🐔 Brian Bucklew  🐔 ₑͤ＞∿＜ₑͤ ∞ 🌮

I don't actually think anyone wants big decentralized chat systems like mastadon; what they want is a big centrally run chat system with no friction but that isn't completely co-opted by corporate garbage.

Mastodon isn't a chat system, though. It's a social media platform - and, as a matter of fact, it's pretty great at a lot of things specifically _because_ it's federated! There are problems, but there are also new opportunities.

Specifically, by allowing individual servers to define their identity through branding, moderation, and alternative interfaces, the Fediverse has an inbuilt commitment to diversity and community-mindedness that's all but impossible in centralized spaces.

In fact, Discord is so successful partly because it simulates a federated system! They even call communities "servers"!

As long as the protocols we use are resistant to the kind of fedi-specific threats we see in Mastodon now, and resilient in a way that lets them evolve over time (as ActivityPub is), we can both move quickly and reduce the risk of corporate meddling.