Principles
What we’ve committed to.
These are constraints we designed around, not defaults we might revisit. Each one rules out a category of feature we could otherwise have built, which is the only kind of principle worth writing down.
- 01
Contribution over engagement
We measure whether a discussion produced something useful, not whether it produced reaction. Nothing here is ranked by how much heat it generated, and we won't build features whose main job is bringing you back.
- 02
Disagreement is a feature
A counterargument is a first-class kind of contribution, not a fight to be cooled down. A discussion that ends by pinning down exactly where people disagree has done its job. We don't define productive as polite, or as agreeing with us.
- 03
Your attention is yours
Every feed is a rule you can open, read, edit, save, share and fork. If the system made a choice about what you see, you can find out why. No exceptions for the parts we're proud of and none for the parts we're not.
- 04
No universal score
No reputation number, anywhere, for anyone. No point total, no leaderboard, no badge tier. Usefulness stays contextual — this person, on this subject, for this kind of contribution. This isn't a default we might revisit; it's a constraint we designed around.
- 05
Structure without homework
The composer is a text box. Everything else is optional, offered one thing at a time, and never blocks you from posting. If you just want to say something, say it — “no specific request” is a real answer.
- 06
Speech and reach are different things
Being allowed to post, being moderated, and being amplified are three separate systems with three separate sets of rules. Not being promoted is not the same as being silenced, and we won't quietly collapse the two.
- 07
Discussions are durable
A discussion accumulates what was established, where people disagreed, what sources were brought, and where it got to. Someone arriving in two years gets the conclusion first and the transcript second.
- 08
You can leave with everything
Built on the open AT Protocol: portable identity, your posts in a repository you control, and a follower graph that isn't ours to hold hostage. Leaving should be boring.
- 09
Public by default
Discussions here are public and readable without an account. A useful answer that only members can see isn't finished.
- 10
The platform is the product
Not you, and not your data. We don't sell ads and we don't sell behavioral data — we intend to make money from tools that help people manage their own attention, which is the only model that doesn't put us at odds with you.
Why these
Most of what makes a platform feel the way it feels comes from three decisions: whether it sells your attention, whether it optimizes for your return, and whether it gives everyone a number. Ruling all three out removes the majority of the mechanics we would otherwise have drifted into building — not by willpower, but because the features stop making sense.
The rest is moderation and attention, which are just work, and we plan to do the work. And because the whole thing sits on an open protocol, you don’t have to take our word for any of it indefinitely: if we stop meaning it, you can leave and bring your identity, your posts and your followers with you.
None of this makes the other model illegitimate. It is a different product, solving a different problem, and we didn’t want to build it.