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Eugen Rochko

Disappointed to learn Cohost has been started by people from the fediverse. You know what the fediverse is but you learned the wrong lessons from it. Yes, I also think some servers are not operated professionally and blocks often get misused, but that is not a reason to replace a free and open system with a locked down one. I wrote on why decentralization matters back in 2018:

blog.joinmastodon.org/2018/12/

32 comments
Sean Heber
Jolly Good Fellow
Key!

@Gargron it seems like their ideology is "what if centralized corporate websites, but benevolent?"

gudenau

@Gargron I have found that people like to blame systems rather than other people. After all, if you're blaming someone else then you could also be at fault right?

Doug Webb

@Gargron I just found the website

cohost.org/rc/welcome

It doesn't mention anything about federation, or not...

  Eugen Rochko
  Doug Webb

@Gargron I see... Well, I doubt it'll take off. Seems to offer no "unique selling points" to existing big players.

  πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ Jonathan Treffler 🐧

@Gargron

Wow, those are impressively bad resons for abandoning the federation approach πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ .

I don't think their platform is going to take off, especially as it doesn't even seem to be open source, so why trust them ? They might have good intentions now, but the users have no guarantee it will stay that way.

  Morgan

@Gargron @douginamug red flag red flag red flag I do not like this Tweet

ocdtrekkie

@Gargron I had no idea what Cohost was before seeing this post. Remember that posting about "bad things" can actually amplify their reach!

chillshroom

@Gargron this is a good start πŸ™ƒ

creek

@Gargron does this mean we can have post migration now?

  Eugen Rochko

@creek Post migration isn't a thing not because it's hard to implement, but because transferring GBs of files is slow and expensive for server admins

  Christopher M0YNG

@Gargron @creek as an admin I also don't want an easy way for someone to "bootstrap" a legit looking account with lots of content so they can be abusive

  creek

@Gargron that's actually the most straightforward answer I've seen, but shouldn't it be up to the instance admin?

Eugen Rochko

I remember, years back now, coming across someone arguing with fervor that proprietary software was better than open source software because it was more secure. It was a culture shock to me, because usually I am surrounded by people for whom the benefits of open-source software are self-evident. I got the same feeling today arguing with some folks who genuinely believe that being locked into a proprietary, centralized silo is actually better than having control over your own platform...

  Sten J. Pettersen

@Gargron Security by obscurity relies on the age old principle of "ignorance is bliss"

  Eugen Rochko

Decentralization isn't everything. It's not the goal in itself. There is a long tail of product design decisions that make or break a platform (which is why I find it kind of silly that Bluesky spent 2 years arguing over protocol design, though that's a different story). But that point is that decentralization is the foundation for a viable platform. Without it you're doomed to repeat the path of hundreds of social media apps of the past... Just a different paint on the same exact structure.

  Scott Feeney

@Gargron Totally agree. Thank you for all your work on Mastodon.

They (Cohost) think they're better because they're nonprofit, but there are plenty of bad nonprofits. I mean, just look at all the problems with philanthropy.

Profit or not, by creating a closed platform, they're looking to put themselves in a position of dominating other people, if Cohost is successful.

  Clairement crevΓ©e

@Gargron personally, i do think decentralization is important, and i'm glad Mastodon is decentralized

however, i'm not completely sure decentralization is absolutely necessary for a viable platform

furthermore, decentralization, and especially federation, does come with different tradeoffs, and i don't think sweeping them under the rug does anyone any good

  Piero Bosio

@Gargron

I think decentralization is important. One of the fundamental protocols for the functioning of the Internet and the Web is DNS which is a decentralized and distributed protocol. I think Mastodon in a future version could interact with the DNS protocol. For example, those who own a domain name could enter public keys or information about the instances to which they are enrolled in the TXT record.

  Gregory Vanderlaan

@Gargron I enjoy Mastodon... Keep up the Good Work.

  Sigma_Wolf77
  Kev

@Gargron a viable platform is a sustainable business model. I still think Co-operative Platforms are the only way to move forward with respecting user privacy while maintaining expensive infrastructure and allowing non-technical users to participate.

  sub_o

Are those people software devs?

  MrTangoWhisky

@Gargron Universal truth: freedom means freedom to choose

  Kaito

@Gargron It's not so simple. Mastodon is a rare open source project that makes money. You invested in yourself (and us!) by building it first and then thankfully finding money for it. You could probably quadruple your income by doing literally anything in the US considering the leadership and skills you have demonstrated. That's a huge opportunity cost. Most businesses need to borrow money just to get started. But some borrow too much, and resort to exploitation to make it back. This is bad.

  Antonius Marie Hogebrandt ⚧

@Gargron I had a discussion at work with someone who said the first, though at least he was honest with why he preferred non-open source: because if software breaks a thing, someone needs to take responsibility, which (generally) doesn't happen with OS. (i don't agree, but I understand his position in that exact situation)

Jigen Daisuke, Jr

@Gargron choosing is thinking in the first place. And thinking is one of most difficult task, as it requires quite a lot of energy. To conserve that energy many people replace thinking with believing as it makes shortcuts when one is deciding, thus saving energy. Now it is a matter of what you trust. Or what's cool/trendy/etc. In the beginning I was also surprised by short-thinking of majority of the people I know, but now I'm surprised why nobody teached them to think in the first place....

Swiss Chalet Sommelier

Doesn't seem worth calling attention to, to be honest. Let them have fun on their island and learn their own lessons.

Iosif Peterfi

@Gargron have you seen Ethernity CLOUD's concept?

Pete Moore

@Gargron Curious to hear your opinion of Bonfire?

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