Boards2

Boards2 is a social discussion forum for open communication and community-driven conversations.

Users can start discussions by creating or reposting threads and then submitting comments or replies to other user comments.

Discussions happen within different boards, where each board is an independent self managed community.

Boards2 allows users to create two types of boards, one is the invite only board where only invited users can create threads and comment, and where non invited users can only read the content and discussions; The other type of board is the open board where any user with a specific amount of GNOT in their account can create threads, repost and comment.

Open Boards Quick Start

If you are new to Gno.land in general, the quick start guide below can help you get started.

What you need to create threads and start commenting within open boards is having a specific amount of GNOT in your Gno.land user account, which by default initially is 3000 GNOT. This initial GNOT amount could be changed over time to a different amount, so this requirement can change.

How To Get a Gno.land Address

To use Boards2 you'll need a Gno.land address. You can quickly setup your account using Adena or any Gno.land compatible wallet by following these steps:

• Download Adena, or a Gno.land compatible wallet
• Once installed, you have to create a new account or add an existing one following wallet's instructions
• If you don't have GNOT you will need to use a faucet to get some, if the network allows it

For testing networks you can use the official Faucet Hub to receive GNOT in your account.

How to Start Using Open Boards

Once you have the required GNOT amount in your account you can start commenting, creating and reposting threads within any open board.

To comment and engage on an open board discussion visit a thread and click on the "Comment" link. You can also reply to any of the thread's comments by clicking on the "Reply" link.

To create threads, visit an open board and then click on the "Create Thread" link, there you will have to enter a title and some content for the thread body.

Thread and comments content can be written as plaintext, or Markdown if you want to format the content so it's rendered as rich text.

You can also repost any thread, even the ones from invite only boards, into any open board. To do so visit the thread you want to repost and click on the "Repost" link at the bottom of the thread, there you will have to enter the open board where you want the repost to be created, a title for the thread repost and optionally also some content to render at the top of the repost. The optional content can also be written as plaintext or Markdown, like threads.

After your thread, repost or comment is created, you can easily share the link with others so they can join the discussion!

Boards

Boards2 realm enables the creation of different communities though independent boards.

When a board is created, and independetly of the board type, it initially has a single "owner" member assigned by default, which is the user that creates it. The member is called "owner" because by default it has the owner role, which grants all permissions within that board.

Members of a board with the owner or admin role, independently of the board type, can invite other members, or otherwise users can request being invited to be a member by visiting the board and clicking the "Request Invite" link. Requested invites can be accepted or revoked though the board's "Invite Requests" view or using these public realm functions:

1// AcceptInvite accepts a board invite request.
2func AcceptInvite(_ realm, boardID boards.ID, user address)
3
4// RevokeInvite revokes a board invite request
5func RevokeInvite(_ realm, boardID boards.ID, user address)

There are four possible roles that invited users can have when they are members of a board:

• owner: Grants all available permissions
• admin: Grants basic, moderator and advanced permissions, like being able to rename boards, add or remove members, or change their role.
• moderator: Grants basic and moderation related permissions, like being able to ban or unban users, or flag content.
• guest: Grants basic permissions that allow creating threads, reposting and commenting.

Default board configuration, permissions and roles are defined in the permissions file.

No roles or number of members is enforced for boards, so technically a board can be updated to have no members, or for example, boards could exists without any "owner" if all members with owner role are removed from it.

Other custom user defined roles can exists on top of the default ones though custom board implementations.

Custom Boards

Boards2 realm allows users to customize the mechanics of their boards when the default ones doesn't make sense to that community, or when users want to integrate a board with their realms.

An example of this would be a case where thread creation should be allowed only though a new publisher role, or a case where a community have their own DAO realm and governance implementation and are looking to integrate it into their board mechanics by creating threads though proposals that must be approved for the thread to be published.

Each board can customize the way it works by implementing the Permissions interface that is defined in the gno.land/p/gnoland/boards package. It is though the implementation of that interface within a new realm that the default board mechanics can be customized. The new realm can then be used to create an instance of a custom Permissions implementation to replace the one assigned by default to a board.

Right now only Boards2 realm owner members are allowed to change default board permissions using a public realm function:

1// SetPermissions sets a permissions implementation for boards2 realm or a board
2func SetPermissions(_ realm, boardID boards.ID, p boards.Permissions)

This function will be replaced by a proposal that would need to pass for the custom permissions to be applied to a board once Boards2 governance is implemented.

Permissions implementation allow communities to customize the way they want to manage users and roles, where or how they should be stored, and the requirements or effects different board actions have.

Boards2 provides a custom Permissions implementation in gno.land/r/gnoland/boards2/v1/permissions that can be imported by realms and used to implement custom boards.

Boards Governance

By default boards are created with an undelying DAO, so each new board is linked to an independent DAO which is used to organize members by role, and can also be used to update boards in a permissionless manner.

Right now is possible to integrate with the underlying DAO and change the default board mechanics to rely on proposals using a custom board implementation, by creating a new realm that imports and uses the gno.land/r/gnoland/boards2/v1/permissions realm, which exposes the underlying DAO.

Current Boards2 realm implementation doesn't run proposals, but some of the current mechanics will rely on DAO proposals to actually execute changes.

Moderation

Flagging

Threads and comments are moderated by flagging, which requires the moderator, admin or owner roles.

A reason is required each time content is flagged by a member. Content is replaced by a feedback message and a link to the list of flagging reasons given by moderators when a moderation flagging threshold is reached. By default the threshold is of a single flag.

Right now is not possible to show the content of a thread or comment that has been hidden because of moderation, but future Boards2 versions might implement a way to handle moderation disputes and allow restoring the thread or comment content.

Boards2 realm owners are allowed to moderate content with a single flag within any board at this point, but this might be changed to work though a DAO proposal.

Each board's owner or admin members are free to change the flagging threshold within a single board to a greater value using a public realm function:

1// SetFlaggingThreshold sets the number of flags required to hide a thread or comment
2func SetFlaggingThreshold(_ realm, boardID boards.ID, threshold int)

Banning

Members with the moderator, admin or owner roles are the only ones that are allowed to ban or unban a user within a board.

Users can be banned with a reason for any number of hours. Within this period banned users are not allowed to interact or make any changes.

Only invited guest members and open board users can be banned, banning board owners, admins and moderators is not allowed.

Banning and unbanning can be done by calling these public realm functions:

1// Ban bans a user from a board for a period of time
2func Ban(_ realm, boardID boards.ID, user address, hours uint, reason string)
3
4// Unban unbans a user from a board
5func Unban(_ realm, boardID boards.ID, user address, reason string)

Freezing

Boards2 realm allows owner or admin members of a board to freeze the board or any of its threads. Freezing makes the board or thread readonly, disallowing any changes or additions until unfrozen.

The following public realm function can be called for freezing:

 1// FreezeBoard freezes a board so no more threads and comments can be created or modified
 2func FreezeBoard(_ realm, boardID boards.ID)
 3
 4// UnfreezeBoard removes frozen status from a board
 5func UnfreezeBoard(_ realm, boardID boards.ID)
 6
 7// FreezeThread freezes a thread so thread cannot be replied, modified or deleted
 8func FreezeThread(_ realm, boardID, threadID boards.ID)
 9
10// UnfreezeThread removes frozen status from a thread
11func UnfreezeThread(_ realm, boardID, threadID boards.ID)