David ChartierNov 9, 2022

Whoa whoa whoa...

Whoa.

You mean to tell me that #Mastodon has *zero* algorithms deciding what I should read, and that the vast majority of instances banish Nazis into their own shadowrealm instead of tolerating them in the name of EnGaGeMenT?

Hah! Next you'll tell me there are no advertisers wielding influence over feature design so they get more marketing eyeballs!

Wait, what??!

Show threadKodaNov 9, 2022
@chartier But if they don't build a model to help fund the expense of running servers, this will all got the way of IRC, Email, Newsgroups etc. Users must be the customer in order to prevent becoming the product.
Show threadHans GerwitzNov 10, 2022
@zaskoda @chartier yeah, it’s really a shame how no one uses email anymore 😉
Show threadKodaNov 10, 2022
@gerwitz @chartier okay, let's gets into that. Email is federated. Yet, most people use one of a few big providers who exploit user data to target ads. If you're not paying for the product, you will become the product. Running your own email server is prohibitively challenging, in part because of spam. And spam happens because sending email is free. Charge one tenth of a penny for an email and it would drastically reduce spam. But you want it all to be free.
Show threadDavid ChartierNov 10, 2022

@zaskoda @gerwitz Gotta disagree on the 'running your own server' point.

Running your own *physical* server, in your own garage? Sure, maybe. But I think it's easy to say most people wouldn't want to do that anyway. They'd go to a service provider like any of the zillions of web hosts and even dedicated email services we have, and those are all dirt cheap. No ads, pro-privacy, etc.

(Contd)

Show threadDavid ChartierNov 10, 2022

@zaskoda @gerwitz Do most people want fedi/masto to be free? I think that's a tough call. The network is designed to prefer lots of small instances (over 1,100 now), which are relatively cheap to run.

Many of them start up Patreons to cover the costs. If they get large enough, it grows to cover mods. It seems to be working quite well so far. I don't see any imminent threat of advertising or other insidious funding mechanisms.

Show threadKodaNov 10, 2022
@chartier @gerwitz having to resort to Patreon demonstrates the problem. If Mastodon takes off, someone will become a big service provider and consolidate users, just like email. Then they will exploit that user base. Sure there will be alternatives, but it'll be such an inferior experience that few people will even consider them, just like email.
Show threadDavid Chartier

@zaskoda @gerwitz So then the rest of the network can choose to defederate those large, abusive instances. They already do it with Gab and even Mastodon.social and .online for various reasons (many related to poor moderation or deliberate federation with abusive instances).

It's been working well so far. Communities organizing themselves and deciding who they want to hang out with. Just like people IRL. I think it's great.

Nov 10, 2022 at 4:47pmWeb