This seems really cool. I have looked at ActivityPub quite a bit and written a little basic client/server but the identity portability thing is pretty much a nonstarter for it to be taken seriously in normal circles. I’ve found the content quality of the fediverse to be abysmally low thus far, I think AT could work especially because of the big name behind it.
Twitter did the Ruby community a huge solid back in the day, and I’ve always been grateful ever since, but now the new web is coming together and I’m optimistic that this protocol could lead the way.
Time will tell how seriously they move forward with this.
I've found that quality on the fediverse is quite high, but takes curation and exploration to find people you want to follow. Once you have a good seed of people, it grows pretty organically as you follow people with interesting posts boosted by people you do follow.
It's the only social network that I've actually stuck with and enjoy, having tried and fallen of both twitter and facebook. A big part of that was unfollowing people who posted political stuff and following people who posted stuff about cool hobbies and whatnot
I understand that some people gain some sort of satisfaction out of this, but it mostly defeats the purpose for the average user.
Imagine you walk into a bar, and it’s clearly filled with neonazis. Someone says to you, “Hey! This is a great bar. You’ll have to curate your friends in here, but once you do you’ll find some great folks.”
It’s just silly to think the average person is even remotely interested in that. I’m a big fan of decentralized and p2p technology, but social networks are very much improved by strong, strict regulation at a central level.
Granted, I’m a dedicated twitter user, and I’m also interested in political topics and discussions, which you mentioned that you weren’t.
Twitter’s flavor isn’t for everybody. I think there should be more flavors in general, but what the fediverse offers is a different dish, different restaurant, different everything. I’m skeptical it will find much success outside of the sorts of people that use it now.
I strongly disagree with the analogy - it's much more like welcome to the big city! Where all would you like to hang out and make friends? The park? The sports bar? Sex club? Political rally? Neonazi hangout? Anarchist collective?
In the analogy each place is a different instance that you start following people on, with its own culture and interests.
I've not run across any neonazis that I'm aware of, I believe they tend to be blocked by most servers pretty quickly, though one could seek instances filled with them if they wish. I could see that if you were seeking political discussion the Fediverse might be less attractive, since I imagine it would tend to be more extreme (right and left).
That first clause is an exceptional claim. I don’t know anyone in the fediverse who’s there because they can’t be on Twitter. I do know plenty of people who left because it was becoming a raging cesspit of algorithm-driving extremism.
Comments
This seems really cool. I have looked at ActivityPub quite a bit and written a little basic client/server but the identity portability thing is pretty much a nonstarter for it to be taken seriously in normal circles. I’ve found the content quality of the fediverse to be abysmally low thus far, I think AT could work especially because of the big name behind it.
Twitter did the Ruby community a huge solid back in the day, and I’ve always been grateful ever since, but now the new web is coming together and I’m optimistic that this protocol could lead the way.
Time will tell how seriously they move forward with this.
I've found that quality on the fediverse is quite high, but takes curation and exploration to find people you want to follow. Once you have a good seed of people, it grows pretty organically as you follow people with interesting posts boosted by people you do follow.
It's the only social network that I've actually stuck with and enjoy, having tried and fallen of both twitter and facebook. A big part of that was unfollowing people who posted political stuff and following people who posted stuff about cool hobbies and whatnot
I understand that some people gain some sort of satisfaction out of this, but it mostly defeats the purpose for the average user.
Imagine you walk into a bar, and it’s clearly filled with neonazis. Someone says to you, “Hey! This is a great bar. You’ll have to curate your friends in here, but once you do you’ll find some great folks.”
It’s just silly to think the average person is even remotely interested in that. I’m a big fan of decentralized and p2p technology, but social networks are very much improved by strong, strict regulation at a central level.
Granted, I’m a dedicated twitter user, and I’m also interested in political topics and discussions, which you mentioned that you weren’t.
Twitter’s flavor isn’t for everybody. I think there should be more flavors in general, but what the fediverse offers is a different dish, different restaurant, different everything. I’m skeptical it will find much success outside of the sorts of people that use it now.
I strongly disagree with the analogy - it's much more like welcome to the big city! Where all would you like to hang out and make friends? The park? The sports bar? Sex club? Political rally? Neonazi hangout? Anarchist collective? In the analogy each place is a different instance that you start following people on, with its own culture and interests.
I've not run across any neonazis that I'm aware of, I believe they tend to be blocked by most servers pretty quickly, though one could seek instances filled with them if they wish. I could see that if you were seeking political discussion the Fediverse might be less attractive, since I imagine it would tend to be more extreme (right and left).
Most fediverse users were banned from Twitter or quit Twitter for ideological reasons.
That first clause is an exceptional claim. I don’t know anyone in the fediverse who’s there because they can’t be on Twitter. I do know plenty of people who left because it was becoming a raging cesspit of algorithm-driving extremism.
Or quit Twitter because the algorithm pushes celebrities and organizations too much, rather than actual humans?