By virtue of our choice to be here we know just enough to be dangerous with our decisions. I think almost everyone can relate to knowing enough about how a system works to make changes even if we don't fully understand the impact of our changes.
Before making grand investments we should probably stop and take a thorough inventory of how we got to this location, what's been done before, and the impact our actions will have.
Second now that so many of us are here we're gonna start building and iterating on what exists today. It would be beneficial to look at previous efforts and see what we can learn from them.
What constraints produced the Fediverse we've inherited?
What can we do to make it better?
What business approaches were tried before to monetize social networking built on open protocols?
How have communities shaped technical choices and how have they directed development efforts?
First I just think it's really important to acknowledge the hard work that has already been done by people for years, often with little recognition on shoestring budgets. While most of us were using and working on closed, centralized, alternatives these folks kept working on keeping the original dream of the internet alive. Personally I think we owe them a debt of gratitude, the least we can do is remember their work. The #fediverse literally wouldn't be here today without their contributions.
I'm probably always going to boost posts about the history of the #Fediverse if only because it's the intersection of several of my interests but I also think it's important to acknowledge the earlier efforts of decentralization.
Since Mastodon saw its initial popularity circa 2017, I've noticed that most users and those reporting on it either don't think about the Fediverse as anything more than Mastodon, or treat its history as beginning with Eugen Rochko and the beginning of Mastodon. In fact, Mastodon is the latest in a long line of federated social networks going at least back to Identi.ca, and though I wasn't around for all of it, I find this history pretty interesting. (Thread; boosts welcome!)
@andypiper been wondering this also. Was going to look into #WriteFreely more this weekend but don't think I've ever heard of Plume before.
Any #fediverse blogging / longform recommendations for #WriteFreely vs #Plume? Starting to think about how to migrate writings into that space.
The US system where we've tied medical benefits to our jobs is absolutely one of the worst things about our twisted system. No one deserves to have their basic health care choices tied to whether or not they can hold a job or effectively navigate the federal bureaucracy.
https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-layoffs-health-benefits-ivf/
If I add some Nanoleaf Essentials bulbs to my home, is there anything special I have to do to get them to play nice with the existing Nest Thread network? Or will they magically join it and expand it as border routers?
@cassidyjames imagine telling last year's you that this would even be a problem we would have to think about. How the times change!
I want the influx of new Black users to the fediverse to be a wake-up call for the white folks who've been oblivious to the racism that's inherent to this space. It's not okay to have to play server Russian roulette. It's not okay to drive away users because of racist moderation policies.
You cannot stop at "No racism" in your fucking server rules and leave it at that. Tell us why we should trust you and what you're actually doing to curb racism on the Fedi. And act like you fucking mean it.
It’s easy for a bunch of people to sit around and theorize about growing pains when you’re not the one who has to wonder about what that noise is outside your house
web stan, software engineer, sports fanatic, history lover. Thoughts are my own. Crypto stands for cryptography.