7 ms·

Open Letter to the Diaspora Dudes

89 points by TrevorBramble 16y ago

kwamenum86 16y ago
Why did this need to be an open letter?
- jat850 16y ago
  It helps call attention for contributors to Socknet, regardless of whether or not it finds use in Diaspora.
- initself 16y ago
  I enjoyed reading it.
- roc 16y ago
  Same reason he wrote it in the first place: he's drafting off a trending topic to gain exposure and hopefully new developers. Write one letter to the Diaspora team and, at best, they consider it. Put the letter out there (under the guise of being related to Diaspora to gain extra attention) and maybe a dozen teams consider it.
- Semiapies 16y ago
  Because it's impossible to start working on a FOSS project in a field without the people behind the various failed, embryonic, or plain poor pre-existing projects in that field demanding that you instead validate their work.
- kwamenum86 16y ago
  Yeah I realize why one would write an open letter like this. I guess I was just complaining about taking this approach. Seems like a thinly veiled attempt at drawing attention to their product and nothing more.
jacquesm 16y ago
> I looked over the web and I found the same thing that I'm sure you found: several projects without much steam behind them. Maybe they found socknet too ? That wiki was filled on may the 19th, well after the diaspora stuff hit the media, or it hasn't been updated in ages before then. http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&limit=500 http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChange... That money the diaspora guys raised has one definitely negative side effect, there will be quite a few people that may try to get a share of the cake.
- TrevorBramble 16y ago
  http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&days=30&limit=500 http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChange... There's the same page with the limit changed from the default of 7 days (May 19) to 30 (April 26). And of course Google's been caching stuff there for awhile: http://www.google.com/search?q=site:socknet.net http://www.google.com/search?q=site:socknet.net I know the Socknet guy via some trusted former coworkers and I've watched this project for a year or two. He's earnest and hasn't looked for any attention. I posted his open letter here because I think he deserves some attention for his hard work, whereas the Diaspora team made a cheeky video and deserve to have their goals questioned (do they really intend to do something progressive or is this about personal reward?) edit: grammar
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    Two years ? That's precisely what I was getting at. He's definitely looking for attention here, otherwise why post an open letter ? If he wasn't looking for attention he could have easily mailed the diaspora people, by making this an open letter he is trying to get a slice of the media attention. Nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn't interpret it in any other way, even if he's serious. To me he's not just serious, but also very slow. The sourceforge project was registered on the 15th of may, this is not a project that has been in mainstream development for two years. It may have been in development for two years but not with the kind of push behind it that you need for a successful launch of a web application. It looks like someone's pet project that did not gain much traction that they're trying to breathe new life in.
axiom 16y ago
Off topic: if you look at the kickstarter page for Diaspora http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-personally-controlled-do-it-all-distr http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-p... Notice how for anyone who donates more than $5 they need to send them a CD with Diaspora on it. $25 gets them a t-shirt etc. For 6k donors, they're going to spend ~$50-100k of the $200k they raised just meeting their commitments. Not to mention a huge amount of time dealing with the logistics. Edit: Jesus, if you account for the fact that they promised 1 year hosted service, and 1 year phone support for anyone who donated more than $350, these guys are already underwater.
- DrSprout 16y ago
  >Jesus, if you account for the fact that they promised 1 year hosted service, and 1 year phone support for anyone who donated more than $350, these guys are already underwater. By "hosting" they mean 1 year of a Diaspora account on their server. So essentially that's 30/month for unlimited photo and text uploads to a walled garden site. I'm pretty sure they're fine.
  - axiom 16y ago
    I really hope so. I guess there's no SLA so they're not obligated to provide any particular level of service. Anyway, I believe the phone support is a much more serious liability.
    - stcredzero 16y ago
      Why couldn't phone support be crowd-sourced as volunteers in 100's of "party-line" style chats?
      - wmf 16y ago
        Why would I pay for volunteer support?
        16y ago
chrischen2 16y ago
I think all this decentralized social networking is unnecessary. All we really need is an easy way to switch social networks. Something like a list of UUIDs as your friends list which can be imported into your social network of choice, and exported when you want to leave. Even email is centralized. The only problem would be getting the current industry leader, facebook, to willing adopt such a thing. They probably won't so this would be more of a consideration for the next generation of social networks.
- CoryMathews 16y ago
  Email is centralized yes but its also somewhat open. You can send an email to any provider and receive from any provider. You cannot send a message from say facebook to twitter and get a response back.
  - chrischen2 16y ago
    Email is also pretty featureless. An open standard will always innovate slower than a proprietary site.
    - dschobel 16y ago
      Email is also pretty featureless. *Google Wave enters, stage left.*
      - chrischen2 16y ago
        Wave's stuff isn't part of the standard right? So if I were using some other mail service/client I could only use the intersection of both services. Please correct me if I am wrong, I haven't had much exposure to wave (except a brief stint in the private beta where I realized nobody is using it, and therefore it was useless).
        deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
SkyMarshal 16y ago
He's got a branding problem as well. 'Socknet'? And foolishmortal.net looks like pre-beta HN. Geeks sometimes don't seem to understand the power and value of word choice, or design. Smart word choice and updated design is not sufficient, but in a Web 2.0+ world, it's necessary.
- alttab 16y ago
  These were the 2 things I noticed when reading it.
rsobers 16y ago
Is there a rule that says that if you're going to work on a distributed social network you have to be bad at naming things? socknet, really? Also, do we really need a solution that is distributed or would a dropdown box on Facebook that says "Visible to:" and lets you select a group (e.g., Friends, Family, Everyone) do?
- thasmin 16y ago
  A dropdown box on Facebook would do, but nobody can put it there so some people decided to go with Plan B.
  - ErrantX 16y ago
    but nobody can put it there Except for Facebook. And, err, they did - quite a while ago :)
    - gbhn 16y ago
      I don't remember the source, but "it's easy to take a reservation, the hard part is filling it." Meaning, of course, that Facebook privacy has continuously eroded, so some (myself included) have no faith that such a dropdown has any persistent effect consistent with what might be inferred by what is written on it.
      - defen 16y ago
        Seinfeld

