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The initial post was regarding Lobsters' evaluation of two different chat softwares, which actually meant choosing not just different software, but also differe

The initial post was regarding Lobsters' evaluation of two different chat softwares, which actually meant choosing not just different software, but also different protocols, different social networks and different business models. Why did they have to do this evaluation? This has to do with an old problem we have long seen in open source: open source does a good job developing protocols and fundamental software, but good user experience is not a strength, in general. When we consider what chat software actually is, it's actually a mix of several things: it needs a protocol, it needs a social network and policies thereof, and it actually needs a lot of user experience. The government has never delivered quality consumer software. By "societal software", it doesn't seem like you mean social networking software or other software intended to be used by consumers. The examples you're offering are not relevant. You are correct that open source has a funding problem, but not all public benefit ventures do. Many museums are good examples of a public benefit venture that, while not organized the way an open source project is (the museum is not free), is also not organized the way a corporation or the government is.

dragontamer 2y ago
> The government has never delivered quality consumer software. Has never _tried_ to do so. Think about the problem of social networks. The network itself is a public good and infrastructure. Moderators that don't make money must be funded to keep the discussion network relevant and safe. (Otherwise spam, porn, hacks, doxxing, etc. etc. can overrun a network like 4chan / 8chan). Volunteers can do some of the job but not all of the job. The problem with commercial enterprises, like Facebook, is that they only care about keeping just enough moderators to sell advertisements. We can see the limit to the moderation ability, no commercial software will seemingly extend beyond what we see from Meta / Instagram / Twitter / Reddit offers us (ex: loose collections of moderators that are clearly insufficient at the task). Open Source has no money for masses of moderators like the commercial enterprises. That leaves Government, a system we honestly haven't tried yet. We know government _can_ make software, even good software. We also know that government can create enforcement regimes (see Police, FDA, etc. etc.). It seems like a reasonable match to me. But we would need the political will to get Congress to fund such a venture.
- solidsnack9000 2y ago
  > That leaves Government... Well, I think you are making a mistake, here. There are many other possible ways to organize non-profits besides the way open source is set up.

dragontamer 2y ago

> The government has never delivered quality consumer software. Has never _tried_ to do so. Think about the problem of social networks. The network itself is a public good and infrastructure. Moderators that don't make money must be funded to keep the discussion network relevant and safe. (Otherwise spam, porn, hacks, doxxing, etc. etc. can overrun a network like 4chan / 8chan). Volunteers can do some of the job but not all of the job. The problem with commercial enterprises, like Facebook, is that they only care about keeping just enough moderators to sell advertisements. We can see the limit to the moderation ability, no commercial software will seemingly extend beyond what we see from Meta / Instagram / Twitter / Reddit offers us (ex: loose collections of moderators that are clearly insufficient at the task). Open Source has no money for masses of moderators like the commercial enterprises. That leaves Government, a system we honestly haven't tried yet. We know government _can_ make software, even good software. We also know that government can create enforcement regimes (see Police, FDA, etc. etc.). It seems like a reasonable match to me. But we would need the political will to get Congress to fund such a venture.

solidsnack9000 2y ago
> That leaves Government... Well, I think you are making a mistake, here. There are many other possible ways to organize non-profits besides the way open source is set up.