A Peculiar Blog

I’ve been running a Freenet node for a long time.  When I first started it up Freenet was at 0.4.  A couple of months later it was at version 0.5 and some time after that I was able to run my node 24/7 most of the time.

With the exception of occasional downtime due to technical (hardware) difficulties it has now been running 24/7 for no less than six years.

Some time ago, because nobody else was doing anything with it I decided that I would try to take on development in an effort to get the network built up and growing again.

In the last several months I’ve spent as much time as I could trying to figure out the source code and work on it.  In the last two years or more I’ve tried to convince people to use the network. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get people to actually use the Frost message boards and to create and update freesites.

The reward for my efforts has been large doses of silence with occasional comments by people whose only use for Freenet has been to complain about how it’s dying.

The problem is that if those people would take the same energy and time that they use for those complaints and expressions of apathy and use them to create new content on Freenet and promote the network, I firmly believe that it would have thousands of active users now instead of the low number of die-hards like myself.

As I’ve said before, I will continue to keep my node running 24/7 for as long as there is a network to connect to.  However I have to say that the lack of positive response on the part of those still using it is discouraging to say the least.

Is this a losing battle?  I hope not.  I still believe that Freenet 0.5 is important and needs to continue operation.

It’s just that I think it’d be nice to find out that I’m not the only one left trying to keep it going.

http://peculiarplace.com/freenet

Learning Java on my own is not an easy thing.  Learning Java on my own with Freenet as my first project is a monstrous task.  I really wish it didn’t feel like I’m trying to do it alone.

[tags]freenet, freedom of speech, internet, freedom of speech online, anonymity, anonymous publishing, development, java, learning java, frustration[/tags]