![\"\"](\"http:\/\/betanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/social-network-e1350924833920-300x168.jpg\" "\\"social")
Social networks are great, in theory. But then you run into problems with other users, advertising, spam, unexpected and unnecessary interface redesigns, security issues, privacy problems and the list goes on.<\/p>\nSocial networks are great, in theory. But then you run into problems with other users, advertising, spam, unexpected and unnecessary interface redesigns, security issues, privacy problems and the list goes on.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re in the mood to try something different, then, you might be interested in RetroShare<\/a>. It\u2019s a cross-platform, open source tool which provides a rich set of features — instant messaging, voice chat, forums, channels, file sharing and more — but in a peer-to-peer form, so you only get to connect to people that you\u2019ve specifically invited.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, getting this all set up requires a little work. RetroShare encrypts you connections with GPG (GNU Privacy Guard), for instance, so you\u2019ll need to generate a key to establish your identity, then exchange keys with friends when authenticating your connection. This isn\u2019t difficult (creating a key is just a matter of filling in a form, and you only need to exchange keys once), but it\u2019s undeniably more complicated than signing up with Facebook.<\/p>\n Once everything is working, though, browsing the RetroShare toolbar will quickly reveal a very rich set of features. You get file sharing, for instance. Instant messaging. Chat rooms. An email-type system, forums, channels and more.<\/p>\n We\u2019re not just talking some pre-built configuration, either. You can add as many forums as you or your friends would like to use, for instance. Each of them get your choice of custom name and description. Messages within them can be authenticated, or anonymous (so a network of work colleagues could allow anonymous messaging to encourage users to speak openly, for example). And if you\u2019ve a lot of forums then you can even subscribe to your favorites, say, making it easier to find new messages to you at some later date.<\/p>\n The core file sharing mechanisms are just as versatile. You can attach files to individual messages, for instance, or share entire folders and allow others to browse them. A detailed Transfers window keeps you up-to-date with your own downloads and there are plenty of useful configuration options (you can set a maximum number of simultaneous transfers to avoid sapping your bandwidth, for example).<\/p>\n And of course all this is decentralized, peer-to-peer, so there\u2019s no central server, no-one else monitoring things: it\u2019s just you and the people you\u2019ve invited.<\/p>\n RetroShare<\/a> won\u2019t be for everyone, then. And if you really just want a simple way to display last night\u2019s photos to as many people as possible then maybe Facebook really is the best solution, after all.<\/p>\n But, if you\u2019d like something more private, more secure, an environment which is just for you and those you invite, then the program could be the ideal choice. Just keep in mind that there will be quite an initial learning curve as you figure out how everything works.<\/p>\n Photo Credit:<\/strong> Oleksiy Mark<\/a>\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n Social networks are great, in theory. But then you run into problems with other users, advertising, spam, unexpected and unnecessary interface redesigns, security issues, privacy problems and the list goes on. If you\u2019re in the mood to try something different, then, you might be interested in RetroShare. It\u2019s a cross-platform, open source tool which provides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/betanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/retroshare-300x208.png\" "\\"retroshare\\"")
And there may be issues in connecting from behind a firewall, too, although it all depends on your setup: if UPnP is working then all should be well, if not then there may be some further configuration necessary (the official documentation explains more<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"