[libreplanet-discuss] Building a free/libre platform for reviews

[Erik Moeller]

Hi folks,

Reviews are pretty ubiquitous on the web, whether through dedicated
platforms like Yelp or Goodreads, or as part of transactions like on
shopping sites or in apps. What they tend to have in common:

1) The platforms are proprietary.
2) Users give the platforms the right to use the reviews, but nobody else.

I think we can do better, and I don’t think I need to convince this
particular audience of the merits of free/libre code or culture.

As you may remember, I’m the maintainer of https://freeyourstuff.cc/
which already lets you export reviews from a few popular platforms.
But it’s not itself a review platform, nor is it limited to reviews.
(I’m currently looking into exporting Quora answers, for example.)

While continuing to improve FYS, I’m going to start shifting some of
my time to building a free/libre (code & information) platform for
open reviews. I’d love to hear from folks:

- Are there existing efforts you’re aware of that I should seek out?
- Are there things you’d like to review/find reviews for that you’re
currently not able to? (For example, I haven’t seen a popular platform
for reviewing free/libre software, yet.)
- Would you like to be involved in some way (tester/reviewer,
developer, designer, documenter, what have you)? Shoot me a note
off-list.

My current strategy is to build a minimal platform with the following
core characteristics:

- Reviews for arbitrary "types" of things, excluding human beings
(unless they are sole proprietors of a business that is being
reviewed)
- Relevant descriptive data for those types, ideally with
sync-features to external free information sources like Wikidata or
OpenStreetMap
- "Actions” that can be associated with a type (e.g., book a table at
a restaurant, download a piece of software, call a business)
- "Teams" you can join to collaborate on, e.g., finding the best
vegetarian restaurants in an area. Each team can have its own rules of
engagement.

There will be no advertising, and the focus will be on creating a
culture of high quality, trustworthy information. No external vendor
(e.g., booking services) will receive preferential treatment. If it
takes off enough to justify a legal entity, it will be a nonprofit.

This can only work if it reaches a critical mass of users, so I hope
some of you are excited about such a thing or even helping to create
it. :) Looking forward to hearing from folks!

Warmly,

Erik