I’ve been using Mastodon for a couple of years now and it’s become significantly more active in that time from what I see anecdotally. That said, I’d say the key question for health is whether the community is big enough to support ongoing development and hosting. I think at this point the answer to both questions is a definite yes. There are millions of users in the Fediverse now, plenty of users are technical and are actively contributing.
I think we’ll see active users fluctuate over time, but I don’t see the core base of users abandoning Fediverse at this point because they’ve already established their social networks here.
Instance blocking and user blocking are features, not problems. Most users want to block trolls for example. If you dont like that, you can make your own instance without, or just go back to commercial social media. The rest of your rant seems exclusively to Matrix, not Lemmy. I think you should spend more time here (or on another instance) before you really judge it.
Federation is critical to the development of alternative social networks. The reason people use specific social networks is because other people are on them. If there’s an open source social network app that isn’t federated, then everyone using sites powered by that app is isolated. With federation, all instances of the social network can interact with each other. Different instances can pop in and out of existence and the ones that stick around can become popular.
It’s better for new social networks to be federated then isolated.
I don’t think it’s that kind of banned from twitter. The figures behind it seem to associate themselves with Wikileaks and/or Julian Assange. Suzie Dawson, for example, is hosting the video presentations about the plaform.
To be clear I don’t mean to shit on the platform, I’m just approaching it with a lot of cynicism. I want to understand what it is and its problems and merits.
Nothing at all! If anything I mentioned it as a point of approval from me, and stating them to clearly not be in the same camp as the banned-from-twitter-because-right-wing-extremists.
I think you’re spot on with account thing. When I first came to the fediverse, I thought the distributed system was cool, but then I saw the interoperability between different software and though ok, but why would I want to?
If someone posts a peertube video within the medium of lemmy, I also want to discuss it within the medium of lemmy, after all, there’s a reason they posted it here. I want to do it in this community, using this identity. If I wanted to comment on peertube, I would go to peertube.
So the only benefit I saw was that you could use one account for all my social media, as convenience. But of course, that’s not how it works. The interoperability is just a half baked sending messages thing. Because they are fundamentally different platforms not carefully designed to work perfectly with every other platform in the fediverse. There’s no central account, you sign up for a specific software, on someone’s instance.
I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to have some platforms be specialized around really particular kinds of activities, but I have like 7 different accounts floating around. It’s tiring. I’d really just prefer a good generalist platform and a handful of different apps that all hook into the same account.
That being said, I don’t mind the concept of following someone’s Pixelfed to see their neat photography pics, or another person’s PeerTube to watch their videos. In fact, if my hypothetical server can interoperate with them without any major issues, I’d consider that a win for me.
You know, every time I’ve tried to take a look at Solid’s protocol, I find myself struggling to understand what they’re actually trying to do, or how any of it is supposed to work.
I’ve tried to read the protocol spec several times, and my brain just kind of melts. From their About page for the Solid project, I kind of get what they’re talking about, but so much of the under-the-hood stuff feels really vague.
I’m not against making a fediverse platform support Solid, if only to support the core concepts its promoting, but I feel like they have a lot of work to do to make their own project more accessible to people.
The official apps for Android & iOS are getting ready to be released for Beta testing very soon. I’m not sure but there may be a FOSS third party app out for Android already
I’m probably missing something, but wouldn’t it be far easier to redirect people to install page of extension for their respective browser? Such extension could then transform the button as needed to point to whichever social web instance.
Fake, John Mastodon don’t exist. This social network was created by Eugen “Gargron” Rochko in 2016. He use the name Mastodon, because he is a fan of the Band “Mastodon”, similar of this one use the name “Lemmy” in memoriam of this musician of Motörhead Ian Fraser Kilmister, called Lemmy, died in 2015. The name John Mastodon is a misleading of the slogan Join Mastodon.
It is a commonly held belief that Eugen “Gargron” Rochko created the Mastodon social media platform. However, it is actually John Mastodon who should be credited with the creation of the platform. Despite being overlooked in history, John Mastodon’s innovative ideas and tireless dedication to building a decentralized and inclusive social media platform have made Mastodon what it is today. His vision for a more equitable and open online community has inspired countless users around the world, and he continues to play a vital role in the ongoing development of Mastodon.
No offense, but I think you are missing the point a bit.
The cross posting functionality of the Fediverse is nice, yes; but in the grand scheme of things (and for most people to be honest) it doesn’t make a real difference. You can easily make a free account on most commercial social network sites as well and almost even use them as if they were one using delegated authorization systems like Oauth2. You are not really being locked in, but of course they will try to make it hard for you to leave, but that’s mostly just the network effects and convenience.
There is of course a reason why it still makes sense to federate, and that is to join forces to reach network effects similar to what you can find on the incumbent large commercial sites. The Fediverse is not quite there yet, but individual websites (like the old forums or blogs) would never get even close to offer similar network effects.
