A few months ago, I posted here about my excitement for Plebbit and the promise it held for decentralization. I was convinced that a p2p social platform with a unique UI could be the future, with different UI of all social media..including Lemmy, a true alternative to centralized services. I saw the potential, and I wanted to believe in it.

Plebbit promised a lot of an innovative interface, decentralization, community driven governance. But after months of delays, vague updates, and little to no progress, it’s clear they never delivered. They had the right ideas but lacked the follow through to make them a reality. What was once an exciting project quickly turned into an example of what can go wrong when the hype overshadows the substance.

I wanted Plebbit to succeed, but in the end, I’ve realized that I’m better off sticking with what actually works.

If Plebbit had actually followed through on its promises especially with its vision of being a decentralized Reddit alternative. it could have been the best. The idea of a selfhosted platform, where users had true control over their content and communities, was a dream for those of us who wanted more than just another centralized app. It had the potential to be the go-to solution for anyone seeking real decentralization and p2p freedom. But unfortunately, that potential was never realized. Instead of delivering on its ambitious promises, Plebbit became just another project that failed to meet expectations, and the opportunity for a truly revolutionary platform faded away.

I’ll be honest, I really believed in Plebbit.

The idea of a truly decentralized, peer-to-peer social platform felt like something the internet desperately needed. A space beyond centralized servers, censorship, and platform overlords. Something that wasn’t just “Reddit, but a real shift in how we interact online.

Plebbit pitched that dream. They talked about p2p everything : hosting, moderation, identity. They made it sound like the future was finally within reach. And I wanted to believe.

But over time… it became clear. It was all talk. All hype. All roadmap, no road.

Constant delays with vague excuses.

Overpromising, under delivering at every stage.

“Community governance” that never materialized beyond buzzwords.

A dev team that slowly drifted into silence while the protocol rotted. I kept checking in, hoping something had changed. That maybe I’d been too impatient. But no. It wasn’t just slow, it was never real to begin with.

So, I’m sticking with Lemmy. It’s not perfect, but at least it’s real. Maybe we’ll get the true decentralization we’ve been promised one day

Plebbit is not a joke. You can see a demo here.

There is a whitepaper, and there has been a lot of work already using cool technologies like ENS (Ethereum Name Service) and IPFS (Inter Planetary File System).

To help keep Plebbit free from censorship, it is distributed, and nodes, built with React, use peer-to-peer tech to communicate.

If you like, please take a look at what Plebbit is doing and see how you might be able to make it more responsive.

https://github.com/plebbit/plebbit-react

You can chat with @estebanabaroa on Telegram if you have questions or suggestions:

https://t.me/plebbit