Alex Kirk

Can’t Follow You!

So, I created this little website https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/ as something that you can send to people who don’t realize that they are on a closed network and what it means to others. A bit like Let me Google that for you but for the Fediverse. Here is the backstory, and some details around it:

I attended (German-spoken) FediCamp Graz 2025 last Saturday (see Heinz Wittenbrink’s summary in German) where we discussed a plethora of topics around the Fediverse, barcamp-style.

One question […]

https://alex.kirk.at/2025/06/19/cant-follow-you/

Jun 19 at 5:53amWeb
Show threadAurin AzadîJun 19
@alex Your site seems to be overwhelmed by the requests …
Show threadAlex KirkJun 19
@atarifrosch Indeed, doing some fine-tuning now :) hope it will now be better
Show threadAurin AzadîJun 19
@alex Ah, yes, now it works, thank you 🙂
Show threadNavi Jun 19
@alex I don't want to have Facebook^WMeta in my network, actually
Show threadAlex KirkJun 19
@navi I am not arguing to get all of Facebook on the Fediverse :-) But there are people that I care about that unfortunately Facebook/Meta/Other-Network managed to get them in, and I believe they should rather be on a network that allows me to follow them. It is about explaining this to selected people.
Show threademanuelegoriJun 27

Hi @alex

I’m Emanuele and I recently discovered your website https://cantfollowyou.kirk.at/. I find it a very useful and interesting project to raise awareness about closed networks and the Fediverse.

I am Italian and I was wondering if it would be possible to add an Italian translation to the site. I think it could be useful to reach a wider audience and make the message accessible to more people.

Thanks for your time and for your work on this project!

I can't follow you on a closed, centralized network, use the Fediverse instead!

Show threadAlex KirkJun 27
@emanuelegori Oh, that would be fantastic! I don’t speak enough Italian to do it myself, would you be willing to contribute them to Github? These are the strings that need translation: https://github.com/akirk/cantfollowyou/blob/main/index.php#L2-L24
cantfollowyou/index.php at main · akirk/cantfollowyou

Promote the Fediverse for centralized network users - akirk/cantfollowyou

GitHub