Welcome to the WAFRN FAQ!
At its core, WAFRN is a way to socialize with others on the internet. We use "WAFRN" to refer to the software that runs WAFRN servers. You can learn more about that software on our Codeberg, here: https://codeberg.org/wafrn/wafrn
WAFRN is decentralized, meaning there is no one single server hosting every WAFRN user. However, WAFRN is also part of the social web via the Fediverse and the ATmosphere, two networks of connected sites and services used by millions of people globally. This means that even though your home server may be small, well-managed, and resource-efficient, you can still communicate with an enormous number of other people, anywhere in the world.
WAFRN (or Wafrn, if you prefer) stands for "We Accept Female Representing Nipples." It was named after the infamous Tumblr policy statement banning adult content.
There is no single "true" pronunciation of "WAFRN". You can pronounce it any way you like.
However, there is one single "false" pronunciation of "WAFRN": "warfarin," like the medication.
We recommend looking into servers based on your interests. Join.Wafrn.net includes a variety of servers accepting registrations. Check the about page on each server for more information. Try them out and see what you like! Joining one server doesn't prevent you from talking to people on other servers, and you can always move your account later.
WAFRN is developed and supported by multiple people, each contributing their time and skill to support a free and open-source platform. Contributions are visible on the WAFRN Codeberg.
Support varies based on your capacity to contribute. Here are a few ideas, but this list is not exhaustive.
If you want to help but don't know what to do, you can either find an opportunity to jump in, or ask someone.
First, select a server. You can use join.Wafrn.net to find WAFRN instances accepting new users. You can view a server's local feed before you join, and get a sense of who will be in your digital "neighborhood".
Once you register with your desired server, you may need to wait for your account to get approved. This may take some time, as all WAFRN admins operate their servers as a hobby, not a business. However, most will activate your account quickly, and then you can start wooting!
To learn more about how the WAFRN interface works, check out the User Guide, here.
Sure! Check out the self-hosting guide, here.
WAFRN is an attempt to make a social media like Tumblr - a site that allows long posts and bulky media, respects the format you want to upload things in, and uses a reverse-chronological feed - while also fixing some of the problems with the format and avoiding the pitfalls of the Network Effect. To accomplish all of this, some compromises had to be made.
All the things below, and I cannot stress this enough, might become a thing eventually.
This list is non-exhaustive, sort of a semi joke, and actual feature requests should go on Codeberg.
That said, everything that has "Yes" and nothing else is actually confirmed to come eventually.
The slogan is somewhat of a placeholder, but we believe that the software and community we are building are to respect the user in their choices, their being and their consent. The name is a joke based on a 2018 Tumblr policy banning "female representing nipples", so our whole shtick is that We Allow Female Representing Nipples.
We also do not sell data, nor do we make it available for training on Ai to anyone.
That said, whilst we make an effort to just not be pricks to our users (unlike i.e Tumblr moderation), and to respect consent every step of the way (i.e making things like Bluesky 100% opt-in), there are some things we cannot adequately protect users from. Namely:
This also means that, for public posts, we cannot adequately prevent them from being scraped by AI companies. We don't give them access to that nor do we get reimbursed for it, they just take without consent and without giving anything back.
With the server being in france and @gabboman in spain, we also have to adhere to their laws to some extent. We will of course resist where we can, but we do not have the technical means nor tons of money to fight shit in court.
↑ I swear if they want us to do anything queerphobic or vaguely adjacent I will explode
- @alexia
The closest thing we use to "AI" is my toaster in the kitchen. Seriously, we do not use it ourselves for anything nor do we accept contributions that involve AI generated artwork, code or text.
Another way in which we feel we demonstrate respect towards the user is by building on the open ActivityPub Protocol and its various extensions by the community.
Whilst the protocol is far from perfect and we would really need more robust tools and standards in and around ActivityPub for data portability, it respects the user much more than closed platforms like Threads or X would.
We also make all our code public under the AGPLv3 License. We do not use a Contributor License Agreement, so copyright belongs to those which originally wrote the code, not Wafrn or @gabboman.