"Facebook but not as awful" "twitter but without nazis" "credit cards but without traceability" NOPE. It'll need to be something totally new.
Show this thread
The central lesson of the Diaspora project is that building privacy- and decentralization-centric versions of our existing structures doesn't work.
-
-
-
Facebook is useful to people precisely because of its centralization and data harvesting. Those assumptions are foundational to how its feature set has been shaped. You can't just take those features and transfer them onto a new foundation, now with privacy and de-centralization!
Show this thread -
Privacy and decentralization can build entirely different structures. They won't look much what we have now.
Show this thread -
Diaspora, mastodon, etc., are building space stations with the interior of normal houses - floors, beds, chairs. To be at all usable, they need to simulate gravity - centralization - the missing force, so people can search and block and walk around on floors like they're used to.
Show this thread -
But they have an entire extra dimension to work with, unavailable to earthbound competitors, largely unused. Maybe you can't have search & block in the same ways you have them today. But maybe you could have something better. Some day someone will figure out what that is.
Show this thread -
I have now thoroughly mixed my metaphors, but I think I can finally go to sleep. I've been trying to articulate that aspect of my Diaspora experience for years.
Show this thread -
I stopped working on the project in 2012...but apparently my legacy remains
https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/graphs/contributors …Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Is it a "sufficient resources" question? Facebook does have a lot more. Or you reckon it really is a sisyphean task to be putting effort into at this point?
-
No, I mean, for example, facebook's utility to people is predicated in a very direct way on centralization and data harvesting. Remove that, and you remove most of the ways people enjoy using it.
-
Ah yes, I see what you mean, cheers!
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
This seems related to a
@mfeathers post I stumbled on yesterday about the social media corollary to Conway's Law: https://michaelfeathers.silvrback.com/social-media-architecture-and-conway-s-law … - their problems are fundamentally bound to their communication structuresThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Diaspora was part of how I got into programming although I never contributed more than a patch or two. The lesson I took from it was that peer-to-peer needs to be thick client. Successful examples are things like email, bittorrent and skype.
-
The decentralized server model had everyone going to the "model" node hosted by the Diaspora team. As email moved onto the web, there was increasing centralization in the big webmail providers. Now Gmail basically controls the space.
-
IRC is an perhaps an interesting counterexample. Though the protocol now has waned in popularity so much that only the largest networks have survived. And Slack aims to eat its lunch.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Uhm, ... what? Normal human interactions are decentralized structures. It's not like to talk to your friend in person you need to first ask the Pharaoh for divine intervention into every relationship on the planet.
-
Also, uhm, Diaspora failed for various reasons. Security mistakes. Lesser user experience. Federation and its necessity for registration and local admins. Not because of some alleged mismatch between decentralized tech and social structures.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
You do not think mastodon can work? I think there are lessons to get from the Diaspora failing but building decentralized structures seems quite important… Maybe not copy existing structures :-)
- 1 more reply
New conversation -
-
-
Harvesting millions of connections for 5 cents each, the gratification hit of a zillion acquaintances, don't fit a privacy-centric model. Only crazy-strong cultural values can compete with cash or virtual sugar...
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Open works better without social.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.