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Hank Green is the absolute KING of *almost* getting it. He has a month-old very frustrating video where he gushes a bit about how "Blue Sky is a Protocol!"
I mean, yes, you are technically correct. But it is not functioning like a protocol at all, come on.
(edit: video was not "new" it's from last month "someone is making social media bots that disagree with everything" the blueSky bit is at the start)
@futurebird I have to give a presentation next month on “the new Alternative, social media platforms“ and they are asking me to talk about blue sky and mastodon. Unfortunately, they seem to think they both belong in the same category.
Along with threads…
I’m not sure how to break it to them
I'm really glad that you are doing this. Please take note that Mr. Green is confused and he's a terminally online nerd. You cannot possibly make this TOO simple.
Maybe run it by someone who isn't online much at all.
My pitch for an explanation:
Mastodon is solar. Bluesky is hydrogen fuel cells. Threads is corn-based ethanol.
All three are alternative energy sources that market themselves as being a more responsible alternative. One is better in reality now. One is better on paper, but isn’t even close to being real. One is a hoax even in theory.
@inthehands @futurebird @graymiller Except that Bluesky right now is exploding on a scale that Mastodon isn't, which is the opposite of the situation with solar and fuel cells.
Unfortunately Mastodon is something like the Linux of social-media networks. It's special in a way that may make it more robust than the commercial systems over the long term, and it makes it adaptable to all sorts of special purposes; but from a user perspective, it's a distinction on the basis of an ideology of technology that we probably can't make most people care about.
I suspect we're going to end up in the position of the people who keep wondering why Linux never took off on the desktop--it's so much better! Other operating systems make you dumb! If you can't jump through the simple hoops to use it, you shouldn't be allowed to use a computer! etc. etc.
(and we even have the equivalent of the people arguing "why aren't you calling it GNU/Linux" and arguing about the distinction of "open source" vs. "free software" etc. etc.)
@mattmcirvin @inthehands @futurebird @graymiller
"people who keep wondering why Linux never took off on the desktop"
Mostly dudes working in IT, having tried out Linux twenty years ago and failed with it because it includes a lot of work.
The same dudes riding the same dead horse again and again. Because doing differently would require some work. And they have proven, they are not willing to do that.
There are some similarities to the creeps, talking shit about the ex even after years.
@mattmcirvin @inthehands @futurebird @graymiller
But "why Linux never took off"?
Because of BILLIONS and BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars paid to tell people: "Don't leave our silo. You will get robbed outside! Don't click any links. Stick to the big companies or your innermost secrets will be revealed!"
So how about we are not stalking the people, falling for the corporate lies, over and over again, telling them that we are so much better?
Maybe we concentrate on our own work.
@mattmcirvin @inthehands @futurebird @graymiller
Because we are willing to do work. And it is complicated sometimes. So the work is not just a minor inconvenience.
But we are willing(!) to do it.
Things have changed in the last ten, fifteen years. The "make people care about" has shifted. We prepare for their hard downfall. To lower the impact for them, because they will drag everyone with them. (In general, not just social media.)
btw. What is "ideology of technology"?
@mattmcirvin @inthehands @futurebird @graymiller ActivityPub/Mastodon, if you please.
@davep @mattmcirvin @inthehands @graymiller
I can't even explain what it is with one word. I always have to say mastodon/fediverse because if they search for "fediverse" they will just get lost and never find their way on here. Mastodon is the only place where one could "get started" without someone helping you OR being a HUGE NERD.
But you know I don't want to JUST say mastodon nooo no good either.
But people learned to use email.
It's not hopeless.
The other systems will keep failing.
@futurebird @davep @mattmcirvin @inthehands @graymiller yeah - we can never expect grassroots, community-driven stuff to have the visibility that commercial efforts do, because there's no money to spend on promoting it and if there were that would be contrary to the goals... but we can build awareness if we go slow-and-steady.
@futurebird @davep @inthehands @graymiller And that's *before* you even get to the problem of picking a distro, uh, I mean, an instance.
@futurebird @davep @inthehands @graymiller Anyway, these dark musings of mine were partly inspired by Katharine Hayhoe mentioning that of all the platforms where she talked about climate science, she got a positive reception on Bluesky, hostile denialist troll attacks on Twitter and Threads, dead air on Facebook because the algorithm was soft-shadowbanning her posts...
but Mastodon was, instead, the #1 place for "friendly fire" attention where people were concerned about climate, believed the science but attacked her for advocating it the wrong way. Which is just too perfect. Of course Mastodon would be the home of that.
@mattmcirvin @futurebird @inthehands @graymiller
Blimey. It's all a bit People's Front of Judea.
@davep @mattmcirvin @futurebird @inthehands @graymiller Indeed. I have started blocking purists. The left loves to eat its own.
@louisffourie @davep @futurebird @inthehands @graymiller As do tech nerds who deeply care about a thing, regardless of what it is
@mattmcirvin @louisffourie @futurebird @inthehands @graymiller
I used to be a massive tech nerd, but with age and a more holistic view of architecture have come to realise that tech is an enabler of goals, not the goal itself. It sounds obvious, but...
@futurebird @davep @mattmcirvin @inthehands @graymiller I don't want to abandon caution prematurely, but if turning Mastodon into a non-profit organization means it escapes the trap of the BDFL model, then the main reason I avoided referring to this network as Mastodon will no longer apply.
@foolishowl @futurebird @davep @mattmcirvin @inthehands Well, I am happy that it's not trying to turn into a Mega Empire...but I work in the nonprofit sphere, and that's got its own whole set of pitfalls and traps. I haven't looked at their board yet, but looking at who is there and what they do there is going to be the best indicator of viability, IMO.
@mattmcirvin @futurebird @graymiller
Oh, yeah, my analogy only extends to the technology. Mastodon is 100% “Linux on the desktop:” every version of it that takes off in the mainstream (Android) will be a version completely co-opted by some large corp.
@inthehands @mattmcirvin @futurebird @graymiller
Fricking Nostradumus going on right here...
As soon as I read it, it's obvious that's what's going to happen.
> Except that Bluesky right now is exploding on a scale
@mattmcirvin So, BlueSky is nuclear.
(I kid, I kid, I believe solar, wind and nuclear are all required for us to leave carbon behind, and having nuclear is safer for us than not having it, as shown by France and Germany)