Hi, {recipient}!

Come talk to me on Scuttlebutt! It's a decentralized social network with a radically different experience from Facebook or Twitter. It's unique, supportive, cool, and reminds me of what the web must have felt like at the very beginning.

Because it's so radically different (like, it's not actually on the web) it takes a few steps to get started, which i've helpfully included below!

How to Join Scuttlebutt, and How to Find Me on The Network:

1. Download Patchwork, a client for navigating Scuttlebutt.

Scuttlebutt is a method for decentralized communication, but there are different clients to choose from for navigating this scuttleverse(sort of like choosing between chrome and firefox for the web). Patchwork is my preferred client, and you can download it below:

Download Patchwork

(opens in new window)

2. Install and start up The Patchwork application.

3. Paste in a pub invite code.

Pubs are like happy, always-on robot friends that are great at relaying messages for us. The pub helps us talk to one another when we're not on the same local network.

You can find me on this pub: {pub}

<And you can join by clicking 'join pub' and pasting in this invite code:

{invite-code}


4. Hang out for a sec as you are synced up with the network.


With Scuttlebutt, you own and hold your own data, which is your social network. But this means that when you first join the pub, all the messages in your network are downloaded to your computer. This keeps the entire network decentralized and not reliant on any server (unlike facebook or twitter). It also means you can browse the entire network while being offline!

Since it's made up of mostly text, the network will take up about 500mb on yr computer, and the downloading should take less than 5 minutes.

While you wait, check out this video that better explains how Scuttlebutt works, through the context of a *~*~love story*~*~:

Scuttlebutt: a Love Story

(opens in new window)

5. Find Me and Friend Me.

My name on here is {username}.

But you should find me using my public key, which is:

{public-key}

The public key is sort of like my techno-signature, so you know that the person you are friending is actually me.

You can find me by pasting my public key into the search bar. This'll bring you to my profile, where you can follow me.


6. Say Hi!

You can write either public or private messages. The private ones are end-to-end encrypted, meaning it's impossible for anyone who isn't me to read them.




To send me a private message, click private, then add my @name and say hi!



To send a public message, either just post in the public thread (and maybe @mention me) or post in the #new-people channel (which is what I'd recommend)


7. Check out these other channels.

There's a lot of good conversations happening on this network. Here are three channels I think you'd like. Just paste them into patchwork's search bar to check them out!

• {channel-one}
• {channel-two}
• {channel-three}