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It's possible if users host their own Mastodon instance, which for the vast majority of users is way too much of a hassle to do. This is one of the reasons I t

It's possible if users host their own Mastodon instance, which for the vast majority of users is way too much of a hassle to do. This is one of the reasons I think the nostr protocol is a better way of building a decentralized + censorship resistant social network. https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr#the-problem-with-mastodon-and-similar-programs https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr#the-problem-with-mas...

berkes 4y ago
Activitypub > Mastodon. While it currently indeed is rather impractical and even unattainable to run your own instance, it's by no means impossible. The protocol has no opinion on it¹. ActivityPub is more complex than nostr (I've built software for both) but not fundamentally different. Neither nostr nor activityPub have fundamental properties that make it possible or impossible to be fully P2P or fully centralized. Nostr can easily become centralized. AP too. But ActivityPub can operate in a P2P nature - where every user == a server just as well as nostr can. Practically, Mastodon is the default for AP, and thus dictates the use and shape. But I run my own gotosocial AP server, which is both simple, lean and clean. So already it's practically possible to run an AP server on tiny hardware with hardly any maintenance overhead. ¹EDIT: AP just describes an "inbox/outbox" with a PUB-SUB mechanism over HTTP. HTTP requires some discovery (dns), but that does not require fixed servers/domains. One could theoretically have an "inbox" (http-endpoint) on their mobile phone, bypassing the need for a server alltogether. Nostr is much simpler, it has that going for it, certainly! But when people say that nostr is "p2p" and AP isn't, that only describes the current state, not their fundamentals.
ocdtrekkie 4y ago
There are services which will host your server for you for $6/mo. Your domain, your moderation/rules, can talk to anyone else. But if you want to hang out for free on someone else's dime, you have to play by their rules.
- berkes 4y ago
  You can even boot a "gotosocial" on a raspberri-pi at home for almost free (it'll cost a pi, and some electricity). Or on a €2/month VPS. And while gotosocial is still a multitier server (it resembles mastodon in much), there's nothing fundamental stopping the development of an even simpler rust/go/x activitypub server that acts for one actor only - a single-user server, which could be far, far simpler and leaner even.

berkes 4y ago

Activitypub > Mastodon. While it currently indeed is rather impractical and even unattainable to run your own instance, it's by no means impossible. The protocol has no opinion on it¹. ActivityPub is more complex than nostr (I've built software for both) but not fundamentally different. Neither nostr nor activityPub have fundamental properties that make it possible or impossible to be fully P2P or fully centralized. Nostr can easily become centralized. AP too. But ActivityPub can operate in a P2P nature - where every user == a server just as well as nostr can. Practically, Mastodon is the default for AP, and thus dictates the use and shape. But I run my own gotosocial AP server, which is both simple, lean and clean. So already it's practically possible to run an AP server on tiny hardware with hardly any maintenance overhead. ¹EDIT: AP just describes an "inbox/outbox" with a PUB-SUB mechanism over HTTP. HTTP requires some discovery (dns), but that does not require fixed servers/domains. One could theoretically have an "inbox" (http-endpoint) on their mobile phone, bypassing the need for a server alltogether. Nostr is much simpler, it has that going for it, certainly! But when people say that nostr is "p2p" and AP isn't, that only describes the current state, not their fundamentals.

ocdtrekkie 4y ago

There are services which will host your server for you for $6/mo. Your domain, your moderation/rules, can talk to anyone else. But if you want to hang out for free on someone else's dime, you have to play by their rules.

berkes 4y ago
You can even boot a "gotosocial" on a raspberri-pi at home for almost free (it'll cost a pi, and some electricity). Or on a €2/month VPS. And while gotosocial is still a multitier server (it resembles mastodon in much), there's nothing fundamental stopping the development of an even simpler rust/go/x activitypub server that acts for one actor only - a single-user server, which could be far, far simpler and leaner even.