3 ms·

TIL: protocols have a cuture.

• krapp 5y ago
  Protocols can be built to reinforce the ideals of their creators, and thus attempt to create a culture around themselves, yes. For an example of this, see Urbit. Gemini exists to satisfy political and cultural, not technical, needs. Most of what Gemini users have to say regarding their preference for it, and its benefits and its purpose are almost entirely about culture, not technology - the web is too complex, the web is too mainstream, too commercial, no longer a small "quirky" community, too full of the wrong people using it the wrong way. We're here replying to an article whose entire thesis is that Gemini's technical shortcomings, it's "uselessness," is a killer feature for promoting a specific kind of culture, for preventing certain forms of expression and encouraging others, inviting certain kinds of people in, and keeping other kinds of people out. That it will never be extended is a decision based on enforcing culture, in the belief that any extra complexity, regardless of its utility, risks the protocol being used in ways that undermine its ideological basis. So yes, culture.