But, there is a reasonable chance that a local wireless mesh will be far less work than you might think (ie technically an appliance) - but it will still need / benefit from moderation and participation- the "fun"
bits.
But there's an already an alternative that allows you to spend exactly zero time and effort maintaining a local wireless mesh network. And you still get to have the fun bits. So why bother involving the local wireless mesh at all?
The local wireless mesh makes it much harder for l33t script kiddies on the other side of the world to pwn ur base. (You still have to watch out for sophisticated malware, but you're not going to get hit by, say, DDoS attacks.)
When most people started to discover the internet, early 00s, facebook wasn't as it is now. It appeared less malign, wasn't able to track as much, and just less creepy.
It grew into what it is, slowly. So when the potential for this dream of community owned stuff could have born fruit, facebook was simple, easy, and far more appealing.
You see facebook now, after the vine has slowly grown, twisted about its users, crushing, but at first it was a pretty plant.
Facebook would have never, ever, ever been as popular, or twitter, if they started as they did.
