@kissane @CyberneticForests definitely agreed, though Fedi protocol more than most actively *includes* a loooooot of mid-20teens vibes (no QT, hostile to search, migrating names but not posts, etc.). How explicitly/implicitly those vibes are encoded varies a lot, though, which is of course the slippage you're (correctly!) so intrigued by.
@kissane related to something I said to @polotek a few minutes ago, also: often vibes get layered into legal "protocols" (IP, TOUs, etc.) instead of the technical protocol, for a variety of reasons (some good, some less so).
Fedi/AP are rediscovering that, the hard way.