That’s correct. We don’t expect or want SLRPNK to conquer the social media market, or even Lemmy. It wasn’t long ago that user engagement and active users was in decline across the Threadiverse since the all-time highs of the Reddit exodus. The numbers we’re seeing now suggest that SLRPNK, at least, has hit an inflection point, and we’ve been slowly growing over the last couple of months.
In my mind, this is the best possible scenario. Sudden, explosive growth puts intense stress on both the software and communities; there are still open software issues that have not been closed that were revealed the last time this happened. Continued decline suggests that at some point we will not be able to maintain critical mass, and the Threadiverse project will fail. Modest, incremental growth allows people time to improve and adapt the software, and develop the community management skills that are the reason people come here. I look forward to the day when the Fediverse unseats corporate media as the social media ecosystem of choice, but I don’t think this iteration of our section of the Fediverse is ready to do that yet.
It’s worth considering the rise of the Apache web server. It was significantly worse than the Microsoft web server that was the industry standard, in most ways but one - it was free and open source. Its name is a pun on the term patch-y, a description of the patchwork improvements and bug fixes that it received from coders across the world. It continued to grow in popularity with hobbyists and specialists, but that didn’t register on the market share surveys. But at some point, the collection of patches became undeniably better than the market leading software. That’s the point when the ‘takeoff’ became visible.
The features that made that possible are also true of the Threadiverse softwares. They’re free and open source. They are attracting new contributors who are adding life to the community and features to the software. The tools are improving with time, and we have a critical mass of members who find the existing infrastructure sufficient enough to spend their time here. I think that’s what is needed for one day the software and community quality to be undeniably better than anything that corporate media can muster.
Libraries: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (yt.artemislena.eu)
Canonical YouTube link
Ukraine Has Changed Too Much to Compromise With Russia (www.theatlantic.com)
Putin is ready to launch invasion of Nato nations to test West, warns Polish spy boss (www.lbc.co.uk)
Percent of People Who Consider Themselves Living in the Midwest (slrpnk.net)
May 3, 2024: The Dunn Meadow Liberated Zone (wfhb.org)
“They’ll Never Forget It”: Report from the Battle to Defend the Palestine Solidarity Encampment at UCLA (itsgoingdown.org)
A Prosecutor Asked Texas to Kill Melissa Lucio. Now He Wants Her Freed. (theintercept.com)
In 2019, Lady Gaga Became First Woman In History To Win An Oscar, Grammy, BAFTA & Golden Globe In Same Year (www.capitalfm.com)
Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment (apnews.com)
Control Room [2004] (yt.artemislena.eu)
Canonical YouTube link
Two kinds of cowardice (slrpnk.net)
'Outraged': Ukraine cuts off essential services for military-aged men in Australia (www.sbs.com.au)
I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged. (theintercept.com)
Strike for Palestine on May Day and Nakba Day (freelancejournalistsunion.org)
Eight Hours by Isaac G. Blanchard (yt.artemislena.eu)
Canonical YouTube link
Utah official pulls down teen's skirt in restaurant, arrested for sexual battery (boingboing.net)
How Native American tribes are bringing back the bison from brink of extinction (www.theguardian.com)
SLRPNK community discussion - May 2024
Introduction...
Make the University An Anti-Colonial Commons: A Statement on May Day To Our Past Selves from the Liberated Zone at UT Austin (itsgoingdown.org)
On Tribalism and Democracy (www.meetingplace.nz)
Biden administration plans to reclassify marijuana, easing restrictions nationwide (www.nbcnews.com)
The Little Trashmaid by s0s2 (slrpnk.net)
The Little Trashmaid by s0s2
First Annual Upstate Anarchist Book Fair May 4th + 5th (slrpnk.net)