Chris TrottierDec 21, 2022

BIG NEWS: Pawoo.net, the world's 2nd biggest Mastodon instance, has just been acquired.

The entity acquiring them is the Mask Group, a business that also runs mstdn.jp and mastodon.cloud. They are also active in the so-called "Web 3.0" space.

If you haven't heard of pawoo.net, it's because many instances have de-federated from it.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mask-network-acquires-pawoo-net-070000858.html

Yahooist Teil der Yahoo Markenfamilie

Show threadChris TrottierDec 21, 2022

Like it or not, it should no longer be assumed that "volunteers" are running your instances.

The Mask Group, which now runs three large instances "has raised over US$50 million from private and institutional backers"—their words not mine.

Show threadChris TrottierDec 21, 2022

There's going to be a massive land grab of all these big instances. There will be lots of merging and acquiring too.

My advice is that you all become *very* aware of who owns your instance and why.

Get to know your admins—make sure their values align with your own.

If you don't want to put your social media life in the hands of strangers, then self-host your own instance.

Show threadChris TrottierDec 21, 2022

To everyone using mastodon.cloud and mstdn.jp: remember, you're not locked into those instances.

If you want, you can migrate elsewhere.

This is not Twitter—you have a choice regarding where your home will be on the Fediverse.

Show threadChris TrottierDec 21, 2022

A warning: there's going to be a concerted effort to re-centralize the Fediverse.

As we've just seen with the acquisition of pawoo.net, that's already happening.

What are you going to do to thwart this trend?

Show threadRob PickeringDec 21, 2022
@atomicpoet Does it matter? If the underlying protocols are architected for federation and easy migration then any instances that go bad won't last long.
I do see a model like SMTP e-mail becoming a thing where technically anyone can federate, but it becomes increasingly hard for non well-resourced players to provide the necessary abuse management to play effectively.
Show threadChris TrottierDec 21, 2022

@rob The instances that have gone bad have lasted for a very long time.

Technology does not replace human moderation.

Show threadRob PickeringDec 21, 2022
@atomicpoet If the actions of the operators cause users any problems then they are two button presses away from migrating to another instance. The Musk problem couldn't arise here, provided acquirers don't do deeply evil things like defeating the migration mechanism. Someone *will* try it and the community response will define how the ecosystem eventually goes.
Show threadG
@rob @atomicpoet you're assuming that users are all aware of and invested in decentralization. Many Twitter migrators might even actively prefer a centralized model and be complicit. If that, or even just sheer ignorance from people seeking "the next thing," hits a critical mass, then no one will need to defeat the migration mechanism. It'll become irrelevant.
Dec 21, 2022 at 10:02amWeb