First off, @evan sees this from the perspective of someone who's co-authored #ActivityPub. It's his job to spur and enable adoption -- and that's something he's done exceptionally well for 20 years. Of course he wants to help Meta abide by open standards. Which, even if you dislike Meta, you would hope they would do.
My perspective is as one who is building products that compete with Meta. Ideally, I would like people who use Meta to migrate away from there and instead use #Calckey, #GreatApe, and the numerous options available on #SpaceHost.
But even from the perspective of a competitor, I want interoperability with #Barcelona. And even more, I want interoperability based on open standards.
Yes, yes, yes -- "embrace, extend, extinguish". At this point, that phrase is a broken record.
But every time that phrase comes up, I keep asking folks: when has the "extinguish" part of "embrace, extend, extinguish" ever worked?
People say #RSS, but RSS is still here and I use it every day. Hell, Calckey even has an RSS widget and it works like a charm. RSS is not extinguished.
People also say #XMPP, but I can run an XMPP server right now -- no problems. People say XMPP "died" because it's no longer as popular now, but is it because Meta and Google dropped support, or is it because Slack, Discord, Signal, WhatsApp, and even Matrix have come along to eclipse it in popularity? Regardless, even if XMPP is no longer so popular, it's not extinguished.
The most ludicrous example of "extinguish" people bring up is Gmail's dominance of email. But email is the most popular communications technology we have today, even though it's 50 years old. What's more, look at the raw stats. Gmail is only 18% of the email server market -- that's no monopoly. Go have a look at the stats for yourselves:
The pessimistic notion that we will "lose" by allowing Meta to interoperate with ActivityPub -- again, an open standard -- just doesn't convince me. In fact, if Meta is adopting standard ActivityPub, I think "losing" is impossible.
With Meta adopting ActivityPub, we're not losing. We're winning. We're not conceding to Meta by adopting their proprietary APIs for interoperability. They're conceding to us by adopting ActivityPub.
Again, I'm not saying you should all federate with #Barcelona. I'm saying that Meta adopting an open standard that allows for interoperability is a win because, remember, they're adopting our standard. We're not adopting theirs.
Some also ask, "But what if Meta does a bait-and-switch and drops ActivityPub support?"
Well, there's kind of precedence for that.
Not enough people realize this, but Google once adopted the predecessor of ActivityPub. Specifically, they used OStatus for Google Buzz. Certainly, like many Google products, Google Buzz shuttered.
But the development for an open social media protocol lived on, and we all use what was developed right now.
No doubt, if Barcelona becomes Meta's Google Buzz, ActivityPub will live on. It will still be developed. We'll keep using it.
In the meantime, I'll consider ways to help Meta users migrate to platforms that I believe are better.
A few people have asked to join atomicpoet.org, and I’m not taking on new members. This will always exist as a single-user server (mostly).
Conceptually, I think it’s important for people to see single-user servers operating and thriving.
You don’t have to join some random person’s server, pray to god they’re good moderators, and hope they don’t pull a mastodon.lol.
You can just create a server yourself, manage how you feel fit, and enjoy it as a spot that’s truly your own.
If you have the skills to manage it, you can create a Mastodon server on Digital Ocean (or something similar) via 1-click install. It’s easy to get started, though there is still much work that needs to be done.
Now I realize not everyone is a SysAdmin who enjoys tinkering around with databases and delivery queues.
Which is why @reiver and I (and others) are working hard on #SpaceHost, which is a fully managed hosting service.
For the first time this week, we’re letting someone join #SpaceHost as a customer. They will likely be creating a Lemmy server.
My point is, creating your own server is feasible. I’ve done it. This specific Pleroma server has been in operation since Novemeber 2022.
It is truly my spot on the Fediverse – and I love it.
As soon as they get some bandwidth, perhaps @atomicpoet and #Spacehost can take a look. I like the idea of them hosting utilities, not just primary apps.
This week, #SpaceHost is onboarding its first customer. That customer will be running a #Lemmy server.
It’s apparent that the #RedditMigration needs servers. We’re one of the first Fediverse managed hosts to support Lemmy. And we’re currently testing #kbin, so that’s coming soon.
As you all know, #SpaceHost isn’t ready for public access yet. But we might make an exception soon for people seeking to create #Lemmy and #kbin servers.
This is a must-read post from an admin of beehaw.org on why they will not be forking #Lemmy. I largely agree with @Gaywallet.
Lemmy may not be perfect. Perhaps it's even problematic. However, it makes the world less worse than it already is -- and less worse is better than worse.
That's what's important to me.
Now if Lemmy proves to be too much of a barrier, there is #Kbin. But since Kbin is so young, it's not a perfect replacement for Lemmy either -- though it's turning out great.
My own goal is to facilitate growth of the Fediverse. For this, #SpaceHost will be supporting both Lemmy and Kbin.
After switching and using it for a day. My number 1 lacking feature of #Firefish is actual speef and respond time. The second is app support.
FireFish is slow. It was so slow that I thought that it was my own fault, connection, and error. To the point that I am benchmarking it now vs. other instances for 100 logins, 100 posts, and 100 favorites and logging the response time.