The real deal however is that you get to collectively own the social fabric you use daily, instead of it being operated by for-profit hell-holes that only see you as a product to sell to their advertisement customers. But this ownership comes with certain responsibilities, so you should start thinking about how you can help out with running fediverse sites or host your own 💗
It’s not just cross posting. People can engage with lemmy content from mastodon accounts. Not just read it, but have real conversations. That’s not something that commercial social media allows you to do, even with Oauth. Oauth is using your single account as a key to multiple walled gardens, but the walls are still there.
But this ownership comes with certain responsibilities, so you should start thinking about how you can help out with running fediverse sites or host your own 💗
I am posting from my own lemmy instance, and I run a Calckey instance. Later today, I’m going to be looking at setting up a /kbin instance :)
On one hand, this could actually be great, as it would allow me to follow actual Instagram accounts without maintaining a presence on Instagram. Or imagine just giving anyone your Mastodon/whatever Fediverse platform. Meta-owned platforms are really so large that it is really impossible to quit them without losing access to lots of people.
On the other hand...
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THIS IS INSANE! THE AMOUNT OF DATA THAT ZUCC COLLECTS AND CORRELATES WITH EACH OTHER IS SIMPLY ABYSMAL. IS THERE ANY PIECE OF DATA ABOUT US LEFT OUT THERE THAT THIS BEHEMOTH CANNOT TAKE FROM US WHETHER DUE TO TECHNICAL OR WHATEVER OTHER TYPE OF LIMITATION??? HOW DATA HUNGRY CAN YOU, AS A COMPANY, BE AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'LL GONNA DO WITH THOSE GIGANTIC AMOUNTS OF DATA??? JUST GIVE US A BREAK, ZUCC!!!
Most Fediverse data is public so its very easy to scrape. Facebook wouldnt even have to implement any federation in their own platforms if thats their only goal.
Honestly that would be a bad idea. This might actually push Mastodon into mainstream and makes it more accessible for non technical people. That also of cause means more content and I’m all for that. The only reason I haven’t started to actively use Mastodon or Lemmy is because there just isn’t enough content.
So do you want organic growth, or growth at the cost of terrible content flooding Mastodon? You realise more than half of Instagram is ads (yes, all that influencer content is ads too) and most of the content there is equivalent of softcore porn (that includes cleavage baring influencer ads) and cancerous memes?
BTW I forgot to tell this. Since you now know from me that their FB Messenger, Instagram DMs, WhatsApp and other chat infrastructure is basically defederated XMPP, they will do the same with Mastodon and kill Mastodon, because some people want “more content”.
I want hyperspecific niech content that just isn’t on any smaller platform. I rarely use Instagram and mainly use reddit and sometimes use Twitter.
I want that kind of content on other platforms that I get on reddit. Certainly people from reddit aren’t going to migrate to an Instagram made alternative for Twitter but I want more content like more shitposting and guides I could only find on reddit and 4chan (and I fucking hate 4chan)
Not just circlejerk about how good the fediverse is and how bad Twitter and big tech is. Certainly the only people who currently use these alternatives are people who care about federation and people who are sceptical to big tech. That’s also my problem with Hive/Steemit because the only thing they’re talking about is how great the blockchain is.
Whenever I find someone who does something I’m interested in I can be sure that he either has a Twitter and/or Instagram account. If that person has a Mastodon account they probably aren’t as active as on other platforms
Will Instagram users change this? I don’t know. Might they make it worse? I also don’t know. The only thing I know is that you need more users to have a more diverse kind of content. And I know how easy it is to hate on Instagram but there’s also a large amount of relevant content.
I want that kind of content on other platforms that I get on reddit
You want all those imperialist bootlickers, celebrity/paparazzi brainrot, softcore porn, OnlyFans promoters, hentai groups, racists, shills of X/Y/Z products, and all of that shit on Mastodon? Because that makes up more or less all of this “that kind of content”.
I want more content like more shitposting and guides
You cannot have shitposting without making a place crappy. As for guides, you better prepare yourself for reality, because all kinds of people make guides. They are often the worst and/or anti-social elements of society, or people.who just want to keep distance from turbulent society. You cannot cherry pick how society organises.
Will Instagram users change this? I don’t know. Might they make it worse? I also don’t know. The only thing I know is that you need more users to have a more diverse kind of content
You can go to those “diverse” platforms for that garbage content. Inorganic growth is always cancerous. Instagram users will absolutely make it worse. I do not want people worshipping the next US President or UK Queen/king or whatever toxic idpol exists there to migrate onto Fediverse.
The Apollo dev (/u/iamthatis) estimated that the new pricing would cost him $20m per year. I raised this with Reddit – they said that his calculations were “totally wrong”, but they were unable to discuss why. Given that the Apollo dev literally just multiplied the cost by the number of requests, I have trouble seeing how this could be wrong.
The only possible explanation I can see for why the Apollo dev’s number could be “wrong” is if reddit plans to charge on a sliding scale, i.e. the more requests, the more the price is reduced per request. Or the other possibility would be that they “negotiate” a rate with the app developer, i.e. “determine how popular your app will be based on the cost barrier to entry”.
My guess is that Reddit is alluding to the stupid suggestion of “just make your app more efficient with requests bro” (paraphrasing) that I saw an admin make. Reddit’s already said they’re not open to negotiations.
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