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Proposal: The Ohana Network (TON)

!!! abstract "Status: Request for Comments (RFC)" This document is a living proposal. It outlines the foundational architecture and behavioral standards for The Ohana Network. The frameworks below are starting points designed to invite collaboration. The final Ohana Covenant will be refined, amended, and governed by the consensus of its founding core members.

The Ohana Network (TON) is an opt-in, federated ecosystem of independent communities. It is built on a simple premise: we can build a massive, diverse digital neighborhood by gatekeeping behavior rather than belief.

In the broader Fediverse, open federation often forces administrators into a reactive game of "whack-a-mole" against bad actors, leading to ideological blocklists that isolate communities. The Ohana Network inverts this model. We start with a closed door and carefully invite trusted partners inside, creating a contiguous network of high-trust servers—an archipelago of independent islands operating under a shared standard of civility.

I. Behavior Over Belief

Our network protects ideological diversity by enforcing strict behavioral civility in the public square.

We envision a network where a faith-based community, a secular humanist group, and a highly localized civic project can all federate seamlessly.

  • We protect the clash of ideas: Users are free to express theological convictions, scientific assertions, political leanings, and traditional or progressive viewpoints.
  • We prohibit attacks on people: Hatred, slurs, doxxing, pornography, illegal activity, and the promotion of violence are strictly forbidden.
  • Context matters: We expect "boundary-pushing" content to be kept out of the shared public square and reserved for opt-in, properly bounded groups or shielded behind strict Content Warnings.

For more details, please read our proposal: the Ohana Covenant

II. Software Independence

The Ohana Network is built on the ActivityPub protocol, not on any single piece of software. We are platform-agnostic.

Whether a community chooses to run Mastodon, GoToSocial, Soapbox, Bonfire, or Hubzilla, they are welcome to apply for network federation provided they support limited (allowlist) federation.

A Note on Moderation Mechanics

We recognize that different platforms offer different moderation tools. For example, some software (like Bonfire) provides granular "Boundaries" and "Circles" that make it structurally easy to keep sensitive discussions off the public timeline. Other software (like Mastodon) relies more heavily on flat feeds and requires diligent use of Content Warnings (CWs) by the user.

The Ohana Network does not mandate how a server achieves compliance, only that they do. We expect administrators using flatter feed structures to implement manual moderation policies (such as enforcing CW rules for their users) to meet the network standard. We are committed to providing reasonable timeframes and grace periods for administrators to manually correct issues when their underlying software lacks automated guardrails.

Click here for more information on how to handle Moderation when running flat-feed structured ActivityPub servers.

III. The Core Mechanics

Instead of asking administrators to shoulder the burden of global moderation, TON relies on transparent, shared allowlists:

  1. No Open Registrations: To prevent spam and ban-evasion, member servers must utilize closed, reviewed, or invite-only registration systems.
  2. Shared Allowlists: The network maintains a published ohana-core.csv list. Member servers configure their limited federation settings to sync with this list, instantly securely connecting them to all other vetted network members.
  3. User-Level Freedom: While the server's public federation is strictly curated by the allowlist, individual users maintain the freedom to follow and interact with accounts in the broader, external Fediverse. We curate the public square; we do not build walled gardens.

IV. Call for Collaboration

This framework is just the beginning. We are actively seeking input from community builders, technologists, and server administrators to refine our intake process, define our moderation escalation policies (The Ohana Covenant), and test our initial connections.

If you are interested in helping build a resilient, respectful, and truly diverse corner of the Fediverse, please join the discussion. (Link to contribution guidelines or contact method to be added).

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