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The fediverse very much is "the commons", at least it's as close as you can hope to get online. Personally I believe there should be an ActivityPub equivalent

The fediverse very much is "the commons", at least it's as close as you can hope to get online. Personally I believe there should be an ActivityPub equivalent of Wordpress for blogs - something so trivially easy to set up your own instance that your dad could do it. Everybody should be able to make their own instance that they can control and plug into the wider ecosystem. At the moment its an extremely strange and confusing mess of a dozen or so instances that are trying to centralize into "one true" Mastodon instance, which is never what the fediverse was supposed to be.

throwawaymaths 2y ago
But it's not because each node is still controlled by someone who can choose what's on it and who has access
- eitland 2y ago
  Which is why it isn't each node that is the commons, but the entirety of the ecosystem.
  - pessimizer 2y ago
    You're collateralizing bad mortgages and rating them AAA. I think the central question is how people can collectively own a node and organize its decision making. Federation of dictatorships is not a democracy, it's feudalism.
    - MichaelZuo 2y ago
      Huh that’s a great way of putting it. These ‘federated’ systems are just recreating feudalism in cyberspace. Edit: Well even worse in some ways, since it’s not like a majority of the ‘gentry’ and ‘nobles’ could challenge and seize control of e.g. a Mastodon instance from the owner.
    - anonymous_sorry 2y ago
      You're in danger of making the perfect the enemy of the good. Email is far from perfect, but good enough and its federated nature means it's reasonable for institutions to use it as a default mode of communication and authentication. What exactly is the alternative to federation? Is it possible for everyone to be their own admin? In any case, under feudalism serfs didn't have the freedom to choose and switch their feudal lord as they saw fit.
      - throwawaymaths 2y ago
        Your statement quietly assumes that being able to accurately call it a "commons" is desirable. Who cares, it might be good even if it's not a commons.
        anonymous_sorry 2y ago
        I assumed that private or corporate control over something that becomes a default communications network is undesirable, because that was a basis for the discussion I was replying to. I also believe it. I don't want to have to subject myself to the X dumpster fire or sign away my data to Facebook just to receive communications from my local police department or child's school.

throwawaymaths 2y ago

But it's not because each node is still controlled by someone who can choose what's on it and who has access

eitland 2y ago
Which is why it isn't each node that is the commons, but the entirety of the ecosystem.
- pessimizer 2y ago
  You're collateralizing bad mortgages and rating them AAA. I think the central question is how people can collectively own a node and organize its decision making. Federation of dictatorships is not a democracy, it's feudalism.
  - MichaelZuo 2y ago
    Huh that’s a great way of putting it. These ‘federated’ systems are just recreating feudalism in cyberspace. Edit: Well even worse in some ways, since it’s not like a majority of the ‘gentry’ and ‘nobles’ could challenge and seize control of e.g. a Mastodon instance from the owner.
  - anonymous_sorry 2y ago
    You're in danger of making the perfect the enemy of the good. Email is far from perfect, but good enough and its federated nature means it's reasonable for institutions to use it as a default mode of communication and authentication. What exactly is the alternative to federation? Is it possible for everyone to be their own admin? In any case, under feudalism serfs didn't have the freedom to choose and switch their feudal lord as they saw fit.
    - throwawaymaths 2y ago
      Your statement quietly assumes that being able to accurately call it a "commons" is desirable. Who cares, it might be good even if it's not a commons.
      - anonymous_sorry 2y ago
        I assumed that private or corporate control over something that becomes a default communications network is undesirable, because that was a basis for the discussion I was replying to. I also believe it. I don't want to have to subject myself to the X dumpster fire or sign away my data to Facebook just to receive communications from my local police department or child's school.