How to Kill a Decentralised Network (such as the Fediverse) écrit par Ploum, Lionel Dricot, ingénieur, écrivain de science-fiction, développeur de logiciels libres.

This blog post by Ploum, who was part of the original XMPP efforts long ago, describes how Google killed one great federated service, which shows why the Fediverse must not give Meta the chance

  • LostCause
    15•1 year ago

    I hope people, especially instance owners and devs, listen to this warning.

    • Eisenhowever
      6•1 year ago

      Unfortunately, the fact that lemmy isnt in the pact to not federate with meta means history will repeat itself

      Even then, i doubt theres enough strong willed people to actually resist big payouts in exchange for access to the federation. Its truly pathetic how people are easily convinced

      • alejandro
        4•1 year ago

        There’s nothing “pathetic” about it. You’d have to be stupid not to take a good deal. That’s like not scoring a goal while the goalie isn’t paying attention, because you think it’d be unfair.

        Solving this problem isn’t the responsibility of individuals and their “willpower”, it’s the responsibility of governments. It’s their job to regulate markets and ensure fair competition. Getting mad at some sysadmin who accepts money from Meta might make you feel better inside, but it’s not going to change anything. Do your research, write to your representatives, threaten to vote them out, and then actually show up on voting days.

        • LostCause
          6•1 year ago

          Wow yeah the government, judging by your writing style even the US one, which side are they again on? Corporations or people (if they even distinguish)?
          Let‘s check: https://www.vox.com/2014/4/18/5624310/martin-gilens-testing-theories-of-american-politics-explained

          Or as they put it, “economic elites and organized interest groups play a substantial part in affecting public policy, but the general public has little or no independent influence.”

          The only reason they‘d have the fediverse on their radar is banning it in favour for some platform that lobbied them, like say Meta.

          Anyway, luckily this is a global and decentralised thing and I for one like not waiting around for a government to think, decide and do anything and everything ever for me. I‘d rather find an instance admin who doesn‘t sell out at the first sign of a dollar.

          If that takes me spinning up my own instances to contribute to that and have at least one place which doesn‘t sell out, I guess I will.