this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2025
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Fediverse
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I do not think decentralized social media will ever grab the masses. It can be confusing, which server do I join? Why that one vs this one?
Good grief, this argument seriously makes me want to pull my hair out...
"Which [email] server do I join? Why that one vs this one?"
Man, people got used to having the whole internet in their pocket from barely knowing it existed in like 15 years. There are already cultural metaphors for federation. People will grok that shit in no time when they need to. But it will take the network effect forcing them to learn it that will get people over the hill.
Sounds more like we would go back to forums.
I think "forums" is what Lemmy kinda shoulda been. I've had people argue against me at this point, but...
lemmy.nsfw and the other couple of porn instances are the only ones that are focused by topic. Everybody else tries to be a general purpose instance, which results in that "Which instance do I pick? Will it matter being on sh.itjust.works or lemmy.world?" issue and the "there are currently 94 communities with the name Linux, 20 with more than 250 subscribers and 12 that have seen some kind of activity in the last month" issues.
Lemmy could be used like a good old forum engine. Create an instance around a particular branch of discussion, but now they're federated.
I am down. I miss forums (as long as it is not tapatalk.)
Initially no real reason. Eventually you discover ones with administrators you vibe with and communities and users you like. But till then, maybe server capacity?
I get that, you get that, but the masses will not understand that.
Do they need to? How did people decide on MSN vs AIM vs ICQ? Google vs Yahoo? Ventrillo or Team speak? Skype vs Zoom vs Discord. They will go where their friends are primarily. And what suits their needs generally. Federation isn't anything truly new. The massive centralized servers were. The fediverse is a return to form. Only better. Be on the service and server that suit you. No missing out.
I liked yahooIM and AIM, but I also had MSN Messanger.
I liked YIMs buzz feature. Imagine no matter what you're doing, the audio mutes for a brief second, you hear a loud doorbell, and your whole screen, not just yahooIM, YOU COULD EVEN HAVE THE WINDOW MINIMIZED!!!! Your whole screen would shake.
It was very intrusive. I loved it.
Oh definitely. But those of us that multi-messenger were definitely the exception not the rule.
At first, the internet was for nerds only and not "for the masses". Then corporations realized there was a lot of money to be made, and they forced user-friendliness on it. And then the masses came.
Don't worry, in two decades we'll have Fediverse 3.0 which will just be a balkanized assortment of sites that don't communicate with each other and are worth trillions, all owned by people who bafflingly support President Kid Rock.