Submitted 1 day ago by bluemoon@piefed.social to technology@beehaw.org
if we could swap mainstream platforms, which would be the centre of mainstream instead? Friendica, Mastodon, Peertube or something else entirely?
i am reminded that if “social media” didn’t devolve we’d have organized and come together to solve climate crisis already and politicians would’ve had a digital polling station and direct communication with the populace.
instead Facebook Twitter YouTube is what it is.
I think ActivityPub, a driver of the Fediverse, already serves as the mainstream protocol to enable these “platforms” to deliver content in the different ways that people have come to enjoy: such as Friendica, Mastodon, and so on.
Regardless of the front facing platform, I think what I want to see is deeper integration. Users from Mastodon or Friendica be more able to see posts and comments here on PieFed or Lemmy, and vice versa, as if we’re a single universe delivered in different ways. I even want to see users of PieFed be able to one day transfer their data and posts seamlessly over to say Lemmy, or Friendica.
I want to see an ActivityPub where we can resist censorship by standing alone on single instances, but in the event of an attack, we can move to new ones or bigger ones for strength in numbers. If we want the right to disappear, great, no one should get in the way. But if we want to be seen or heard in the face of violence and oppression, there should be more options in place for instances to operate in blocs, and to allow servers to cache and preserve content under attack.
In recent days, Youtube was seen taking down hundreds of videos of content documenting what many legal experts conclude is genocide carried out by Israel. Regardless of where one stands on that, the idea that a single entity can erase the collective documented experience of humanity is too much power.
I want to see an ActivityPub that can let people share their cat photos, and enjoy their moments; and I also want it to allow people to resist in credible ways if they choose to document their lives. I also want a Fediverse, that can allow even the lowly single instance server to serve with a bloc to shield even a single user’s content that might be forced down by violence.
I would swap for that Fediverse.
The Olive Garden app, cause when you are on it, you are family.
But no, I disagree that we’d have all come together and just solved everything with a different “central” app. Though I guess a government version of Twitter where everyone gets a login and every company has to have a support arm for making announcements and allowing the government to make them too would be helpful like it was and still sometimes is.
I like this idea. I wouldn’t use .gov twitter, but I support it being made.
I’ve also said for years that the post office should be offering official government backed email addresses to people that have the same rules as federal mail (like anti tampering laws). You get one, it’s for official shit only, and it’s illegal for anyone else to open your mail without your permission.
Government-backed email would also help solve the “is this a bot” problem by limiting the number of email addresses that can be used, though naturally you’d also lose anonymity using that email.
There’s also the issue that if the emails are predictable, spam and phishing become much easier.
I’m mixed on this one. If we could choose the username and there’s no API for anything other than “is this a person” and your classic IMAP/SMTP stuff, then I’d be a lot more on board I think.
Pixelfed is easier to use so you’re right.
Peertube is fine but trying to find good content or a good instance is a struggle still. Frendica i’ve signed up for but really haven’t used (in fact I think the instance I signed up on is dead).
I mean I even run my own peertube instance and I barely use it because I just can’t find anything good to watch on it other than a couple tech channels that update once in a blue moon.
do you search PeerTube instances using the curated fedi.video or sepia search or another way?
Inevitably, either nostr will take over the internet, or the internet will be gone faster than nostr can develop to that point
@iloveDigit Nostr's unique features are their biggest enemy as well. To be completely uncensorable sounds nice, but on the same side open all floodgates for spam, massive harassment towards some groups of people or individuals and also content that is considered illegal in most countries (like child porn).
It may work in a rather small bubble, but will never work on a large scale.
Then you’re really saying the internet is dying faster than it can develop. I think that’s just psychologically defensive defeatism
schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
I don’t think I understand the question.
The Internet isn’t supposed to have a “center”, at all. If it ever does, something has gone wrong.
Federation, like what we’re doing here, can make it so that everyone’s personal “center” can be whatever platform they choose to use most of the time. Someone trying to communicate may be using an entirely different one, it will still get federated to whatever you prefer.