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If federation was a worthwhile goal (in one's mind) after "the bozo took over Twitter" then it is quite obvious nothing fundamentally has changed such that fede

If federation was a worthwhile goal (in one's mind) after "the bozo took over Twitter" then it is quite obvious nothing fundamentally has changed such that federation would have been a noble goal as a foil to previous Twitter management. Seriously - if more personal sovereignty is the goal then complaining about Twitter only after new management is admitting that the primary quality you don't like is the new management. In reality the argument for federation is as I've already said - more personal sovereignty, less centralized, corruptible, overlord control. Twitter is certainly doing much better now than before, and that doesn't mean federated communities online still are not, in principle, superior. If someone wants to use crypto to do justify sentiment like this, they'd be mocked here, but this is much better? It goes to show that people denouncing different approaches often aren't doing it because those approaches lack coherent justification, but because those approaches are related to aspects of technology some people don't like and don't care to examine. There are plenty of reasons to lampoon the majority of approaches 'crypto' takes to 'solve' problems - that doesn't mean one shouldn't lampoon carefully and thoughtfully. Likewise, there is reason to justify federated platforms, but a dislike of Elon Musk's politics will not be the true driver.

klabb3 4y ago
> complaining about Twitter only after new management is admitting that the primary quality you don't like is the new management. This rings very true. The move to Mastodon isn’t likely to translate into “…but why do we need speech owners at all”. Unaccountable and unjustified concentrated power is simply not a concern to most. Once the dust settles, business as usual will kick in. It’ll either be a feudal lordship of mastodon instances, or a brand new dickhead in a leather jacket.
rsynnott 4y ago
> complaining about Twitter only after new management is admitting that the primary quality you don't like is the new management. So the thing about Twitter (and actually I think this is something Musk badly misunderstood) is that Twitter users, particularly long-time Twitter users, have a love-hate relationship with Twitter. It's always been a bit of a broken unpleasant mess; there's a reason that Twitter users affectionately call it the hellsite. Previously, federated services were a nice idea, but there was never really the push needed; significant numbers of people weren't sufficiently annoyed with Twitter to leave. Now, well. (I pretty much expected this to happen once Saint Car bowed to the will of the Delaware Chancery Court, but I've got to admit I thought it would take a lot longer, via a thousand cuts. This API thing feels like such an unforced error.) Also, this has served as a timely reminder that, even if the private service you like (or love-hate) is fine now, it could at any moment be taken over and ruined by a weird idiot. Even if your interests align with the platform's interests, you can no longer assume the platform will act in its best interests.
- mattwilsonn888 4y ago
  That's a fair point - though I do think this particular 'happening' won't be enough to get more sovereign solutions to critical mass, but maybe it's a strong step.

klabb3 4y ago

> complaining about Twitter only after new management is admitting that the primary quality you don't like is the new management. This rings very true. The move to Mastodon isn’t likely to translate into “…but why do we need speech owners at all”. Unaccountable and unjustified concentrated power is simply not a concern to most. Once the dust settles, business as usual will kick in. It’ll either be a feudal lordship of mastodon instances, or a brand new dickhead in a leather jacket.

rsynnott 4y ago

> complaining about Twitter only after new management is admitting that the primary quality you don't like is the new management. So the thing about Twitter (and actually I think this is something Musk badly misunderstood) is that Twitter users, particularly long-time Twitter users, have a love-hate relationship with Twitter. It's always been a bit of a broken unpleasant mess; there's a reason that Twitter users affectionately call it the hellsite. Previously, federated services were a nice idea, but there was never really the push needed; significant numbers of people weren't sufficiently annoyed with Twitter to leave. Now, well. (I pretty much expected this to happen once Saint Car bowed to the will of the Delaware Chancery Court, but I've got to admit I thought it would take a lot longer, via a thousand cuts. This API thing feels like such an unforced error.) Also, this has served as a timely reminder that, even if the private service you like (or love-hate) is fine now, it could at any moment be taken over and ruined by a weird idiot. Even if your interests align with the platform's interests, you can no longer assume the platform will act in its best interests.

mattwilsonn888 4y ago
That's a fair point - though I do think this particular 'happening' won't be enough to get more sovereign solutions to critical mass, but maybe it's a strong step.