The busybox one seems great as it comes with shells. php looks like it would add some issues.
Personally since I use go, I would create a go embedded app, which I would make a deb, rpm, and a dockerfile using "goreleaser"
package main
import (
"embed"
"net/http"
)
//go:embed static/*
var content embed.FS
func main() {
http.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
// Serve index.html as the default page
http.ServeContent(w, r, "index.html", nil, content)
})
// Serve static files
http.Handle("/static/", http.StripPrefix("/static/", http.FileServer(http.FS(content))))
// Start the server
http.ListenAndServe(":8080", nil)
}
Would be all the code but allows for expansion later. However the image goreleaser builds doesn't come with busybox on it so you can't docker exec into it. https://goreleaser.com/customization/docker/
Most of the other options including the PHP one seem to include a scripting language or a bunch of other system tools etc. I think that's overkill
Don't let your guard down but at some point trust and risk consideration is required for most systems to work. If you're after solutions; you could run your own node in the cloud and federate it.
Matrix with bridges can help consolidate them. Some managed versions exist like Beeper and Element. Been slowly moving to that. Will eventually self host.
In contrast 2009 was a actually a very bad year for a lot of people. I think what you're feeling is pretty normal. Try create some new fun, don't do too much in terms of recreating things except to confirm / dis-confirm memories.
Anyone else here concerned about what this means for the health of the ecosystem? If reddit was never sustainable and we are well and truly past a phase of consolidation there is potentially a lot of history / info to loose here. The damage has been done already by the funding model. While the return to federation and private hosting is nice, there is a potential "dark" age.
I feel discord does really well because the way it structures it "servers" really focuses around individuals rather than groups. Which then creates an incentive for a certain type of person to "grow their server" bringing more activity onto discord. This is confounded by both a) you join all channels on a server, 2) the ability of individuals to "mute" servers or channels; combined it means it fills up with a bunch of idlers in a way which is worse than IRC as it's unlikely they will ever read the contents or participate beyond asking a question then leaving.
Definitely related to the fall of usenet. The fact that it's ungoverned and standard, but the immediately obvious fix is not a situation people want either.
Check the requirements with the intended institution they tend to differ sadly. :(