@dansup @pixelfed I don’t think followers/following should be public. Tops, only visible to the user. In my opinion, the decision on following someone should not be based on how many followers someone has, not give the opportunity to monetise, and should not help with the “like” culture that promotes depression and anxiety.

@dansup @pixelfed Okay but like, culturally, why would people care here? I doubt there's a market.

Nobody looks at your follower count and uses it to gatekeep you here (except maybe to help determine if you look like a bot, I guess).

And things like follower counts and star counts federating incompletely won't help!

@dansup @pixelfed per-account & instance ranking and build a trust graph and cluster things. Spambots tend to follow spambots, thus they cluster together, normal people tend to follow the same normal people.... this is a method used many times before (pgp web of trust is one example) it does require knowing the full graph for involved accounts, thus that can be harder. I am sure somebody comes up with a trustrank service that can give out a score; then multiple services and if x/y deprio ;)

@dansup @pixelfed People who buy from the supermarkets follow the crowds because supermarkets have a monopoly. Stop spending all money at the supermarkets and don't buy what other popular people buy.

@dansup @pixelfed

that is to say, with time fediverso will lose the charm