Privacy Respecting Replacement for facebook groups

[Lori Nagel]

   Hello everyone, I'm trying to figure out a privacy  respecting
   replacement for facebook groups.  I want something that is easy to
   join, (so no requirement that you learn email encryption, system
   administration or anything "hard"  but also something that even Richard
   Stallman wouldn't object to (not that I'm trying to recruit him to join
   it, just some people are really zealots about stuff, if it doesn't have
   javascript that is also a bonus.)
   I've also considered things like email lists, matermost, irc and
   forums, and I've dismissed them for the following reasons.
   1. Lots of people just ignore email thesse days, plus it isn't really
   very real time.
   2. irc is just a chat channel, too many bots and while it is real time,
   it doesn't really have any persistance of topics.
   3. Forums tend to be too public with just anyone can join it, and while
   you can have private forums or private sections of forums, you need to
   be an administrator to set that all up.  Plus forums tend to have
   things like spralling topics,  and things that either get out of date,
   or else there is no conversation about the subject (thread necromancy
   vs an empty forum.)  I want to create a small group that is highly
   engaged with the subject, chatting everyday etc.
   4. Email messages from lists you need to get info from can end up in
   spam if you don't set up email right.  It is too easy to miss important
   messages cause you get consumed with marketing or things you
   inadvertantly signed up for and should not have.
   5. Matermost is like discord, but then I would have to set it up, and
   I'm not a professional system admin. If i spend all my time learning
   professional system admin skills, then I won't get to do what I want,
   which is interacting with people.
   Just on a whim I also checked into Dissporia and groups.io, mastadon
   doesn't really have groups yet, and I don't think all the source code
   for groups.io is included.