit node that stores and republishes their own community’s data.
- Their device (or a server, if they choose) must be online 24/7 to ensure the subplebbit remains accessible.
- If a subplebbit owner goes offline, their community disappears unless others seed it—very similar to how torrents work.
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Users Act as Temporary Seeders
- Any user who visits a subplebbit automatically stores and seeds the content they read.
- This means active users help distribute content, like in BitTorrent.
- If a user closes their app and no one else is seeding the content, it becomes unavailable until the owner comes back online.
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IPFS for Content Addressing
- Posts and comments are stored in IPFS, which ensures that popular content remains available longer.
- Unlike a blockchain, there is no permanent historical ledger—if no one is seeding, the data is gone.
- Each post has a content address (CID), meaning that as long as someone has the data, it can be re-fetched.
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PubSub for Live Updates
- Plebbit uses peer-to-peer pubsub (publish-subscribe messaging) to broadcast new content between nodes in real-time.
- This helps users see new posts without needing a central server to pull updates from.
What Happens If Everyone Goes Offline?
- If no one’s online to seed a subplebbit, it’s as if it never existed.
- This is a trade-off for infinite scalability—it removes the need for central databases but relies on community participation.
- Think of it like a dead torrent—no seeders, no content.
Comparison With Lemmy
| Feature | Lemmy | Plebbit |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting Model | Federated servers (instances) | Fully P2P (no servers) |
| Who Stores Data? | Instance owners (like Reddit mods running a server) | Subplebbit owners & users (like torrents) |
| If Owner Goes Offline? | Instance still exists; data stays up | The community disappears unless users seed it |
| Historical Content Availability | Instances keep all posts forever | Older data may disappear if not seeded |
| Scalability | Limited by instance storage & bandwidth | Infinite, as long as people seed |
Bottom Line: No Servers, Just Users
- With Lemmy: The instance owner has to host everything themselves like a mini-Reddit admin.
- With Plebbit: The subplebbit owner AND users seed the content—no one has to host a centralized database.
- If something is popular, it stays alive.
- If something isn’t seeded, it disappears, just like torrents.
It’s a radical trade-off for decentralization and censorship resistance, but if no one cares about a community, the content naturally dies off. No server, no mods deleting you from a database—just pure P2P.
Hope that clears it up! 🚀
Partially.