Mastodawn

Dan Gillmor Jan 15, 2023

One of the people who did the most to help make Twitter popular -- because his application made it better -- calls it quits after Musk and minions pulled the plug last week on him and many others. He sees great possibilities in the protocol underlying Mastodon, and I can't wait to see what he and people like him do to restore a truly decentralized web: https://mastodon.social/@chockenberry/109695112387770838

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Dan Gillmor Jan 15, 2023

"What bothers me about Twitterrific’s final day is that it was not dignified. There was no advance notice for its creators, customers just got a weird error, and no one is explaining what’s going on. We had no chance to thank customers who have been with us for over a decade. Instead, it’s just another scene in their ongoing shit show.

"But I guess that’s what you should expect from a shitty person."

--- Craig Hockenberry on Elon Musk

https://furbo.org/2023/01/15/the-shit-show/

The Shit Show • furbo.org

Well, it happened. We knew it was coming. A prick pulled the plug. And what bothers me most about it is how Space Karen did it. My mom passed away just before Christmas. Her decline was something everyone in the family saw coming and we prepared for her demise. It still hurts like hell, but […]

Furbo.org by Craig Hockenberry

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Matthieu Weber 🇫🇷/🇫🇮Jan 16, 2023

@dangillmor I'll be blunt, this is what you should expect when basing your business on something you don't own and that does not owe you anything.

To take an analogy from biology, Twitterific existed as the parasite of a single host, i.e. depending entirely on the existence of that host. It works as long at the host does not suceed in kicking it out; once it does, it's the end.

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Dan Gillmor Jan 16, 2023

@matthieu When the host expressly invites the parasite, as Twitter did -- and all providers of APIs do -- the parasite is basing a business on someone's promise. Twitter and other tech companies make hedged promises and routinely use the fine print to break them.

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Matthieu Weber 🇫🇷/🇫🇮

@dangillmor I really have no knowledge of how it all started. Was Twitter legally bound by that promise, or could they unilaterally get out of it (that would be the fine print you mentioned, I guess?)

But I suppose my point remains valid: if your business is built around a promise that you cannot trust the other party to keep, it's a big gamble, and you should not complain that you lost that gamble.