Lobsters

6.1easy start · #17 of 54
in Online Community Platforms

Free to practise onnot on record
Free trialnot on record
Well documentedyes
Runs where you worknot on record

Runs on Web.

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Lobsters is ranked #17 of 54 in online community platforms on The Geeks Club. It runs on Web.

Compared on online community platforms

Moderation tools: advanced
Direct messaging: Yes
Mobile apps: web app

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The record

Purpose: Lobsters is a computing-focused community centered around link aggregation and discussion.
Topics: The site focuses narrowly on computing, and submitted links must use a tag from a predefined list.
Tag filters: Users can filter out or subscribe to submissions by one tag or combinations of tags.
Invitations: Invitations are used to control spam and pace registrations; new users have limited abilities during their first 70 days.
Ranking: Story and comment rankings come from user activity, and all users have equal votes.
Privacy and tracking: The site bans domains used for marketing analytics and removes tracking parameters from links.
Search: Integrated search covers submitted stories and comments, including full-text caches of submitted story contents.
Email and messaging: Users can enable mailing-list mode to receive stories and comments by email, reply by email, and use private messages with email or Pushover notifications.
Mobile access: Responsive design supports phones and tablets without a separate URL or mobile app.
Feeds: Public RSS feeds are available site-wide and by tag; logged-in users can use private feeds that exclude their filtered tags.
Transparency: Moderator actions and moderator identities are public, and the source code and deployment configuration are available under a 3-clause BSD license.
Support: The site directs users to contact its administrator or another moderator for support issues, and it holds weekly office hours on Twitch.
Operations: The site says it is hosted on two DigitalOcean VPSs and uses restic for backups to Backblaze B2.
Project model: The project describes itself as a volunteer project with limited development time and says it does not take donations because it is cheap to run.

Where it ranks on The Geeks Club

Best Online Community Platforms in 2026#17 of 54

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Sources

lobste.rs/about· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/lobsters/lobsters· checked 4 Oct 2026
lobste.rs· checked 28 Sept 2026