89 points by TrevorBramble 16y ago

kwamenum86 16y ago

Why did this need to be an open letter?

jat850 16y ago
It helps call attention for contributors to Socknet, regardless of whether or not it finds use in Diaspora.
initself 16y ago
I enjoyed reading it.
roc 16y ago
Same reason he wrote it in the first place: he's drafting off a trending topic to gain exposure and hopefully new developers. Write one letter to the Diaspora team and, at best, they consider it. Put the letter out there (under the guise of being related to Diaspora to gain extra attention) and maybe a dozen teams consider it.
Semiapies 16y ago
Because it's impossible to start working on a FOSS project in a field without the people behind the various failed, embryonic, or plain poor pre-existing projects in that field demanding that you instead validate their work.
kwamenum86 16y ago
Yeah I realize why one would write an open letter like this. I guess I was just complaining about taking this approach. Seems like a thinly veiled attempt at drawing attention to their product and nothing more.

jacquesm 16y ago

> I looked over the web and I found the same thing that I'm sure you found: several projects without much steam behind them. Maybe they found socknet too ? That wiki was filled on may the 19th, well after the diaspora stuff hit the media, or it hasn't been updated in ages before then. http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&limit=500 http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChange... That money the diaspora guys raised has one definitely negative side effect, there will be quite a few people that may try to get a share of the cake.

TrevorBramble 16y ago
http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&days=30&limit=500 http://socknet.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChange... There's the same page with the limit changed from the default of 7 days (May 19) to 30 (April 26). And of course Google's been caching stuff there for awhile: http://www.google.com/search?q=site:socknet.net http://www.google.com/search?q=site:socknet.net I know the Socknet guy via some trusted former coworkers and I've watched this project for a year or two. He's earnest and hasn't looked for any attention. I posted his open letter here because I think he deserves some attention for his hard work, whereas the Diaspora team made a cheeky video and deserve to have their goals questioned (do they really intend to do something progressive or is this about personal reward?) edit: grammar
- jacquesm 16y ago
  Two years ? That's precisely what I was getting at. He's definitely looking for attention here, otherwise why post an open letter ? If he wasn't looking for attention he could have easily mailed the diaspora people, by making this an open letter he is trying to get a slice of the media attention. Nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn't interpret it in any other way, even if he's serious. To me he's not just serious, but also very slow. The sourceforge project was registered on the 15th of may, this is not a project that has been in mainstream development for two years. It may have been in development for two years but not with the kind of push behind it that you need for a successful launch of a web application. It looks like someone's pet project that did not gain much traction that they're trying to breathe new life in.

