Betulopticon is a project related to [[Betula]] I want to make. It will be a beacon for the betulist community.

The name is a pun on panopticon, and is subject to change. Other name I consider is Index Betulica.

*. When first setting up a Betula, the betulist is prompted to join a Betulopticon (opt-in). The one I host will be pre-filled. *. Betulopticon tracks stats for the new Betula and presents them. *. In a Betula that is part of a Betulopticon, on the Subscribe change, beside the text input for the URL, members of the Betulopticon are listed, ranged by similarity, quality and popularity. All this information is derived from public data.

The project is open-source, of course, and everyone will be able to host their own Betulopticon. It might make sense for small close communities. I, though, would prefer many betulists to prefer the flagship instance.

= Caveats == Internet Most Betulæ are not in the internet, they are LAN-only. Such instances cannot be tracked by the Index, but they can access the Index's data.

== Centralization Some would say I want to centralize the Betula community this way. In a way, I do. I want to see people use Betula and share cool stuff. I want to know an approximate number of betulists. Is it 20 now? No idea.

However, there is no ethic dillema here. By not joining, one does not miss anything. I don't even host the Betulæ's data, they are all hosted elsewhere.

I'll consider the Index successful if there are 10 sites in it.