The other thing is just the loading of the state. I saw a post a saw earlier, liking it again and getting an API error that I already liked it, but it is not showing. The front-end doesn't load states of liking and reactions. One of its core advertised features.
The only thing properly working is the formating and #Markdown. That is it, if you get something posted without a timeout warning getting thrown.
I'll post the graphs of the benchmarks and code once done. I actually want to do it for all Firefish and #Spacehost clients now.
Calckey is not the only kind of Fediverse server software I operate, and it won't be the last.
Currently, I also run a Pleroma server (atomicpoet.org) and a Pixelfed server (peerverse.space).
And when #SpaceHost gets off the ground, I plan on running Lemmy, Friendica, Castopod, and Mastodon servers.
However, I know exactly where the wind is blowing, and that's with *key apps.
#Misskey is already taking Japan by storm. And #Calckey is gaining popularity here in the West.
I've also heard that a few more *key apps are in development: one for organizations, the other one specialized for the African-American community.
Here's what I've realized.
For the Fediverse to truly take off, there needs to be more than just Mastodon. There needs to be something else that shows what else is possible on the Fediverse, and it looks like that realization of possibilities will be from the *key apps.
If you asked me a year ago what I thought would take off next from the Fediverse, I would have said it will be Pixelfed or PeerTube. That might still be possible, but based on trends since February, it's more likely to be the *key apps.
This is ultimately a good thing. For one thing, the popularity of *key apps will finally mean that Mastodon will not longer be synonymous with the Fediverse to the general public.
But this also benefits Mastodon because this means that one of the best features of Mastodon will finally be demonstrated: interoperability with other apps.
Once people see Mastodon talking with *key -- and vice versa -- they will finally appreciate the true promise of the Fediverse.
Keep your current handle, but look into #SelfHosting any #Fediverse instance. Keep your current #Mastodon and add on a unique experience that you control completely.
Hell, even #Pixelfed if you're really into pictures. F Instagram.
#SpaceHost should start e-mailing invites, to those who joined the waiting-list, for #Firefish starting today.
Probably in the next 2 or 3 hours.
We try to space out the e-mails — and not send it to everyone on the waiting list all at once. So some people on the waiting list might receive their invite next week, or the week after that, etc.
I’m considering migrating backwards from Firefish to Mastodon. The “why” doesn’t matter. It’s something I’m contemplating for reasons.
I’m currently using #SpaceHost to run my single user Firefish instance, and my plan is to use them (or another) to host my single user Mastodon instance.
Same domain, btw.
I can’t find any info on this reverse migration. But it’s gotta be possible, right?
Hey there! Just wanted to share some exciting news with you. #SpaceHost is now providing fully-managed hosting services for #Mastodon. How awesome is that? 😄 Currently, it’s in closed beta but guess what? If you’re on our waiting list, you’ve got exclusive access! Woohoo! 🎉
Oh, and speaking of future updates, we’d love for you to join our waiting list right here:
For the next week, I'm taking a break from this account -- but not the Fediverse. This is to lower my impact of redis on calckey.social.
Consequently, all my messages will be sent from @atomicpoet, which is my single-user server operated by myself and managed by #SpaceHost.
For anything mission critical, this account may occasionally boost messages from @atomicpoet.
If you're thinking of following @atomicpoet, remember that it's primarily used for talking about non-Fediverse related stuff.
For this week, I'm making an exception and will be sharing Fediverse-related stuff on atomicpoet.org. Nevertheless, please don't get angry if you see stuff pertaining to anime, work-outs, video games, music, and other recreational topics. No matter what, atomicpoet.org is still my personal Fediverse server 😉
In advance, I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Update on calckey.social: to put it mildly, it’s not performing well today. We’re aware of the problem, as well as what’s causing the problem. There will probably be ongoing difficulties today.
Now for the good news: we’re getting additional people to work on calckey.social, specifically from #SpaceHost.
They’ll be assisting @kainoa with managing ops as well as optimizing the database.
We have a team that will be managing around-the-clock care for calckey.social.
I, myself, will be increasing my donations to the #Calckey project. I believe it’s critical to the Fediverse for Calckey to continue forward, and calckey.social is important for showcasing what Calckey can do.
Once again, I appreciate your patience as well as your ongoing enthusiasm for Calckey.
@feditips Hello, may I ask if you can suggest any managed hosting for #FireFish please?
So far, I found #SpaceHost which is still in beta and lacks of instructions/reviews, and https://weingaertner-it.de accepts only clients from Europe, which I'm not 😢
#SpaceHost started sending out invites for #Firefish to those who joined the waiting-list.
We try to space out the e-mails — and not send it to everyone on the waiting list all at once. So some people on the waiting list might receive their invite next week, or the week after that, etc.
I've just activated my personal Friendica instance/server with the help of #spacehost and now I'm trying to iron out the worst creases and bumps to get things going. This is a test to see if I managed to set up native reshare/mirror posting/remote self so that my posts here are automatically reshared by my jankjellin@fedi.jankjellin.se account...