We did it.

As I write this, join.app.net just met our 500K goal, with 38 hours left.

Data Export #

When you are logged into the App.net alpha, we provide a button which will email you a .zip file of all of your content in a structured format. If you are an alpha tester, go ahead and try it out. It works.

Impartial 3rd-party verification of results #

We are using Stripe to host/power the billing aspects of join.app.net. In the very near future I will ask an impartial 3rd party take a look at our data (while preserving all privacy of our backers) and publicly verify that the join.app.net was operated in an honest manner. There has been zero manipulation of numbers, or “stuffing of the ballot box” by App.net.

Third party app development #

We are excited to see quite a few 3rd-party apps already under development. If you are interested in taking a look, here is a crowdsourced directory of 3rd-party apps that are active or under development. This is especially exciting for us given that the API has only been live since Tuesday evening.

This is just an alpha test #

Please understand that we built a functional web application and working API to demonstrate that App.net is not “vaporware”. We have a great deal of work to do. One of the most important things we need to do is put together a Terms of Service for the operating site. I will be spending a great deal of time in the coming days creating a draft of our ToS, and our forward plan is to host it on github. This way, folks can see it, offer feedback (even pull requests), and will be kept abreast of any future changes. Along these lines, there are still a great many questions that need to be answered before App.net should be thought of as an operating service, rather than just an alpha prototype.

Account claiming #

Please note that once the backing period is over, users will no longer be able to “claim” their Twitter usernames. From that moment forward usernames will be awarded on a first-come first-served basis. We implemented “claiming” as a fringe benefit for our backers, not as a go-forward plan. I want to make sure that latecomers are not surprised and disappointed to see that they can no longer get their preferred username. To repeat: if you want to “claim” your Twitter username, and haven’t already backed us, you have 38 hours left to do so.

To our early backers #

Thank you for believing.

I know in my heart that what made join.app.net succeed was your willingness and openness to give App.net the benefit of the doubt, to read our github documentation, to ask to participate in the alpha, to write blogposts in our support. Thank you.

We couldn’t have done it without you.