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As someone who has contributed to the Fediverse, I can assure you the EU hasn't been sleeping on this and has helped many other projects (not just Mastodon) thr

As someone who has contributed to the Fediverse, I can assure you the EU hasn't been sleeping on this and has helped many other projects (not just Mastodon) through funding. Really, if anything, they've helped a lot of folks sustaining their contributions.

rossng 3y ago
To give a specific example, the EU has a funding programme called NGI to support 'next generation internet' projects. Some (all?) of this money is distributed through a small organisation called NLNet, who have decided to support a number of Fediverse projects: - Mastodon: https://nlnet.nl/project/Mastodon/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Mastodon/ - Lemmy: https://nlnet.nl/project/Lemmy/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Lemmy/ - Pixelfed: https://nlnet.nl/project/Pixelfed/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Pixelfed/ - Misskey: https://nlnet.nl/project/Misskey/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Misskey/ - Bonfire: https://nlnet.nl/project/Bonfire/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Bonfire/ And quite a few more. Honestly, I'm not sure how much of the ActivityPub ecosystem would exist without this funding.
- barbazoo 3y ago
  I love love love the concept of federated social media. The onboarding experience though. Just signed up at pixelfed.social, installed the Android app, try to log in and ... nothing happens?!? No error, nothing.
  - NoboruWataya 3y ago
    You are not being "onboarded" - they are not a business and you are not a customer (or an employee). Which may also explain the additional friction - sounds like you encountered a bug, or else the instance was just temporarily having issues. If the problem persists I would suggest filing an issue (assuming you are using an open source app).
    - barbazoo 3y ago
      I would file a bug if I got an error message at least. But without even an error message, what would I even tell them?!
      - tough 3y ago
        Login doesnt work I do this and this and this and use this and this end of transcript
        barbazoo 3y ago
        Sure. Maybe once they approve my registration on their gitlab instance I can file an issue. It's only been a couple of hours so far.
  - Sunspark 3y ago
    You won't love federated social media as much when you discover that the moderators can be very arbitrary and authoritarian. Each instance is their own private kingdom where they rule without accountability.
WA 3y ago
Giving money and using products are two entirely different forms of support.
- grimmx 3y ago
  Correct, the former grows the product the latter doesn't
PontifexMinimus 3y ago
The EU is, glacially slowly, getting round to the position that they need to be in control of their own computing and communications infrastructure.
- WeylandYutani 3y ago
  The EU can't force people to switch to Mastodon. We are a democracy not China.
  - PontifexMinimus 3y ago
    No, but all EU states could use it and other Fediverse-enabled software, and mandate that all big social networks be interoperable.
  - worrycue 3y ago
    They can encourage it though. They can mandate that all their government officials use Mastodon as their official communication channel. If you want the latest news from the government or want to communicate with government officials that’s the only channel.
  - doetoe 3y ago
    From what I understand this is not about forcing individuals to use one platform it another, but rather about what the official instances themselves use. And I very definitely think the people can and should force the EU to switch away from platforms like Twitter
  - lttlrck 3y ago
    The EU isn't shy of regulation.

rossng 3y ago

To give a specific example, the EU has a funding programme called NGI to support 'next generation internet' projects. Some (all?) of this money is distributed through a small organisation called NLNet, who have decided to support a number of Fediverse projects: - Mastodon: https://nlnet.nl/project/Mastodon/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Mastodon/ - Lemmy: https://nlnet.nl/project/Lemmy/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Lemmy/ - Pixelfed: https://nlnet.nl/project/Pixelfed/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Pixelfed/ - Misskey: https://nlnet.nl/project/Misskey/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Misskey/ - Bonfire: https://nlnet.nl/project/Bonfire/ https://nlnet.nl/project/Bonfire/ And quite a few more. Honestly, I'm not sure how much of the ActivityPub ecosystem would exist without this funding.

barbazoo 3y ago
I love love love the concept of federated social media. The onboarding experience though. Just signed up at pixelfed.social, installed the Android app, try to log in and ... nothing happens?!? No error, nothing.
- NoboruWataya 3y ago
  You are not being "onboarded" - they are not a business and you are not a customer (or an employee). Which may also explain the additional friction - sounds like you encountered a bug, or else the instance was just temporarily having issues. If the problem persists I would suggest filing an issue (assuming you are using an open source app).
  - barbazoo 3y ago
    I would file a bug if I got an error message at least. But without even an error message, what would I even tell them?!
    - tough 3y ago
      Login doesnt work I do this and this and this and use this and this end of transcript
      - barbazoo 3y ago
        Sure. Maybe once they approve my registration on their gitlab instance I can file an issue. It's only been a couple of hours so far.
- Sunspark 3y ago
  You won't love federated social media as much when you discover that the moderators can be very arbitrary and authoritarian. Each instance is their own private kingdom where they rule without accountability.

WA 3y ago

Giving money and using products are two entirely different forms of support.

grimmx 3y ago
Correct, the former grows the product the latter doesn't

PontifexMinimus 3y ago

The EU is, glacially slowly, getting round to the position that they need to be in control of their own computing and communications infrastructure.

WeylandYutani 3y ago
The EU can't force people to switch to Mastodon. We are a democracy not China.
- PontifexMinimus 3y ago
  No, but all EU states could use it and other Fediverse-enabled software, and mandate that all big social networks be interoperable.
- worrycue 3y ago
  They can encourage it though. They can mandate that all their government officials use Mastodon as their official communication channel. If you want the latest news from the government or want to communicate with government officials that’s the only channel.
- doetoe 3y ago
  From what I understand this is not about forcing individuals to use one platform it another, but rather about what the official instances themselves use. And I very definitely think the people can and should force the EU to switch away from platforms like Twitter
- lttlrck 3y ago
  The EU isn't shy of regulation.