Was replying to devil's advocacy from @jwz regarding #Mastodon.
"How can you possibly think that this is how it is going to go?"
Reasonable, based on the track record of social media.
Except it's not "think". It's hope.
Which changes things, in ways most devs don't grok.🧵
"How can you possibly think that this is how it is going to go?"
Reasonable, based on the track record of social media.
Except it's not "think". It's hope.
Which changes things, in ways most devs don't grok.🧵
https://twitter.com/jwz/status/1591541994194538496
@jwz, like myself, leans heavily towards the idea of a Federated Feed Reader... kind of the holy grail of what webloggers wanted with RSS over twenty years ago now. A non-kludgy way of sharing content AND comments transparently, between different servers.
Such a thing, it should be mentioned, was exactly the kind of thing that I remember a brilliant young kid justifiably antagonizing the creator of RSS about, because he was loathe to allowing its use in a way that would interconnect his walled garden blogging app.
(Bless you, Aaron.)
#aaronswartz @AaronSwartzDay
#aaronswartz @AaronSwartzDay
https://twitter.com/beadmomsw/status/1590010101959729153
The other day, in fact, was @AaronSwartzDay, which kind of touches upon my point.
Aaron was a great, brilliant kid, and a good, thoughtful, benevolent young adult, who most everyone who ever met him had a great deal of optimistic faith in.
That can have real-world consequences.
Aaron was a great, brilliant kid, and a good, thoughtful, benevolent young adult, who most everyone who ever met him had a great deal of optimistic faith in.
That can have real-world consequences.
And so, Aaron is remembered each year, as someone who was and is an inspiration to thoughtful, hopeful developers everywhere, still looking for ways that technology can bring positive change to the world.
They do this, despite the obvious ways that technology has hurt our world.
They do this, despite the obvious ways that technology has hurt our world.
The cynic would say, "Why try? Isn't there plenty of evidence to the contrary of how things have failed?"
And they'd have a point. But technology has also saved billions of lives. BILLIONS. To its credit, humanity doesn't give up on the future without a fight.
And they'd have a point. But technology has also saved billions of lives. BILLIONS. To its credit, humanity doesn't give up on the future without a fight.
At its heart, #Mastodon's concept of a federated feed reader is more than a technical concept.
It's a social contract. It's an aspirational understanding by its users and administrators that working and sharing together is of mutual benefit.
It's a social contract. It's an aspirational understanding by its users and administrators that working and sharing together is of mutual benefit.
It's an understanding that choice, freedom of movement, and the free flow and exchange of information are things we should aspire to.
Does that mean that #Mastodon won't have to deal with challenges in the future, that lead people to leave some servers? Hardly. But...
Does that mean that #Mastodon won't have to deal with challenges in the future, that lead people to leave some servers? Hardly. But...
The underlying social contract - reflecting the high expectations of its users - should make it harder for #Mastodon admins to wall off, but easier and more effortless to migrate to a new server.
"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it" - John Gilmore #EFF
"The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it" - John Gilmore #EFF
Social contracts matter.
As Benjamin Franklin once said, we have "a republic... if you can keep it."
That means making sure that all parties involved can see, maintain, and communicate about the mutual benefits.
As Benjamin Franklin once said, we have "a republic... if you can keep it."
That means making sure that all parties involved can see, maintain, and communicate about the mutual benefits.
I wanted the same for LiveJournal, but unfortunately, I can see in hindsight what went wrong.
Fortunately, #Mastodon doesn't have to make the same mistakes we did, and can proactively address them.
Fortunately, #Mastodon doesn't have to make the same mistakes we did, and can proactively address them.
https://twitter.com/KraftTea/status/1592169250210582528
Lastly, I believe social media has a natural lifespan that it's questionable to mess with.
I don't need Mastodon to be around forever, anymore than I need Twitter to do the same. What I *would* hope from Mastodon is that it is a better influence than Twitter on what's to come.
I don't need Mastodon to be around forever, anymore than I need Twitter to do the same. What I *would* hope from Mastodon is that it is a better influence than Twitter on what's to come.
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