3 ms·

> I publish ... it's completely decentralized What do you mean by decentralized in this context?

cyphar 8y ago
I think they're saying they have a mailing list set up for communication between friends, and it's "decentralised" in the same way email is (rather, it's federated).
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  @revx wrote: responses come back straight to me, so there's no fighting in the comments This makes it sound like revx is the single point of failure. The whole thing reads to me like the locus of centralisation lies entirely with revx. I get that email is decentralised / federated.
  - cyphar 8y ago
    I imagine that the mailing list is Bcc:, with themself as the To:. This would allow for such a setup. Of course this isn't "socially decentralised" but I doubt that's what most people are referring to when they talk about decentralisation.
  - magpi3 8y ago
    An author posting original content is always a single point of failure. That's a problem based in the physical world and has nothing to do with the computer-based system by which they distribute their content. If revx email host gets shutdown, he can find a new one easy peasy. revx can just update his domain's DNS records to point them to a new server. The federated nature of email prevents any individual email host from being a single point of failure, which I would believe is the point when comparing publishing via email to publishing content via a social network platform.
revx 8y ago
Yeah, I probably used the wrong word. I meant that the mechanism of publishing/consuming isn't centralized globally - anyone publishing a newsletter can choose (or build) their publisher, while publishing an instagram post would necessarily be produced and consumed via instagram.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  Right yeah, true. Also, I probably wasn't adhering to the HN guideline please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize.[1] My bad, sorry about that. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - revx 8y ago
    No problem. Thanks for the apology.

I think they're saying they have a mailing list set up for communication between friends, and it's "decentralised" in the same way email is (rather, it's federated).

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
@revx wrote: responses come back straight to me, so there's no fighting in the comments This makes it sound like revx is the single point of failure. The whole thing reads to me like the locus of centralisation lies entirely with revx. I get that email is decentralised / federated.
- cyphar 8y ago
  I imagine that the mailing list is Bcc:, with themself as the To:. This would allow for such a setup. Of course this isn't "socially decentralised" but I doubt that's what most people are referring to when they talk about decentralisation.
- magpi3 8y ago
  An author posting original content is always a single point of failure. That's a problem based in the physical world and has nothing to do with the computer-based system by which they distribute their content. If revx email host gets shutdown, he can find a new one easy peasy. revx can just update his domain's DNS records to point them to a new server. The federated nature of email prevents any individual email host from being a single point of failure, which I would believe is the point when comparing publishing via email to publishing content via a social network platform.

revx 8y ago

Yeah, I probably used the wrong word. I meant that the mechanism of publishing/consuming isn't centralized globally - anyone publishing a newsletter can choose (or build) their publisher, while publishing an instagram post would necessarily be produced and consumed via instagram.

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
Right yeah, true. Also, I probably wasn't adhering to the HN guideline please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize.[1] My bad, sorry about that. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- revx 8y ago
  No problem. Thanks for the apology.