Chris Trottier
Just a reminder that Twitter perceives the Fediverse as a threat, and their project Blue Sky is actively spreading FUD about ActivityPub on their website. https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/3-6-2022-a-self-authenticating-social-protocol
A Self-Authenticating Social Protocol

Apr 27, 2022 at 7:33pmWeb
Show threadChris TrottierApr 27, 2022

Since this blog post was released, I've seen blue checks repeat these talking points.

I've seen them write, "The Fediverse could disappear tomorrow!"—as if one site has more persistence than thousands.

Or that if one instance crashes, the whole Fediverse follows.

It's all FUD, of course—a way to keep people on Twitter.

Show threadKonomi KittenApr 27, 2022

@atomicpoet don't forget the "Admins can read your DMs one!" like Twitter can't read your DMs...

Really hope we get super private DMs from Mastodon eventually though.

Show threadAntarctic ChiqueApr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet The point about losing a profile when changing servers is valid, but:

- The problem has in fact been solved already in a different Fediverse project ( https://zotlabs.org/page/zot/specs+zot6+home ), but the implementations for various reason have seen less adoption than ActivityPub/LitePub implementations

- The other example they cite (email) for the same problem already points out the reason why people generally don't have much of an issue dealing with this problem: They are used to it.
Specs - Zot/6 Home

Show threadNiclas HedhmanApr 28, 2022
@atomicpoet
"And, my friends, in this story you have a history of this entire movement. First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. And that is what is going to happen to..."
-- Nicholas Klein, 1914
Show threadNiclas HedhmanApr 28, 2022

@atomicpoet The stupid article says "If your ActivityPub server shuts down, you lose..."

How about "If Twitter shuts you down, you lose... this scenario is not unlikely and has happened before"?

Show threadRenéeApr 28, 2022
@niclas @atomicpoet Twitter could decide to suspend an account for any reason and you're basically SOL to even get an archive or a list of followers! With very little recourse to anyone who isn't being paid to make complaints to away as fast as possible.
Show threadNiclas HedhmanApr 28, 2022

@reneestephen
Yes, that was my whole point...

I like passive/questioned statements, since it seems more effective arguing with those that disagree. There will be an attempt to answer that, then continue to question that answer until they either realize their absurd position or calls me a nazi/fascist/racist/whatever.

Maybe you should try it out? 😉

@atomicpoet

Show thread⚜️Brady's Flung Tablet⚜️☑️🇺🇦Apr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet That kind of crap is a total pantload anyway. I've run a forum website for 17 years that has 5,000+ users and millions of posts, and do you know how much data loss we've had, ever? ZERO.
Show threadTara Holloway ♥️ ⚙Apr 27, 2022

@atomicpoet "Operating at scale requires engineering for scale" is an interesting way to say that having a monolithic server is necessary to maintain communication platforms, when that line of thinking was proven wrong long before the advent of modern social media.

I wonder how myopic they must think users are to buy into this.

Show threadwebhatApr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet I don't understand the: don't use the fediverse because it's not perfect people. Twitter is far from perfect, and still hasn't figured out all the issues that come from scaling. Just because we don't see the #failwhale, it doesn't mean there aren't issues with their operations at scale.
Show threadAdam DallianceApr 27, 2022

@webhat @atomicpoet
One of my lot stormed off back to Twitter outraged that there's no quote-toot function.

🤷

Guess some people care about the control and ownership of the world's communication networks and others care about how easily a link can be embedded.

Show threadwebhatApr 27, 2022

@pre @atomicpoet the silly thing is that quote tweeting works in some clients, if they think it's important they should use those clients 🤦

https://boing.world/@pre/108205877451239410

Adam Dalliance (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] One of my lot stormed off back to Twitter outraged that there's no quote-toot function. 🤷 Guess some people care about the control and ownership of the world's communication networks and others care about how easily a link can be embedded.

Boing.World
Show threadAdam DallianceApr 27, 2022

@webhat @atomicpoet
@arin_basu

Yeah, I think in the end people just don't like change of any kind so they come in looking for any reasons they can find to leave again, then they don't have to learn or change anything but can say they tried.

Show threadninjasmosa:ve:Apr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet they probably don't want to admit that federated platforms carry more growth potential than Twitter in its current state, especially now that madman Musk just bought it
Show threadvv 💫 [follow my new artist profile!]Apr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet I heard that Blue Sky is divesting itself from Twitter now
Show threadChris TrottierApr 27, 2022
@vv I mean a lot has changed during the past month 😂
Show threadSayuri Firebrand 💛 ⬜️ 💜 🖤‏Apr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet there's a LOT of real problems with ActivityPub they could've chosen and yet they go for one that was addressed already and another that ignores the point of decentralization.
Show threadArjen P. de Vries Timmers 🕊️Apr 27, 2022

@atomicpoet both observations are correct, don't you think?

Question is how much ppl care, I know quite a fee object to crawling mastodon, and don't like search functionality, so they'd not agree that this risk is a problem.

Show threadChris TrottierApr 27, 2022
@arjen But not really. Decentralization means possible redundancies. I might not be able to port my exact account to another instance, but if one instance goes down there's still others.
Show threadArjen P. de Vries Timmers 🕊️Apr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet true but it's not a default operation to recover those under a new account in a new server, is it?
Show threadChris TrottierApr 27, 2022

@arjen Right now, with many federated platforms, you can download your follows, blocks, mutes, etc., then export it to another account.

You can also set up an account on another instance for redundant storage of data.

But also: why do we even want to tie identity to any specific social network or instance?

Show threadpuercantorApr 27, 2022
@atomicpoet The heck is a fediverse. sounds alarming...
Show threadChris TrottierApr 28, 2022
@puercantor You're on the Fediverse.
Show threadpuercantorApr 28, 2022
@atomicpoet would this have anything to do with the feds
Show threadChris TrottierApr 28, 2022
@puercantor Read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse
Fediverse - Wikipedia

Show threadKadinApr 28, 2022

@atomicpoet Hmm. And here I thought that #Bluesky was supposed to be totally independent from Twitter… guess not so much.

I'd be more worried if #Twitter had ever shown any ability to launch new products or services. (As it is, they managed to take Vine, which was fine, and destroy it.)

Whatever. They have their research project, we have rough consensus and running code.

Show threadGreyshley Apr 28, 2022
@atomicpoet remember when .club went down, and the rest of us were fine?
what does twitter think happens if .com goes down?
Show threadAn Owlbear (moved)Apr 28, 2022

@atomicpoet They lost me at "with email, if you change your provider, then your address has to change too".

My good bitch, I have had the same email address, at the same domain, on a variety of different mailservers (and even third-party service providers) since 1998.

Show threadMiguel A. ArévaloApr 29, 2022
I don't see FUD on those paragraphs... and I don't see it as a problem. If you are not going to run your own instance you should backup things and current implementations would fail under (real) heavy loads... being distributed and opensource this is not a big problem. People are getting mad about this Twitter buyout thing.