Shannon Whitley

Building a Decentralized-Twitter using WordPress, E-mail, and Chewing Gum

PopCann is an experiment in decentralized, 140-character messaging. It is an attempt to provide Twitter-like functionality using e-mail. Although I’ve written everything using WordPress, the PopCann process could be supported using any combination of tools. It’s surprisingly usable in its current form, but I recognize that there are a lot of questions left to answer. Spam control and e-mail scalability are at the top of that list.

Click to view the PopCann Video
The video is quick and dirty (best displayed in fullscreen mode). The video demonstrates that PopCann can be used to send a short message between two separate users. A message is composed in one browser window and then read in another.

PopCann Installation Instructions

1. Unwrap a fresh stick of gum and begin chewing.  The goal for this exercise is to complete the setup of PopCann before your chewing gum loses its flavor.  Chew slowly and evenly throughout each step.
2. Create a new e-mail address. This address can be setup under your own domain or using a webmail service.  This e-mail address will not be used to read e-mail.  It will only be used with the PopCann service.  I performed tests using a GMail account and a Hotmail account.  Both accounts worked well with PopCann, however, Hotmail limited the number of times I could poll the account.  GMail didn’t seem to have the same limitation.   Note:  On GMail you will need to enable POP3 downloads under ‘Settings’ and ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP.’
3. Setup Gravatar. Navigate to http://gravatar.com and follow the instructions to add an image using your new e-mail address.
4. Install the PopCann WordPress Plugin.
   1. Download the plugin files.
   2. Create a directory on your WordPress server:  \wp-content\plugins\popcann
   3. Unzip all of the files into the PopCann directory.
   4. Move the following files from your PopCann plugin directory to your current WordPress theme directory (example: \wp-content\themes\default):
      1. PopCann_Home.php
      2. PopCann_Comments.php
   5. Login to WordPress.  Activate the PopCann plugin.
5. Subscribe To Comments. Make sure you’re using the latest version of the Subscribe To Comments plugin.  Install the plugin if needed.
6. Add a New WordPress User.
   1. Username – The e-mail address that you created in Step 1 (Important!)
   2. First Name – User’s First Name
   3. Last Name – User’s Last Name
   4. Email – Must match the Username
   5. Website – A url that will be displayed as part of this user’s profile.
   6. Password – Set a password.
   7. Send Password? – Click the checkbox off.
   8. Role – A minimum of Editor is required for comment moderation.
7. Edit the WordPress User. After you click the Add User button, click on the user’s name to edit additional fields.
   1. Nickname – Update it.  You can remove the @domain so that it looks like a normal user name.
   2. Display name publicly as – Select the new Nickname for display.
   3. Biographical Info – Add the bio text.
8. Create a New Page.
   1. The Title of the page must be the same as the E-Mail Address.  Change the Permalink (Click on Edit) and make it the same as the Nickname.
   2. Add Custom Fields – Add the following (The field names are case sensitive.  Please use all caps for POP and capitalize the L in Location):
      

      Field Name	Field Data
      POP	POP3_Mail_Server, POP3_Port,Username,Password
      Location	{Current Location for your profile.}

      

   3. Template – Select the PopCann Home Template.
   4. Page Author – Change the author of the page so that it is the same as the user that you just created.
   5. Publish the page.
9. Take a breath and chew your gum.  Is the flavor still there?  Good.  PopCann is ready!