Fediverse memes

Was just talking with a friend that downloaded a Mastodon app a while back when Twitter was bought by Elon, encountered the "Choose a server" bit, and bailed after choice paralysis. They're technical and have a doctorate in Computer Science so it's not like they couldn't figure it out, but there's something in the human psyche where most people don't want to make choices like that. They're on Bluesky now and think its great.

IMO sites like https://pixelfed.org/how-to-join and https://join-lemmy.org/ should just have a normal sign up flow, and load balance between all servers that opt in. Looks like that's going to happen for Pixelfed:

https://mastodon.social/@dansup/113830788279211715

It'll make some people unhappy, but that's just how you get "normies" onto the Fediverse.

“This also highlights the fact that people are thirsty for platforms that aren’t controlled by the same few oligarchs,”

So they move (and apparently willingly provide more access to their info than they already need to) to a platform that is controlled by a different few oligarchs, as a treat.. 🙄

Also, you say we're right here, but the number of people already here praising this shit* because they're either tankies simping for faux communists, or simply too indoctrinated to realise that you don't have to choose one, and can oppose both oppressive states (which use almost identical tactics), is pretty fucking gross.

*and before they descend on me with their bullshit and excuses and their throwing of marginalised people under the bus for the sake of maintaining their own black and white view of the world - yes Chinese and American people communicating and breaking down barriers is good. However the idea that this can honestly and freely be done on their oppressive state controlled media, any more than it can on ours, or that one is somehow less oppressive than the other, is a joke, and so are the people ignoring the fact that both states have equally terrible mass surveillance and control over our communications.

Yes, it's an odd one. I was listening to all the breathless coverage and thinking "they must just not like us." It's like school all over again!

That said, I wonder how much of it is because it makes good copy. After all, Pixelfed's usage has taken off like a rocket and it's app was doing better than quite a few of the larger social media platforms:

https://feddit.uk/post/22742725

"This also highlights the fact that people are thirsty for platforms that aren't controlled by the same few oligarchs," Quintin said. "People will happily jump to another platform even if it presents new, unknown risks."

Once again...meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

the children yearn for the vines

Honestly the Fediverse needs to realize that decentralizing has consequences for the user experience. The average user is confused by the idea that there are multiple instances of a single community, for example realizing that there is a /c/AskLemmy on multiple instances can be really confusing, especially for lay people who aren't technically inclined.

Even for those that aren't intimidated or confused, it can still be frustrating to not have a centralized community, and there can be diminished value from not having all the users in one centralized place, e.g. if you ask your question on one instance and it doesn't reach a bunch of users because of defederation and fracture between different instances, the truth is your question isn't really going out to Lemmy but instead some smaller subset of Lemmy users. This dilutes the usefulness of that online community in a lot of cases - there is less content, fewer interactions, etc.

Ultimately people are only going to sacrifice so much, they may be thirsty for a platform that isn't run by oligarchs, but the Fediverse doesn't seem to offer feature parity for most people, as we saw with the failed migration of users to Mastodon after Elon Musk acquired Twitter.

while others say they are purposefully giving RedNote access to their data in a show of protest against the wishes of the U.S. government.

Ah yes, the ole Gavin McInnes method of showing the government who’s boss. Got it.

"people are thirsty for platforms that aren't controlled by the same few oligarchs" so they're willingly submitting to and supporting CCP tyrannical oppression because they personally have never felt it's raw evil, "Fuck the Chinese" I guess, huh

2 massive issues I have with pixelfed: No support for webp No support for hevc/heic

I don't use an iPhone but I do use heic for 10bit. As heic is default on iPhone, this means that iPhone users go through all the hassle to set up a pixelfed account but then can't upload anything.

That's not good.

Lol. I'm not actually surprised at all that the country that just elected Junior Hitler again is literally begging to be fucked by the CCP. You REALLY cannot fix stupid and stupid is now the vast majority.

Maybe people want a platform that’s more than just a constant Linux and capitalism-bad circlejerk sprinkled with some basic news and askreddit-type threads.

I mean look at it from their perspective: either there is a war with China, in which case you're fucked so many more ways than whatever data tiktok has collected. Or you're one of a billion with compromised data. What are the Chinese going to do? Pick you in your service industry job to blackmail for no reason? Even if they were doing that the chances of it being a you are one in a million. Advertise more directly to you? The fact is no one cares.

The desire for privacy is either necessary to a very small percentage of the population or just an icky feeling with no discernable consequences. (Even if you list me irl consequences for the Chinese taking your data, I can guarantee you it doesn't end up affecting the majority of people's lives in a noticeable way.)

I mean, I'd rather the foreign tyrant get my data than the one that can actually use it. Not that I'm even on anything but Lemmy and youtube anyway.

It's super funny that so many zoomers have just moved to another (more) Chinese app. So obviously the reporting has been about that, and not the fediverse. But I also don't understand why people have a need for these apps to get big. A small community of people who I kind of know a little bit is a way better experience.

Yeah sorry but no. Lemmy sucks and the fediverse is an overly complicated mess of in groups, our groups, federated and non federated communities and people will be racist to you and and you can also end up indoctrinated just as much by picking the wrong community starting point.

Wondering why people aren't here doesn't take a big mystery and despite all the people in here with blinders for all kinds of topics I'm not shocked that anyone looking in would be disgusted, compare this place to 4chan with user names and move on.