SmittyHalibutNov 7, 2022

I see a lot of people talking about how Mastodon "Feels like the Internet I remember from 20 years ago."

That's no accident. That's Federation. That's UseNet, IRC, Email, Message Boards, etc. What do they all have in common?

Federation: Users congregating around watering holes of common interest, but still being a part of a larger whole.

THIS IS HOW THE INTERNET WAS DESIGNED TO BE. And I am HERE for it.

Show threadSarbNov 7, 2022
@smitty hell yeh
Show threadSmittyHalibutNov 7, 2022
@sarb Right?! 🙂
Show threadSarbNov 7, 2022
@smitty I remember back when we pushed hard against walled gardens. And then the rise of Facebook and Gmail meant that both email and the web became synonymous with just these two things. And mobile service providers even offered free data to access them in exchange for a cut of the revenue. Still do. I am v new here, but I used to belong to a microblogging service called Phlog, back in 2003. I was user #3. What a ride! https://twitter.com/alanb/status/1488754580100116481?s=20&t=OXA_nJPHw7lze3-EFOv8NA
Alan Bradburne on Twitter

“Heh, all still intact. Nice. Gonna prop-up my 19-year-old pre-twitter microblog for a giggle. #phlog”

Twitter
Show threadSmittyHalibutNov 7, 2022
@sarb At least Email is still a Federated system. If you choose to use gmail.com, it doesn't stop me from using my own domain and still being able to interoperate with you. That's really where the problem is: breaking that interoperability between domains of control. Luckily, email became well enough established before large instances like Gmail came around, otherwise it probably would be a walled garden too.
Show threadSteveNov 8, 2022

@smitty @sarb greetings. Regarding to email is a federated system, I read recently this sad article about the difficulties you might face with it:

https://cfenollosa.com/blog/after-self-hosting-my-email-for-twenty-three-years-i-have-thrown-in-the-towel-the-oligopoly-has-won.html

He faced huge problems with Mail distribution after some spam mail events and the upcoming ban for it by so called "big players".

I cannot compare. Did you notice something similar?

After self-hosting my email for twenty-three years I have thrown in the towel. The oligopoly has won.

Many companies have been trying to disrupt email by making it proprietary. So far, they have failed. Email keeps being an open protocol. Hurray? No hurray. Email is not distributed anymore. You just cannot create another first-class node of this ne

Show threadNealeNov 18, 2022

@SteveTux @smitty @sarb I had to take my server offline years ago for the exact reasons outlined in this article.

I used to work on anti-spam solutions and SMTP filters. I don't blame anybody but the spammers for this state of affairs. It's honestly impressive that email is still in use at all.

Show threadSmittyHalibut

@neale @SteveTux @sarb Self hosting email is a disaster; I should know, I've been doing it since 1995. You have to setup your site very carefully. I have a closed user base that I mostly trust, so credentials don't leak often.

But, yes, I've had to deal with Gmail, hotmail, etc, rejecting our emails because somehow some spam got through. I find and fix the problem, and they auto-remediate. It's not trivial.

But ActivityPub is different: source authentication is built-in to the protocol.

Nov 18, 2022 at 7:36pmWeb