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this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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Either we have an open system or we don't.
It's sort of like open source encryption algorithms versus security by obscurity. One is totally open because it's foundation is strong. The other is hidden because it is actually weak.
Which are we going to be?
This feels very close to the paradox of tolerance, honestly. To achieve maximum tolerance, you can not tolerate those who are intolerant themselves, or they will destroy you from within. I think something similar applies here. To achieve a maximally open system, be open by default, but only to those who actually share the goal to keep the system as open as possible, and defend vigorously against those who don't.
We are going to be open. Open to the idea that a bucket of shit does not have to be forced upon us. Open to using the tools to get rid of said bucket.
What I think is interesting about this is the decision to federate goes down to individual instances. So for example mastodon.social is the biggest - their decision is very important.
But on the smaller level, users will be able to choose instances that won't federated with Meta. And they will be able to choose the inverse.
What I see happening is that the ones that do choose to federated with Meta will grow larger and sort of suck up most of the userbase. At the end of the day, social media sites are only as valuable as the number of users and the interactions between those users.
But to give power to the users we’ve got to solve the username problem. Usernames need to be global so there is no penalty to moving between instances.
Why not just do username@instance and then if you wanna transfer over to somewhere else you have to change your username?
I don't really view that as an issue. The real issue is allowing transfer in the first place, which I don't see anyone doing right now but I agree it would spark a lot of healthy competition between different sites on the Fediverse
Encryption standards are open, but would you give your private keys to someone untrustworthy?
No, but I think that's more akin to giving Meta your instance admin password. Federating would be more like sharing your public key. Which, you know, is sort of the whole point.