pleroma.debian.social

jlines | @jlines@pleroma.debian.social

.

@MediaActivist Pleroma, which I am posting from, is more of an alternative implementation of ActivityPub based microblogging to Mastodon. I believe having multiple implementations of the protocols, as well as multiple instances, is good for a healthy Fediverse Ecosystem. I think PeerTube, as an alternative to YouTube deserves to be better known and more widely implemented. See https://framatube.org/w/9dRFC6Ya11NCVeYKn8ZhiD for an example.

@jvagle @jwz This is because ‘big’ social media captured the mind space, and users think that being on the same system as all their friends - i.e. a Feudal solution is the only option. Educating people to know there are other options is a hard slog, but hopefully worthwhile

@rysiek many people think they only have a choice between Feudal solutions. Much of this is because they are perceived as easier, and there also a big ‘real life’ social factor. There are lots of people who have used, say, Facebook for ages, and who are quite willing to share their knowledge, thus becoming ambassadors and unpaid sales people for the big brands.

@vurpo I remember being in an airport (a long time ago) where all the flight information screens were showing a Windows Blue Screen of Death - not reassuring when you are about to get on a plane.

Where do people go from Twitter

I know I am, literally, preaching to the converted here, but heard a BBC radio journalist this lunchtime saying how sad she was that Twitter was going downhill and she would have to switch to Instagram, i.e leave the domain of Lord Musk, for Lord Zuckenberg. No thought of the Fediverse. Some people are determined to live in a Feudal Internet.

@blaine @EU_Commission on reflection, you are right - a lot goes on in our local library, and I could use my library card number as an identifier, as I do for some of the on-line services they provide. I have used the Inter-library loan system, to get a book from another county even. I remember it existing before the Internet, so they were indeed federated first !

re: imma blow your mind rn

@blaine @sivy @cwebber @knowtheory I remember writing in GML, a very long time ago. The similarity to the Unix man format is interesting and is probably because they both (probably) descended from runoff

@blaine I believe Governments should run Federated Social Media instances for themselves - really like the approach of @EU_Commission who seem to be getting the major European institutions using the fediverse to engage with citizens. Although a huge fan of libraries, I think apart from, e.g. The Bodleian, general public libraries (which The Bod is not) are too diffuse to be an instance. (but I may be wrong)

Wonderful Life

The Fediverse can be regarded as a ecosystem, and at present it is going through its Cambrian Explosion. As per the Wonderful Life Theory I hope we will emerge as “thousands of twigs on a vigorous bush”

@rbairwell @katebevan Publishers may also have a role as financial middle men - I pay for the BBC through a licence fee, and subscribe to The Guardian, Scientific American etc, and they distribute the money. For the Fediverse to succeed the issue of how it is funded has to be solved.

@katebevan @daveleeFT @rbairwell @DataDrivenMD That is true, however I understand there is a redirect mechanism to say, essentially @davelee@bbc.co.uk is now @davelee@ft.com - this could clearly be broken by the administrators at the old publishers, but I do not think they would want a reputation for treating departing contributors badly.

@rbairwell @katebevan @daveleeFT @DataDrivenMD I think the ultimate solution to Verification is for the publishers/outlets to run their own Fediverse servers - there would be no need to 'verify' @davelee@ft.com - for example. If he also ran his own site, as he might for non journalist things he could set up @dave@davelee.me

re: New Mastodon Instance, Culture Jamming

@sean @syed I too use Tusky - as I have multiple accounts - I tend to try to keep this one for IT and issues of Freedom etc, and have a personal one in case I get a cat to take pictures of.

Tusky is nice as it is available through f-droid.

I have written a article on Setting up a small Pleroma server on a Debian host. I think it should work for Ubuntu too, in the hope that it encourages more people to try it, and distribute load from the larger public servers.

@robertwgehl @jalcine I think Mastadon is a little like Hoover in that the term Federated Social Media is a bit of a mouthful, like the term Vacuum Cleaner so the first brand on the scene with a memorable name is used to label the concept. Once people are more familiar with the name they may still use the term, or derivatives, such as I am hoovering the carpet, even if the device they are using is not a Hoover.

re: What model should journalism take on Mastodon?

@stokel Some subscription journals could also offer, as part of the benefits to their subscribers, an fediverse account such as @JohnLines@readers.theguardian.com - for example. The DNS name would differentiate them from staff without the need for an ‘official’ tag on their posts, but might be a hint as to how they feel about tofu.

re: What model should journalism take on Mastodon?
@stokel In time, but preferably soon, journals should host their own Fediverse servers - journalists can partly take their credibility from the journal which hosts the post, though freelancers may well end up having their own identity as well - so @SomeJournalist@bbc.co.uk could also be @SomeJournalist@theguardian.com, and @SomeJournalist@somejournalist.social.

@gabriliberal @Eunomia I feel part of the answer lies in the federated nature of the Fediverse, together with the existing tree structured nature of the DNS. Only the official European commission can have Fediverse sites which end in .europa.eu. Your trust (or not) can be inherited from your trust in the domain.

re: Twitter Chaos
The article talks about police and emergency services using Twitter and the possible problems if those were forged accounts. The ThamesVP Twitter account is only trustworthy if already known as the trust in Twitter is essentially 'flat' or should be, but much harder to masquerade an account of thamesvalley.police.uk in the Fediverse as that inherits trust from police.uk - https://wordpress.debian.social/jlines/2021/01/12/it-is-good-to-be-a-tree/

Twitter Chaos

From the BBC Twitter chaos after wave of blue tick impersonations - the fundamental problem is concentrating the problem of reputation in one central place. Also Twitter’s primary concern with reputation is its own and it is only concerned about the damage to the reputation of its users because the reflects on it.

»