 I have nothing against #Bluesky per se and am glad some folks are finding it useful as a drop-in replacement for the site that would like to use a swastika as its logo but settled on "X" for now. But if we want to face the challenges ahead (climate change, fascism, and the daily weaponization of hate and fear), we need to imagine and try out new ways of doing things, not just replicate old ones. The fediverse gives us a unique opportunity to do that. Bluesky doesn't. 44 comments
Incidentally, I found it somewhat amusing to discover that before executives started talking about "blue sky thinking", the term "blue sky" in a business context was primarily associated with fraudulent business ventures, which led to "blue sky laws" to protect investors. I don't think Bluesky is a fraudulent venture, but I also don't think it is anymore imaginative than the modern use of the term in C-suites. It is simply business as usual -- blue sky, incorporated. @eloquence I recently posted on the topic, by way of the Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://mastodon.social/@koavf/113723070052242572 When speaking of scams, I often think about the 1973 novel "Momo" by Michael Ende. In it, cigar-smoking beings with grey skin in grey business suits persuade humans to "invest" their free time in a "Timesavings Bank". It's a scam: the Greys literally smoke people's time (the cigars!), robbing people of their rest, their imagination, their lives. In the real world, we, too, have fallen for a scam: the idea that if we place our faith in "the system", things will work out. They will not. We can imagine a world where every news organization has a fediverse server just like they have a webserver; where governments communicate through open protocols with the people who put them in power; where new kinds of cooperatives will arise naturally because the infrastructure is _built_ for cooperation. The fediverse is not a bunch of magic beans; it's built by people, after all. But it's much more fertile ground for the imagination than any other experiment in social media. @eloquence For more detail, it's a solarpunk story about the war against eco-fascism and climate change. The system in question is called OpenFederation: a decentralized web application for organizing direct democracy, mutual aid, and autonomous anarchist cooperatives.  @eloquence I'd rhather governments stopped existing instead of using the fediverse tbh @eloquence Momo is such a cool book 🤍 Read it years ago when still was a kid and still think about its concept time and time again @eloquence A fantastic novel. Like the books of His Dark Materials, or the Narnia books, enjoyable by both children and adults. My first experience with Ende's storytelling was indirect, through the movie adaption of The Neverending Story, and its (inferior) sequel. But when I was reading an English translation of the original novel about a decade ago, a friend asked me if I'd read Momo, and recommended it.  @eloquence it's perfect book about how we are lied about that we are short of time and that we should make up for it, not take time to enjoy life. It is 'productivity' anti thesis. Michael Ende is one of my heros. Neverending story and Momo are such a highlights of my childhood. Definitely a formative for my mind.  @eloquence I just quoted your post above for a suggestion I gave a few months ago. I wish @wikimediafoundation Communications Department could think more about it: @eloquence @wikimediafoundation I just saw the other topic related to the previously mentioned. I added my support: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Social_media#WMF_should_switch_from_X_to_Blue_Sky_or_Mastodon Thank you! I've been feeling a bit like a squeaky wheel on this topic. I and others brought it up on wikimedia-l a while ago as well; WMF then decided to set up a presence on wikimedia.social, but treated it as the "place where some nerds are" rather than an actual alternative. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, especially as more folks raise the issue. Beyond rejecting X for the obvious reasons, there are huge opportunities for movement-organizing on fedi. @eloquence We have been so convinced that "more is better." We need to reacquaint ourselves with the concept of "enough." @eloquence 2/2 Not sure what you mean when you say the fediverse can't scale and why that would be a good thing. Like we should stop allowing new users or new instances to join? @eloquence Sure, but my social community will never come here because it's too hard to find folks across federated servers. It requires too much work—which goes against human nature. I agree, federation matters—and, we also have to meet humanity where it's at. Which regrettably, is a low place of laziness and entitlement r/n. @ninavizz @eloquence I have been wishing this weren't true for seven years, but sadly it is. you're right. the steep step to entering the fediverse demonstrably keeps most people out. denying that provable fact just balkanizes us more. For sure, though the gap isn't as big as it might seem, IMO -- fediverse development just doesn't benefit from VC or blockchain funding to address known shortcomings faster, but both the Mastodon project and other fedi apps/servers _are_ getting better. For now, I'll take it as a win when orgs phase out legacy social media links in favor of Bluesky _and_ Mastodon. Bluesky for quick/easy adoption; Mastodon for folks willing to try something fundamentally new with some added hurdles.  @ninavizz @eloquence It looks like Bluesky hasn't met humanity where it's at either. Since the peak after the election its activity has been in steady decline (from 7.5m to 4m daily posts). The current experience of Mastodon is just the toe in the water of what can and will be done, to overlap and intertwingle the various social media forms currently ossified into platform monoliths, and their clones (eg Mastodon and most current fediverse software, notable exceptions include GoToSocial and ActivityPods).  @eloquence My sentiments exactly. Great that some people are finding it useful, but why would I make yet another rich tech bro richer? Already did that from 2007 to 2016, no need to revisit that. This was how it was done before corporations got involved. It's not new. We're just clawing back to nearer where it was.  That's the thing; I'm not mad a Bluesky, it just seems to be a platform for people who really want to pretend that things aren't changing. Stick your head in the sand.  @eloquence I also have nothing against BlueSky, but I'm not going to hide that I consider the "we do the same thing and expect a different outcome" people to be pretty stupid. @eloquence Agree that different approaches are necessary.  @eloquence I have nothing against Bluesky as it currently exists but it is already showing signs of its inevitable slide into enshittification. When friends announce they are going there I tell them two things: (1) Enable Bridgy Fed so you can stay in touch with those of us on Mastodon. (2) When you decide to leave Bluesky, we will welcome you here. @jef @eloquence same. I’m happy they are ditching X, but I worry they’ll sour on Bluesky soon too. I hope they migrate to the fediverse because I think it has longer staying power. @eloquence I’m all in on the unique opportunities of the fediverse. Any centralized platform is subject to capture and therefore untrustworthy. Blockchain Capital investment in Bluesky highlights the point. Platform established, it seems collective action problems and barriers to critical mass adoption are next. I’m new here but I’m sure people are working on these. Any pointers on where to look and get educated? Welcome! :) If you're interested in the meta-challenges of building the fediverse, here are just a few follow suggestions, which will give you a window into a lot of the problems people are working on, from apps to moderation & governance to protocols & sustainability: @kissane @eloquence @kissane @darius @thisismissem @cheeaun @renchap @evan @cwebber that’s perfect, thank you! Following all of them @eloquence I've been on the Fediverse for over a year, and I like it, but in 2 months on BlueSky I'm getting a whole lot more interaction. So far, I'm seeing benefits to both. X can go to Hell.  @eloquence @eloquence I read that Elon cancelled a lady's 'bluecheck'. If I posted something here that seemed disagreeable, could I get banned here? Can I save my posts and migrate to a new server? Do I have to roll my own server to stop that happening? Not actually planning on being horrid or anything....just asking. |
Gregory's Server
Humanity is in dire need of a new operating system that rejects the old definitions of success. We need cooperation over competition; shared ownership over new monopolies; true openness over "let's just hold on to this bit of secret sauce to make money".
The reason that people with power or a stake in "the way things are" tend to dismiss the fediverse (a bunch of hobbyists! can't scale! no business model!) is the precise reason to embrace it fully and wholeheartedly.