SDF – The Ethical Social Network

SDF presents social networking as a long-running practice of communication and collaboration, not a product invented by commercial platforms. It traces that tradition from ARPAnet email, file sharing, and instant messaging through mailing lists, USENET, and bulletin board systems. The site argues that these earlier networks offered distributed ways to connect, and says SDF’s approach continues their principles: collaboration, non-commercialism, user choice, and privacy. Its services build on systems used since SDF began as a bulletin board in 1987.

The network includes shell-based tools for messages, threaded discussions, chat, anonymous one-line posts, and journals, alongside web services such as Mastodon, Lemmy, Pixelfed, PeerTube, blogging, online learning, and image galleries. These services are available across SDF communities in several regions. SDF distinguishes itself from commercial social networks by saying it has never used advertising, monetized access logs, used user data for market research, or shared data with third parties. It also emphasizes its longevity and encouragement of individual creativity and collaboration. The result is a broad ecosystem that combines older text-based community tools with contemporary federated platforms, organized around minimizing commercial use of members’ activity and information.