Now free for all to read... Visiting Portland, I had birds on my mind. Especially those seen in the "Put a bird on it" sketch in the TV show Portlandia. Then I met one:
As recently as a decade ago we had a still very active blogosphere, connected via blogrolls and RSS. Specialised web forums were still mainstream and messenger apps could largely interoperate.
Centralised social media slowly ate that dream. It had plenty of positives, but it pulled more and more people away from the open web and into corporate walled gardens.
Some people kept the dream of decentralisation alive. And now you are here.