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If it quacks like a duck... An account has a single Personal Data Server (PDS), right? The DID links to a PDS which is the canonical data feed for a user, and w
by 4lx87 4mo ago
If it quacks like a duck... An account has a single Personal Data Server (PDS), right? The DID links to a PDS which is the canonical data feed for a user, and where a user's writes go. Data can be replicated but the PDS is treated as canonical. That's much closer to client/server architecture than distributed architecture. There's no P2P database. There's no writes into a DHT or peers. You write to your PDS, then those writes are optionally mirrored. Also discovery happens via DNS, so you don't even ask peers for data. You connect to a relay not as a peer but as a client asking a server for a copy of data that's canonically hosted by the PDS. I don't think it's a stretch to call the PDS an instance and the relay a mirror.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- danabramov 4mo agoYeah sure that’s a fine way to phrase it. It’s not what most people who talk about Mastodon mean by “instance”. In Mastodon, “instance” is a coupled and inseparable data hosting + app + community + moderation pairing.
- 4lx87 4mo agoFrom a user’s perspective: To use Bluesky I need to create an account, and to create an account I need to choose the server where that account is hosted. Once I have an account I can follow any account even if hosted w/ someone else. That’s the same UX as Mastadon (leaving aside that moving PDS might be easier in ATProto than ActivityPub).
- danabramov 4mo agoWell I think "can move later" makes all the difference because the initial choice doesn't matter to the individual user. It isn't even blocking. Most people don't know they're making that choice, and I think that's fine. In Mastodon, the choice is very high stakes.
- LaGrange 4mo agoFrontends and relays are far closer to “quacking like an instance.” That’s where your sysop’s power lives. The PDS itself isn’t very powerful - can’t meaningfully limit who you can talk to, for example.