5 ms·

My understanding is that Parler is a Mastodon instance... I know that every time headlines are posted about the number of employees at X company, people ask why

My understanding is that Parler is a Mastodon instance... I know that every time headlines are posted about the number of employees at X company, people ask why there are so many people working there. But in this case I think it's justified. They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people?

ubermonkey 4y ago
My cynical answer is that most such things on the American right are, at some level, a grift.
- isthisthingon99 4y ago
  Not just https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-lives-matter-activists-accuse-executive-stealing-10-million-dono-rcna46481 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-lives-matter-activ...
  - sli 4y ago
    The headline and story don't really support your interpretation.
    - cpurdy 4y ago
      Reading as a prereq definitely weeds out most of the MAGAs.
    - isthisthingon99 4y ago
      I provided no interpretation other than to imply grift isn't exclusive to one political leaning.
      - ubermonkey 4y ago
        Not really a helpful comment, though, since my post suggests that MOST such thing catering to this portion of the American right have grifty components -- not that grift exists only on the right.
        isthisthingon99 4y ago
        We know what you mean. You're still wrong.
        ubermonkey 4y ago
        Evidence does not support your claim, boyo.
        isthisthingon99 4y ago
        Let's go with your assumption. What you are saying is purely due to political leaning, one is more likely to grift than another?
  - DonHopkins 4y ago
    Stop making homophobic and transphobic posts. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34402242 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34402242
- _whiteCaps_ 4y ago
  Ah good point. I also hadn't considered they're probably putting a lot of effort into DDOS mitigation.
- secretsatan 4y ago
  I'm not so sure that it's so much grifts, possibly more that these people are so out of touch with reality and living in echo chambers, they vastly overvalue themselves and their business acumen.
efsavage 4y ago
> They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? My first reaction was surprise that there were 20 people at Parler to begin with! From what I've heard of people running Mastodon servers, they are not exactly lightweight, and a large one might actually require a lot of housekeeping. So maybe 20 is not too unreasonable...
- vaidhy 4y ago
  They had 80 people to begin with. After 75% layoff, they have 20 people left.
vkou 4y ago
> They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? Marketing, promotion, moderation, fundraising, interfacing with your political allies, figuring out a way to make money with whatever they are doing, grift.
tablespoon 4y ago
> My understanding is that Parler is a Mastodon instance... I know that every time headlines are posted about the number of employees at X company, people ask why there are so many people working there. But in this case I think it's justified. They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? IIRC, when they were first in the news, I believe they were running some insane thing built on top of WordPress (or some other blogging platform like that). At least that was according to someone who had claimed to hack them and scraped all their user data. I think the site was a rush job meant to capitalize on particular dissatisfactions with Twitter. I believe gab (not so much MAGA as explicit neonazis) is a Mastodon instance, and that's caused trouble for Mastodon clients on various app stores (i.e. if you can use the generic client to connect to gab, the app could fail the app store's content policies and not get approved).
- ISO-morphism 4y ago
  > ...caused trouble for Mastodon clients on various app stores (i.e. if you can use the generic client to connect to gab, the app could fail the app store's content policies and not get approved Then they better start banning web browsers. I yearn for that comparison to be the official PR response, for those individuals that find themselves in the position of power to make those decisions at Apple and Google to feel the weight of its responsibility. A federated blogging client should be well above the acceptable threshold on a spectrum from Firefox to CSAM.app.
  - aidenn0 4y ago
    Apple, to a certain extent, does ban web browsers other than their own.
    - derekp7 4y ago
      Then why don't they ban their own web browser?
      - paulryanrogers 4y ago
ender341341 4y ago
> They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? I assume (with no other info) that they probably had a bunch of marketing/pr/sales folks.
jmcgough 4y ago
Scaling Mastodon is actually very challenging - there's been a bunch of good blog posts on this recently with the exodus, and a number of more popular servers cutting off new signups.
- piaste 4y ago
  Given the nature of Mastodon, why not just scale horizontally? Cap your_server at N users and just open signups for your_server_2, then your_server_3 etc. which are all federated with your_server?
  - solarkraft 4y ago
    There are a few "local" interaction features that benefit from being on the same server. The domain is also an integral part of your user name - imagine having name@us-west03.gmail.com as your e-mail address.
dingusdew 4y ago
[dead]
lost_tourist 4y ago
Probably even they want to cut down on the terroristic threatening and the neonazis doing most of it. I bet there is a lot more interaction with the FBI and DHS than most people would think.

