 We say that the #Fediverse is better than centralized social media platforms. I obviously believe that as well. But: Can we prove it? In ways that are not just anecdotal personal experience or beliefs, but with objective data? I'm looking for pointers. There are obviously many dimensions, from, say, higher "engagement" to reduced harassment and a thousand things in between. Who has good numbers on any of those? Would it be worthwhile to collect them somewhere? 17 comments
@Jemandzuhause You are probably right that 5-7 attributes might make the case well enough. And you suggested attribute #1 "hazard speech". Any idea how one could quantify this?  @J12t Maybe the anecdotal evidence *is* the data? If enough people say that fediverse *feels* better, then it is? https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/110130128410412401 I don't know. @stefan That may be good enough for us, but not for the rest of the world. Such as the people with the money :-)  @J12t @Nelfan Nah. Yes, different choices could have been made in how the protocols have been defined, and to @hrefna 's point, indeed as a developer one feels like screaming on occasion, but none of this is at all fatal, and the network clearly works. Can it be better? Sure! Which is why we need to gradually improve things, which we do.  @J12t One moment while I put my data engineering hat on ^^ What do you mean by "better" in this context? I ask this not to be facetious but because it's the core to answering this sort of question. If your question is "can we find metrics in which the fediverse is better than centralized networks" I'm sure we can, but it doesn't mean the fediverse _itself_ is better. But if you can say "we define better as" then that's a start from which we can really do some good work in answering it. @hrefna I was meaning to leave the selection of which "better" to the people who actually have data. There are probably hundreds of potential dimensions, many of which only matter to very few people ("the best scraggly cat pictures doing the chicken dance"), but they are all important to them, and I'd like to collect data that proves that. @J12t I and many others got death threats and chased off an instance that has become the target of a hate campaign, primarily from the kolektiva instance but others too, so I'm not too wild about this place tbh. Definitely didn't get chased off twitter for being trans amusingly.  @jenniferplusplus Many objectives. One obvious one: money. There are currently two not-for-profits out there (one I'm marginally involved in) attempting raise money for some activities that would undoubtedly be good for the Fediverse, from organizations that are in the business of funding things that are good for the world. They are asking, in so many words: you are saying all sorts of good things about the Fediverse, where is the evidence that what you say is true?  @J12t @jenniferplusplus I'm aware of Mastodon gGmbH and IFTAS, Inc β I'm not sure if Newsmast is a non-profit off top of head; There's probably others (I'm not sure who you're involved with Johannes?) @J12t Ok, then we'll go up a level and ask the question again. What claims have you made? Who did you make them to? What mission or criteria would they follow for funding decisions? This question just isn't answerable until you define good. Good for whom? Good in what way? @jenniferplusplus You are misunderstanding. I have not made any claims. I'm only attempting to collect what might exist roughly on the subject. So I'm looking for pointers, although I suspect I will end up with an empty set. @J12t Someone told someone else that the fediverse was good. Without knowing who any of these people are, or in what context this was said, the question is unanswerable. Not sure "the Fediverse" exists as a unitary entity. It's more like there are many parallel Fediverses, depending on what people and instances are in your network. That might make getting any meaningful data difficult. |
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@J12t
I think it's worth to be collected somewhere. Even if it's not complete - which it never will be - because with 5 to 7 attributes to compare it will be enough to proof that decentralized is 'better'.
First attribute to compare is hazard speech in social media.
I think the user of an instance within the #fediverse are more friendly and less aggressively towards each other because they are 'closer'