This is titled Update #4 and #5 because 2 months have passed since my last blog post.
Welcome to All Post Refugees!
Greetings, Openspace community! We are thrilled to welcome around 200 new members who have joined us from Post. Your contributions and active participation have already enriched our platform immensely, and for that, we are deeply grateful. If you are still looking for some help navigating Openspace, please have a look at the most recent "Openspace 101 - The Home Screen and Content Feed" video located here:
https://youtu.be/IqgjzAQSqhY?si=j2h_TwfErSbNX743
Celebrations Galore!
To all our Canadian members, happy Canada Day! And to our friends in the USA, happy Independence Day on July 4th! I hope everyone has their BBQs ready to go—I know I do!
Openspace by the Numbers
Here's a snapshot of our thriving community:
349 members as of today
122 communities
15,000 posts
Thousands of reactions and comments
Members from 25+ countries
Support for long-form posts with embedded content
A full host of new capabilities on the web application (see list below for full details)
Growing Together
We need your help to grow our platform! The Post Discord server has over 2,000 members, and bringing them over to Openspace could make our community even more vibrant. I'm hearing that Openspace is better than Bluesky—surely they just need to give it a try! If you have any ideas on how to encourage them to join us, I'm all ears.
Support Openspace
You can support us through [Buy Me a Coffee](https://buymeacoffee.com/openspace.social/). This month, we've spent 681.95 CAD on development and 105 CAD on Amazon Web Services server costs (waived thanks to an Amazon grant earlier this year). We've made 14.60 CAD in ad revenue and received 465 CAD in donations. While we're short 202 CAD, I’ve covered this out of pocket. Your support helps us reinvest in the platform, making it more stable and feature-rich. Thank you for your generosity!
Recent Web and Mobile App Enhancements
We've been hard at work improving the web and mobile app, and we're excited to share the latest features and fixes:
Support for Long Form posts on mobile: These posts are now visible on light and dark mode themes.
Introduction of the canny board for features and bug requests: Have an idea to improve the platform? go here and open a request: https://openspacesocial.canny.io/feature-requests
Support for #Hashtag Popups: Search and select hashtags easily.
Support for c/Community Popups: Search and select communities effortlessly.
Support for @Mentions Popups: Search and select users quickly.
Settings menu: To help members configure their account through the web app. Mainly for these specific functions - Change email, Change password, Blocked Users, Delete Account
Expanded Useful Links Area: Direct links to the documentation.
Expanded Support and Feedback Area: Links to the Canny board, user guide, and contact us.
Added 55 New Emoji Reactions: Available on both app and web.
Edit Your Own Comments: You can now edit your comments after posting.
Image Upload Fix: When uploading an image during a short post, it no longer overlays the written content.
Notification Viewing Fix: Long-form posts accessed through notifications no longer appear blank.
Graceful Handling of Non-Existent Communities: You'll now see a "ghost" community with an error message if the community doesn't exist.
Clickable Photos in Long-Form Posts: Photos in long-form posts can be clicked to expand for a larger view.
Reactions Emoji List: Double-clicking on a reaction emoji displays a list of people who reacted, showing specific emojis used.
Post Labels: Posts now display labels indicating whether they are short or long.
Image Display Fix: Images in posts no longer appear zoomed in. You can click to expand them for better detail.
Thank you all for being a part of this journey. Your contributions and support make Openspace the amazing community it is today. Let's continue to grow, connect, and create together!