Mastodon’s founder cedes control to non-profit

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨riotRhino@beehaw.org⁩ to ⁨technology@beehaw.org⁩

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/mastodon-becomes-nonprofit-to-make-sure-its-never-ruined-by-billionaire-ceo/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned

I honestly did not realize this was not already the case but it is a good move to make right now. Hopefully folks will start to recognize the Fediverse for what it is and can be and explore coming to the Activity Pub side over using Bluesky.

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Zagorath@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Could you edit the link so it doesn’t have the tracking information on it?

Not because of the tracking itself…it’s vague enough in this case not to be an issue. Just because keeping the canonical URL allows Lemmy to automatically detect when the post has been cross-posted to multiple instances, so we can see if/where it’s also being discussed.

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- SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  arstechnica.com/…/mastodon-becomes-nonprofit-to-m…
  
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  - Zagorath@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    No I get that, but for the software to pick it up properly you would need to use the “edit” button to amend the url in the post itself.
    
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  - riotRhino@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Thanks
    
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PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
I can’t wait to tell my fellow radical leftist friends about this amazing move that aligns with socialist and anarchist principles! Really looking forward to them coming up with excuses to keep using X and not even create an account on the mastodon instance I host for us! /s

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- krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  “Man don’t you hate it when people that use the same meaningless label as you don’t share every single value you have??”
  
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  - PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    exactly 😭
    
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- frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  What are you even talking about?
  
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  - PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Just having a sarcastic rant :D I like Mastodon but have trouble convincing my friends to join even though I think it aligns with their principles
    
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supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
In a reality where the tech press had any sense of vision or independence the headline would simply read “Ok Now Your Turn Oligarchs”,

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SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
About time. Hope this leads to actually good things for mastodon rather than a series of increasingly worse decision by the current supreme leader who doesn’t seem to care about safety, moderation or creating and keeping a unique identity for it and other things besides.

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- jagged_circle@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Unfortunately the news says he’s stepping down as CEO so he fan focus more on product. Which means he’s going to continue to block the user’s feature requests, it seems.
  
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  - SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Sigh.
    
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  - sleepybisexual@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    There’s always forks and other fedi software
    
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- djsaskdja@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Mastodon has to be one of the most heavily moderated social media apps I’ve ever used. I’m sure it depends on the instance, but that’s kind of the nature of open source. Anyone can use the technology to post what they want. That’s why defederation exists. In what way would you want it to be even more moderated?
  
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  - SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    The history of mastodon.social - the one that has been historically run and moderated by the creator has been shown and called out multiple times for not moderating well.
    
    Part of that is because it was allowed to get too big and part of that is that because of that they didn’t have enough moderators (especially not ones that were paid).
    
    This led to design decisions for both the web interface and the ‘official’ mastodon app that made moderation (such as one of the report options sending your report into the null) and the general experience (such as removing one of the timelines from the from the ‘official’ app) worse.
    
    The tools for moderators and admins are also somewhat laughable and often display warnings which mastodon.social ironically doesn’t follow or does all too well, depending on whether it’s unhelpful or helpful to do so.
    
    That’s what I mean, not necessarily individual instance moderation, though as I have shown (not) doing good instance moderation if you’re the developer helps develop tools and designs (which is part of the the problem/solution). But also a community orientated approach and actually paying attention to what folks are saying about an instance and the tools and things that are developed to help out, or as a consequence of any decisions taken or not taken in moderation.
    
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  - Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Exactly. This is the good thing about federation. If you don’t like the community you’re in, move to another one that better aligns to your values. No one’s speech is “limited”, but other instances aren’t forced to listen to you unless they want to.
    
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fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Please update the title to the full title of the article. This is super misleading and makes it sound like the founder doesn’t want this.

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- Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  The title doesn’t imply what the founder wants one way or the other.
  
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  - fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    In strict definition, true, but to those in the US cede has the connotation of giving up something after a lost battle. Just the way we’re taught.
    
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sculd@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
That was what the original internet was about. Not the corporate wall garden bullshit we are seeing right now.

Its about sharing not owning. Its about authenticity and not clout.

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