axiom 16y ago

Off topic: if you look at the kickstarter page for Diaspora http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-personally-controlled-do-it-all-distr http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-p... Notice how for anyone who donates more than $5 they need to send them a CD with Diaspora on it. $25 gets them a t-shirt etc. For 6k donors, they're going to spend ~$50-100k of the $200k they raised just meeting their commitments. Not to mention a huge amount of time dealing with the logistics. Edit: Jesus, if you account for the fact that they promised 1 year hosted service, and 1 year phone support for anyone who donated more than $350, these guys are already underwater.

DrSprout 16y ago
>Jesus, if you account for the fact that they promised 1 year hosted service, and 1 year phone support for anyone who donated more than $350, these guys are already underwater. By "hosting" they mean 1 year of a Diaspora account on their server. So essentially that's 30/month for unlimited photo and text uploads to a walled garden site. I'm pretty sure they're fine.
- axiom 16y ago
  I really hope so. I guess there's no SLA so they're not obligated to provide any particular level of service. Anyway, I believe the phone support is a much more serious liability.
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    Why couldn't phone support be crowd-sourced as volunteers in 100's of "party-line" style chats?
    - wmf 16y ago
      Why would I pay for volunteer support?
      - 16y ago

chrischen2 16y ago

I think all this decentralized social networking is unnecessary. All we really need is an easy way to switch social networks. Something like a list of UUIDs as your friends list which can be imported into your social network of choice, and exported when you want to leave. Even email is centralized. The only problem would be getting the current industry leader, facebook, to willing adopt such a thing. They probably won't so this would be more of a consideration for the next generation of social networks.

CoryMathews 16y ago
Email is centralized yes but its also somewhat open. You can send an email to any provider and receive from any provider. You cannot send a message from say facebook to twitter and get a response back.
- chrischen2 16y ago
  Email is also pretty featureless. An open standard will always innovate slower than a proprietary site.
  - dschobel 16y ago
    Email is also pretty featureless. *Google Wave enters, stage left.*
    - chrischen2 16y ago
      Wave's stuff isn't part of the standard right? So if I were using some other mail service/client I could only use the intersection of both services. Please correct me if I am wrong, I haven't had much exposure to wave (except a brief stint in the private beta where I realized nobody is using it, and therefore it was useless).
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]

SkyMarshal 16y ago

He's got a branding problem as well. 'Socknet'? And foolishmortal.net looks like pre-beta HN. Geeks sometimes don't seem to understand the power and value of word choice, or design. Smart word choice and updated design is not sufficient, but in a Web 2.0+ world, it's necessary.

alttab 16y ago
These were the 2 things I noticed when reading it.

rsobers 16y ago

Is there a rule that says that if you're going to work on a distributed social network you have to be bad at naming things? socknet, really? Also, do we really need a solution that is distributed or would a dropdown box on Facebook that says "Visible to:" and lets you select a group (e.g., Friends, Family, Everyone) do?

thasmin 16y ago
A dropdown box on Facebook would do, but nobody can put it there so some people decided to go with Plan B.
- ErrantX 16y ago
  but nobody can put it there Except for Facebook. And, err, they did - quite a while ago :)
  - gbhn 16y ago
    I don't remember the source, but "it's easy to take a reservation, the hard part is filling it." Meaning, of course, that Facebook privacy has continuously eroded, so some (myself included) have no faith that such a dropdown has any persistent effect consistent with what might be inferred by what is written on it.
    - defen 16y ago
      Seinfeld