This article sums up the issues I have with the #Fediverse quite comprehensively. I want this to work out. I don't wan to go back to Musk's hellpit. I'm just becoming frustrated.
I've got a friend that I'd like very much to follow from another instance. Problem? His instance is blocking mine. There is absolutely nothing I can do, besides writing to the mods of my instance and ask them why it is blocked, which I have a pretty good idea as to why already anyway, thanks to a friend we have in common. And all of that so I can talk to this one friend over there? Bloody unlikely they would reconsider.
I should be able to bypass that block for a specific user. I'm really, really annoyed right now, and sad I won't be able to follow this friend unless one of us move to another instance. I don't want to move and I'm pretty sure neither does he. So... We're both screwed over, I guess. #mastodon
@xogium This is why I wish the Fediverse was set up in a more peer-to-peer manner where the sole blocking power comes from the user. Why can't we be able to "block all users from server X except for user Y"?
I definitely think part of The Verge’s commentary is sexism. This idea that tech is for men or that perhaps because the Fediverse is a little bit technical means women can’t do it. It’s like something from the 1920s. Not including the fact that women have been programmers since Ada Lovelace and beyond.
There are plenty of women on here who are definitely not technical and who get by just fine. Perhaps the robust moderation and blocking tools appeal to women who’ve gotten tired of an endless supply of dick pics and misogyny on other platforms, something that the techbro sausage fest that is electronic journalism can’t wrap their heads around.
When I joined the fediverse I was told that its decentralised nature made it impossible for a big corporation to take it over. Then why are people so afraid of Meta?
I didn't come here to be isolated from the outside world. I just don't want to be controlled by one single corporate entity.
But some activists seem to think we should build a different kind of wall and be hostile to anything "commercial".
Billionaires pissing money recklessly doing things 99.99999% of the population will never do. Throwing money on selfish experiences rather than helping others and our planet. They signed a waiver in case things went wrong. Yes, it’s sad, but why is the world going full on Thunderbirds for a handful of rich men when thousands of migrants drown crossing the sea seeking a better life? What about the five hundred migrants who recently drowned crossing off Greece?
@Emmacox "why is the world going full on Thunderbirds for a handful of rich men" is the most elegant way I've heard this described. I was struggling to articulate the sensation.
@Emmacox "why is the world going full on Thunderbirds for a handful of rich men" is the most elegant way I've heard this described. I was struggling to articulate the sensation.
@Emmacox "why is the world going full on Thunderbirds for a handful of rich men" is the most elegant way I've heard this described. I was struggling to articulate the sensation.
@Emmacox "why is the world going full on Thunderbirds for a handful of rich men" is the most elegant way I've heard this described. I was struggling to articulate the sensation.
You know why #Bluesky is going to take off once it opens up more capacity? Because you can actually find stuff when using the search. I like Mastodon, but some of the choices made here are like trying to grow a platform with one hand tied behind your back
@LilahTovMoon@FeralRobots@jbwharris From what I've heard it's more an unwillingness for certain features to be considered for implementation. (Look how long it's taking to get Quote posts going, for instance)
@LilahTovMoon@jbwharris@FeralRobots It is a cultural issue, yeah. It does cause friction because newer users want it and older ones don't - whereas other projects like Calckey are relatively unburdened by the argument and simply press on with development. Those seeking more feature parity with other platforms right away thus choose non-mastodon options. (This is all anecdata, mind)
@LilahTovMoon@jbwharris@FeralRobots It is a cultural issue, yeah. It does cause friction because newer users want it and older ones don't - whereas other projects like Calckey are relatively unburdened by the argument and simply press on with development. Those seeking more feature parity with other platforms right away thus choose non-mastodon options. (This is all anecdata, mind)
I can't say whether Facebook joining the fediverse (ditto Google, which won't want to miss this opportunity) will kill or absorb the fediverse, though it's obviously and rationally something to worry about.
But preemptively blocking them -- and the people already using them -- from your instance guarantees less relevance for the fediverse.
It also guarantees, if my instance joins such a boycott, that I'll find a new instance.
Ugh seeing chatter about more high-level defederations. I've said my peace on this. If one thing is going to turn me off the fediverse it's this. If people I talk to who are completely innocent just vanish one day because someone starts getting philosophically irritated with their server admin what's the point.
I'll say again - there needs to be a client-to-client model somehow where the fediverse servers are nothing more than data relays and can e routed around if one or more go down. Then people can choose for themselves what's spam / dangerous and what isn't and block accordingly.
How did limewire work back in the day? Or Emule? Or how BitTorrent works now? Can't the connections be handled like that somehow? Truly peer to peer with servers just acting as jumpstarts to get the connections going?