The Future of Decentralized Communities: Qortal Hub, Qortal Go, and Qortal Extension

Communities are the backbone of the normal internet! Whether they come in the form of a Facebook group for dog lovers, a Reddit subreddit for coffee aficionados, or a Telegram chat group of expats in Mexico, there are countless examples of how the internet has facilitated socializing and finding people with similar interests as one’s own.

But things aren’t always rosy, especially when certain communities, or even entire platforms, go against ideologies espoused by higher authorities, whether that be governments, or big corporations.

For example, Wikipedia was blocked entirely in Turkey when they were unable to censor an article they disagreed with.¹ Egypt blocking the entire Medium blogging platform in 2017 is another example.² This is only possible due to Web2's centralized internet control, where platforms rely on specific servers and IP addresses to deliver content. Governments can exploit this by blocking access at the ISP level, targeting these centralized points of failure.

Medium was taken down by the Egyptian government in 2017. It remains blocked to this day³

But communities aren’t meant to be shut down so easily, just because of another person’s authoritarian choice. Communities should have the freedom of speech to discuss what they choose (while remaining in the rule of law, of course). This is where the Web3 vision of giving back users control of their data comes to life.⁴

Qortal is an excellent example of such a project. Its decentralized architecture removes reliance on centralized servers, distributing data across a peer-to-peer and distributed network that can’t be taken down nor censored, ensuring true user control and resilience.

Users can join communities almost immediately after completing the installation on their favorite device, whether that be a Windows or Linux desktop or laptop, Chromium browser window, or Android phone. What’s more is that all private groups on Qortal benefit from group-encrypted messaging, meaning that chat messages sent between users cannot be read by anyone outside the group, making them that much more secure from censorship!

Qortal is available on many different platforms and operating systems!⁵

From a quick installation, to joining a group of their favorite community, a new user on Qortal can, in a matter of minutes, become uncensorable!

With the new releases of Hub, Go, and Extension, users can also benefit from improved accessibility, and a clean new user interface, which makes engaging with their different communities more exciting and dynamic than ever before!

Qortal Hub's clean and sleek new user interface as shown here, makes collaborating with communities easier and more fun than ever!⁶

Communities can take the experience on Qortal even further, by for example raising funds for a fundraiser, using the decentralized app called Q-Fund, or perhaps by leveraging Threads for a Reddit decentralized alternative. Whatever a community currently needs, they’ll find it on Qortal. And if they cannot find it now, it can be quickly coded by the amazing dev team.

The crowdfunding Q-App called Q-Fund is another amazing community feature on Qortal, where community admins can raise QORT to fund their different ideas on the platform!⁷

And the QORT coin is what powers it all, ensuring that Qortal can thrive as a completely parallel internet, and economy too! The risk of censorship and having things taken down goes to zero, meaning every community can exchange free of the worry of threats or censorship.

There’s no better time to migrate your community onto Qortal. The trifecta of Hub, Go, and Extension means anyone in the community can access it, regardless of their device preferences. And they can do so without even running their own node, with Qortal’s new gateway nodes. Accessibility and data control intertwined in this amazing blockchain project, built with communities in mind. Download it here, create your own group, and then invite your friends.

1. The Net Monitor. (2017). Global internet censorship. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://thenetmonitor.org/research/2017-global-internet-censorship/

2. MENABYTES. (2017, June 12). Egypt has blocked the online publishing platform ‘Medium’. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://www.menabytes.com/egypt-blocks-medium/

3. Security Affairs. (2017). Medium blockage in Egypt [Image]. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://i0.wp.com/securityaffairs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/medium-blockage-egypt.jpg?fit=1024%2C556&ssl=1

4. Irish Tech News. (n.d.). Web3 unchained: The future of a decentralized internet. Retrieved January 8, 2025, from https://irishtechnews.ie/web3-unchained-the-future-of-a-decentralized-internet/

5. Qortal. (n.d.). Qortal downloads page [Screenshot].Screenshot taken by the author on January 8, 2025 from https://qortal.dev/downloads

6. Qortal. (n.d.). Qortal Hub group chat user interface [Screenshot]. Screenshot taken by the author on January 8, 2025, from Qortal Hub application.

7. Qortal. (n.d.). Q-Fund application interface [Screenshot]. Screenshot taken by the author on January 8, 2025, from the Qortal Hub application.