As wonderful as such a sudden boost of interest is,... | Michał "rysiek" Woźniak

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As wonderful as such a sudden boost of interest is, it also means fedi will… change.

It used to be a rather small network with strong culture around certain things. The number of new people is almost certainly *larger* than the number of people who had been active here until now. This strains the cultural norms quite a bit:
https://www.hughrundle.net/home-invasion/

It's time for fedi to get a bit of a respite, a breather, a moment to collectively take stock of the situation and changes it brings.

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Like 28 Nov 2022 at 23:32 | Open on mstdn.social

3 comments

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

This kind of sudden boost of popularity strains the infrastructure a lot, too. Most of instances are volunteer-run.

The good news is: the number of instances went *up* by over a *half*. That's fantastic.

This is a way more reliable number than MAU simply because for an instance to show in these stats requires work: getting a domain, setting up the software, etc.

So we know with more certainty that fedi expanded its infrastructure quite a bit! Which means more readines for future waves. 🎉

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28 Nov 2022 at 23:38 | Open on mstdn.social

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

Any Silicon Valley startup would now be worried about the "sudden drop" in the MAU measure.

But fedi is not a Sillicon Valley startup. Growth is not the only measure of success — arguably, it is not even all that important at all.

Resilience — both in the sense of community/culture, and in the sense of infrastructure — is much more important here.

The fact that over 5000 new instances (and thus: communities!) got started is therefore a wonderfully positive sign. :blobaww:

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28 Nov 2022 at 23:43 | Open on mstdn.social

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

5k new instances means *thousands* of people who invested their time, effort, and love into creating new communities.

Thousands of people taking upon themselves to moderate these communities.

These are all long-term commitments, and many if not most of those people know that.

The MAU value will drop by a *lot* probably. That's expected.

However, I will be closely watching the instances chart. And rooting for all the new admins, mods, and communities here on fedi. :blobcatheart:

5/🧵 end.

28 Nov 2022 at 23:49 | Open on mstdn.social