@decathorpe Designing from first principles is about discovering the right problem to solve (e.g., how do we encourage civil discourse) and then working out from there to arrive at means of solving it.
What it’s not is looking existing artifacts and emulating them without understanding the needs, success criteria, and process(es) that led to them even if you end up in a similar place at the end (most times, you won’t.) It’s about constantly questioning fundamental assumptions.