mccNov 29, 2022

The paradox of Mastodon is no one (not even mastodon.social) likes mastodon.social dominating the network, or Eugen G being the sole arbiter of extensions to the common protocol,

but on the other hand, ultimately, the reason we all use Mastodon (IE, the part of the Fediverse people think of as "Mastodon", modeled on the Mastodon extensions to ActivityPub) instead of Secure Scuttlebutt or identi.ca or whatever is because Mastodon was the AP implementation that had one person's singular vision.

Show threadmccNov 29, 2022
We *need* standard protocols like ActivityPub, but ultimately, users do not want a protocol. People do not want a formless ball of infinite potential. They want "Products". They want a clearly presented thing that they can put into their web browser or phone and it slots them into a legible user flow satisfying a specific user story. This is not because they are brainwashed by capitalism. It is because most people *have other shit to do* and don't want to bother with software that's unfinished.
Show threadmccNov 29, 2022

This is what separates a semi-functional open source project on GitHub from a thing that becomes widespread with end users. Mastodon dot social was not the first ActivityPub frontend. But it was *opinionated*, and it anticipated common user desires (like an API for phone apps). You need to understand this if you want to bring a Mastodon successor system into being. Your system, or the user-facing part, has to be opinionated.

A piece of software which is not fully conceptualized *is unfinished*.

Show threadmccNov 29, 2022
This creates a big problem, because in general we ("we" meaning "humans") aren't good at creating Things with singular, consistent visions unless there's a specific single human in charge of the entire vision. And "we" don't have many social structures that allow for a creation like that unless that single human winds up with inordinate control over the final creation, leading to either corporate control or (in OSS) "BDFL" projects where a single overworked maintainer becomes a point of failure.
Show threadArneBabNov 29, 2022
@mcc We have artist-communities that achieve something similar by having regular high bandwidth communication (like living together, or meeting together every evening to create and socialize).
Show threadHishamNov 29, 2022

@ArneBab @mcc That's great point!

A rock band is an example of what you describe and they (a) often produce works whose vision frequently surpass that of individuals ("band output" vs "solo career") but (b) most often tend to be short-lived.

One big difference between artworks and software in general is that artworks are "one-shot" endeavours (games are more like that) while software usually implies unbounded maintenance. (I've been thinking a lot about this latter point...)

Show threadHisham

@ArneBab @mcc I just remembered that I wrote about this before, comparing bands to software development:

https://hisham.hm/2021/03/26/a-love-letter-to-bands-in-music-and-code/

A love letter to bands, in music and code - hisham.hm

Nov 29, 2022 at 11:12pmWeb
Show threadArneBabNov 29, 2022
@hisham_hm @mcc that’s beautiful! Thank you!
Show threadArneBabNov 29, 2022
@hisham_hm @mcc The most widespread band-like structure could be the mentor-mentee structure. If you start with that, you can end up in a two-person-band structure.
Show threadArnt MaasøNov 30, 2022
@hisham_hm @ArneBab @mcc Great piece. And "the band" is a great metaphor for the best part of teamwork and collaboration. Think I'll use it when I'm giving a talk about skills and collaboration in education at a edu conference at my University tomorrow. So thanks 🙌
Show threadArneBabNov 30, 2022
@arntmaaso will that talk be recorded? I’d be interested in it 🙂 @hisham_hm @mcc
Show threadArnt MaasøNov 30, 2022
@ArneBab @hisham_hm @mcc No, sorry. Only RL. And in Norwegian 🤷‍♂️😃