To paraphrase #GeorgeBox, all #analogies are wrong, but some are useful.
Lot of folks involved in the #FediverseSearch discussions get really hung up on the VERY SPECIFIC DETAILS of their analogies. It's not a coffee shop or a pedestrian zone, it's a social network. It's literally unlike any of the things folks are analogizing with.
If one commits to living or dying by analogies, one is going to get involved in a lot of bullshit arguments. #Analogies can help one get over a hump to clearer understanding but they should never, ever be the final arbiter in anything. It's OK to end up following a pattern pretty closely - but one should have made a conscious decision to do that.
Because RL isn't an #analogy. It's always its own thing.
FeralRobots