After a long journey in my mind, the BSD Cafe project is finally taking shape. Registered the domain a year ago, and last July, I unveiled the first piece: our Mastodon instance. Since then, Miniflux, Matrix, and recently, our public Wiki have joined the family, inviting everyone to contribute.

The community’s response has been overwhelming, far exceeding my expectations. It’s clear there’s a thirst for modern, decentralized, open tools to nurture our favorite BSDs and our community.

One early idea (also suggested by many) was a forum. However, existing BSD forums felt repetitive. I craved something more modern, decentralized.

After weeks of experimentation, I’m thrilled to announce another cornerstone of BSD Cafe: BlendIT!

https://blendit.bsd.cafe/ is a Lemmy instance centered on our beloved BSDs and more. For those unfamiliar, Lemmy is a decentralized, federated alternative to Reddit, compatible with ActivityPub. Meaning, yes, you can follow and interact with Lemmy communities from Mastodon and other Fediverse software.

Lemmy isn’t just a Mastodon clone. While Mastodon excels in microblogging without algorithms, where old statuses fade into oblivion, Lemmy keeps everything organized, using algorithms to manage newsfeeds.

BlendIT aims to be a hybrid - a mix of a Forum, Wiki, Mastodon instance, and more - all seamlessly integrated into the Fediverse.

I’ve set up some basic communities where users (registration is open and manually approved like Mastodon) can create news, discuss, vote, and even follow communities from other Lemmy instances.

BlendIT (a play on Reddit, symbolizing the blend of our diverse BSD OS), like the Wiki, could become a vital tool for spreading information about our favorite BSDs - but only with your help.

Let me know if you encounter any issues or have suggestions.

Happy registering!