But not an alternative that will inevitably end up in the same position in 10 years, so that rules out for-profit startups. This needs to be a source of information that is BS proof.
Instead of starting from zero, which existing open alternatives looks promising to you?
Some important factors for me:
* Portability of data
* Decentralized or federalized, with interop between nodes
* Fully customizable CSS or layout skins, like old.reddit
* Open API and platformability
* Plain old HTML navigation by default, no JS frontend (but the option for others to build that for themselves and others if they prefer it)