4 ms·

I'm only half joking. > You can still buy a different device, not take part in an existing system, and do whatever you want. The point is you can't. Intense

I'm only half joking. > You can still buy a different device, not take part in an existing system, and do whatever you want. The point is you can't. Intense social pressure to interact with people who _do_ take part in the existing system means you have to partake in the existing system to interact. My friends use Messenger so I need a facebook account, or my family uses WhatsApp so I need a non-rooted android phone. No mainstream messaging apps support federation and many are hostile towards reverse engineering. WhatsApp for example will permaban accounts who do not use official clients in the name of "security." You don't notice because you have already excluded anyone who chooses not to use a mainstream Android or iOS device. Or anyone you know who _would_ like to make that choice doesn't, cause they don't want to be that one friend who can't be reached as easily as the rest of the group.

zepto 6y ago
Ok - so this is much more interesting than the more trivial green bubbles comment I originally replied to, which decidedly was not making this point. It’s true that if you need to interact with people on most of these systems, you need an account. I have a Facebook account I use only for messenger, and I would prefer not to. However, your argument has a few flaws. 1. I obviously haven’t excluded the people would would like to choose a non-mainstream device but who hasn’t. 2. You seem to assume that I won’t install apps so that I can communicate with people who don’t use the networks I’m already part of. That’s not a reasonable assumption. I have quite a few messaging apps installed, some of which I use with just one person. The question this raises for me is - are there any federated messaging networks that do not have any clients available for mainstream platforms, but are in significant use?

zepto 6y ago

Ok - so this is much more interesting than the more trivial green bubbles comment I originally replied to, which decidedly was not making this point. It’s true that if you need to interact with people on most of these systems, you need an account. I have a Facebook account I use only for messenger, and I would prefer not to. However, your argument has a few flaws. 1. I obviously haven’t excluded the people would would like to choose a non-mainstream device but who hasn’t. 2. You seem to assume that I won’t install apps so that I can communicate with people who don’t use the networks I’m already part of. That’s not a reasonable assumption. I have quite a few messaging apps installed, some of which I use with just one person. The question this raises for me is - are there any federated messaging networks that do not have any clients available for mainstream platforms, but are in significant use?