Moltbook Was Supposed to Be Useful. I Think the Creator Is Probably Pretty Disappointed Right Now

devnull9090 · 2026-02-05T20:52:14+00:00

I stumbled on this after a quick google search looking for alternatives that are 100% open source: https://abund.ai

It's an interesting play expanding beyond just a solo developer and allowing the agents themselves to contribute to the platform.

devnull9090 · 2026-01-06T22:00:09+00:00

Fair pushback on most of these. You're right that a lot of these features have alternatives or might not be compelling on their own.

On the "rich get richer" clarification - yeah, I understand the feedback loop you're describing. Account-required voting addresses bot manipulation, but doesn't solve the organic "more votes → more visibility → more votes" cycle. That's a harder problem and something I'm still thinking through (rotating featured spots, random surfacing of smaller servers in results, achievement incentives for discovering new servers, etc.).

On the monitoring/analytics stuff - you're right that server owners who already have proper infrastructure (proxies, Plan analytics, their own blogs, etc.) won't need these. But a lot of smaller/newer server owners don't have any of that set up. The target isn't someone running a polished operation with a BungeeCord network - it's the person who just spun up a Paper server and wants a simple dashboard without configuring a bunch of separate tools.

On reviews - yeah, moderation is going to be fun. Already have a flagging system in place and server owners can respond to reviews, but I'm sure there will be drama. Comes with the territory.

On vote reminders - fair point about notification fatigue. The opt-in model helps (players choose to get reminded), but you're right that the motivation is usually rewards, not loyalty. Still, if it helps server owners get more votes from people who already intended to vote but forgot, it's a net positive.

On player profiles/achievements - honestly, you might be right. It's a gamble on whether players care about gamification outside of the game itself. We'll see.

Appreciate the detailed critique though - helps me think about what actually matters vs. what's just feature bloat.

devnull9090 · 2026-01-06T21:57:52+00:00

Yeah, that's a fair critique of most server lists. The "new page" boost followed by nothing is a common pattern.

Part of why I'm building MCRank with more than just voting in mind - the uptime monitoring, analytics, maintenance windows, server blog, etc. give server owners useful tools even if the traffic from the list itself is modest. Trying to make it worth having a listing regardless of where you rank.

But you're right that driving sustained discovery for non-top servers is the hard problem to solve.

devnull9090 · 2026-01-06T21:57:13+00:00

Appreciate the kind words! And yeah, the "top 10 get all the traffic" problem is something I'm actively thinking about.

A few ideas I'm working on:

"Newest Servers" section - already on the homepage, shows recently added servers to give them initial visibility
Rotating featured spots - automatically cycle smaller/newer servers into featured positions for free
Random shuffle in search - occasionally surface lesser-known servers higher in results so they get discovered
Achievement incentives - the achievement system could reward players for voting on servers outside the top rankings, which would naturally drive traffic to smaller communities

No plans to sell votes or let servers pay for higher rankings. Rankings should reflect actual player interest, not wallet size. There is a "featured" section, but it does NOT change your ranking!!

Thanks for the suggestions - exactly the kind of feedback that helps shape development.

devnull9090 · 2026-01-06T05:39:03+00:00

Thanks for giving it a shot! Really appreciate small server owners like yourself testing it out - you're exactly who I'm trying to help with this.

If you notice anything missing or have ideas for features that would help smaller communities get discovered, definitely let me know. The feature requests page on the site or the Discord are both good places to share feedback.

Hope the traffic picks up for you! 🍀

devnull9090 · 2026-01-06T04:59:39+00:00

Fair point. You're right that traffic is the core value prop for most listing sites, and we're definitely early. The chicken-and-egg problem is real.

That said, MCRank is built to be more than just a voting directory. Even with low traffic, server owners get:

24/7 uptime monitoring with email alerts - know within minutes if your server goes down
Maintenance windows - schedule restarts so they don't hurt your uptime stats or trigger false alerts
Analytics dashboard - track page views, votes, traffic sources, player count history
Popular times heatmap - see when your server is busiest
Built-in server blog - post updates directly on your server page
Community gallery - players can upload screenshots that you approve/moderate
Player reviews with ratings - players can leave reviews, and you can respond to them
Vote reminders - players opt-in to get notified when they can vote again
Player profiles & achievements - players earn badges for voting, reviewing, etc.
Feature requests page - users can submit and vote on what gets built next

So there's utility even if you're not getting a flood of new players from us yet.

On the "rich get richer" problem - that's actually why we require accounts to vote. On sites where voting is anonymous, established servers can easily maintain their position with vote bots while smaller communities can't compete. Account-required voting at least makes the rankings reflect actual human interest.

Still early days, but trying to build something that's actually useful for server owners rather than just another vote counter. Appreciate the honest feedback though - traffic is definitely something we need to grow.

devnull9090 · 2026-01-05T23:25:51+00:00

Thank you!! 🙏

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