ubermonkey 4y ago

My cynical answer is that most such things on the American right are, at some level, a grift.

isthisthingon99 4y ago
Not just https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-lives-matter-activists-accuse-executive-stealing-10-million-dono-rcna46481 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-lives-matter-activ...
- sli 4y ago
  The headline and story don't really support your interpretation.
  - cpurdy 4y ago
    Reading as a prereq definitely weeds out most of the MAGAs.
  - isthisthingon99 4y ago
    I provided no interpretation other than to imply grift isn't exclusive to one political leaning.
    - ubermonkey 4y ago
      Not really a helpful comment, though, since my post suggests that MOST such thing catering to this portion of the American right have grifty components -- not that grift exists only on the right.
      - isthisthingon99 4y ago
        We know what you mean. You're still wrong.
        ubermonkey 4y ago
        Evidence does not support your claim, boyo.
        isthisthingon99 4y ago
        Let's go with your assumption. What you are saying is purely due to political leaning, one is more likely to grift than another?
- DonHopkins 4y ago
  Stop making homophobic and transphobic posts. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34402242 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34402242
_whiteCaps_ 4y ago
Ah good point. I also hadn't considered they're probably putting a lot of effort into DDOS mitigation.
secretsatan 4y ago
I'm not so sure that it's so much grifts, possibly more that these people are so out of touch with reality and living in echo chambers, they vastly overvalue themselves and their business acumen.

efsavage 4y ago

> They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? My first reaction was surprise that there were 20 people at Parler to begin with! From what I've heard of people running Mastodon servers, they are not exactly lightweight, and a large one might actually require a lot of housekeeping. So maybe 20 is not too unreasonable...

vaidhy 4y ago
They had 80 people to begin with. After 75% layoff, they have 20 people left.

vkou 4y ago

> They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? Marketing, promotion, moderation, fundraising, interfacing with your political allies, figuring out a way to make money with whatever they are doing, grift.

tablespoon 4y ago

> My understanding is that Parler is a Mastodon instance... I know that every time headlines are posted about the number of employees at X company, people ask why there are so many people working there. But in this case I think it's justified. They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? IIRC, when they were first in the news, I believe they were running some insane thing built on top of WordPress (or some other blogging platform like that). At least that was according to someone who had claimed to hack them and scraped all their user data. I think the site was a rush job meant to capitalize on particular dissatisfactions with Twitter. I believe gab (not so much MAGA as explicit neonazis) is a Mastodon instance, and that's caused trouble for Mastodon clients on various app stores (i.e. if you can use the generic client to connect to gab, the app could fail the app store's content policies and not get approved).

ISO-morphism 4y ago
> ...caused trouble for Mastodon clients on various app stores (i.e. if you can use the generic client to connect to gab, the app could fail the app store's content policies and not get approved Then they better start banning web browsers. I yearn for that comparison to be the official PR response, for those individuals that find themselves in the position of power to make those decisions at Apple and Google to feel the weight of its responsibility. A federated blogging client should be well above the acceptable threshold on a spectrum from Firefox to CSAM.app.
- aidenn0 4y ago
  Apple, to a certain extent, does ban web browsers other than their own.
  - derekp7 4y ago
    Then why don't they ban their own web browser?
    - paulryanrogers 4y ago

ender341341 4y ago

> They're just running a Mastodon instance, why so many people? I assume (with no other info) that they probably had a bunch of marketing/pr/sales folks.

jmcgough 4y ago

Scaling Mastodon is actually very challenging - there's been a bunch of good blog posts on this recently with the exodus, and a number of more popular servers cutting off new signups.

piaste 4y ago
Given the nature of Mastodon, why not just scale horizontally? Cap your_server at N users and just open signups for your_server_2, then your_server_3 etc. which are all federated with your_server?
- solarkraft 4y ago
  There are a few "local" interaction features that benefit from being on the same server. The domain is also an integral part of your user name - imagine having name@us-west03.gmail.com as your e-mail address.

dingusdew 4y ago

[dead]

lost_tourist 4y ago

Probably even they want to cut down on the terroristic threatening and the neonazis doing most of it. I bet there is a lot more interaction with the FBI and DHS than most people would think.