Gregory's ServerWas sitting on a flixbus today trying to sketch out the bounds for what is and is not in place for a fediverse "dating" app. I dont think dating is really the right frame of reference but its the closest social phenomenon of apps mediating in person 1x1 meetings.
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This is the property that is most exciting about the fediverse. It is made up [mostly] of folks trying to create a social good without trying to get anything in return.  @liaizon This is an interesting idea, since the profit goal is so wildly opposed to the goal of anyone trying to find a life partner. The devil will be in the details. Literally devil, as the potential for abuse is so high. The details will be mostly blocking, moderation, safety, identity proofs, and strong privacy. Really hard problems. I don't know of the activitypub has the right tools for the job. Maybe Veilid or Spritely Goblins might. A Fediverse dating app is the opposite of what the Fediverse claims to do. For example, lack of searchability is (incorrectly) seen as good on services like Mastodon. Dating/meetup functionality is the opposite: people seeking friends/romance/etc. explicitly _need_ to search and be findable according to various search criteria. Also, everyone wants _something_ in return for sacrificing time/financial/other resources for their effort -- whether they seek money, power, prestige, etc. @liaizon I'd add that also for such an app decentralization can be very interesting. People have different ideas on how to pick and find a person interesting to them and they might prefer different services. That they prefer different services doesnt mean, that they wouldnt be interested in meeting each other, right?  |
the main thing that I came to the conclusion of is that the properties that I want from an "app" or service like this is not about federation or decentralization or open source, its about it being a commons without profit motive. How do we create infrastructure for apps to exist outside of this capitalist hell scape?