diff --git a/content/blog/twitters-demise.md b/content/blog/twitters-demise.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ccfaa7 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/twitters-demise.md @@ -0,0 +1,151 @@ +--- +title: "Twitter's demise is ActivityPub's future" +date: '2022-11-12' +--- + +Earlier today, I deleted all of my tweets and left Twitter forever. While I +plan on leaving a nightlight thread for a while, I will eventually close my +account, assuming Elon doesn't do it for me. + +The past week has been an emotional rollercoaster for me as I have watched +everything play out. + +I was one of the original fediverse users when Indymedia UK stood up the +`indy.im` StatusNet instance at the end of 2010. +After some time, Evan Prodromou got bored with the StatusNet code base +and started Pump instead, with the network losing the largest instance +at that time, `identi.ca`. +With the network fragmented as a result of that switch, I got bored of +it and started using Twitter instead. + +Eventually StatusNet was forked by Matt Lee and a few other FSF staffers and +became GNU Social. +I was not really around during this time, but it was around that time that +GamerGate happened, which created a network where half of the users were +Indymedia contributors and the other half were the initial seeds of the +alt-right. + +While I was not heavily involved from a development perspective in the early +days of what we now call the fediverse, this began to change in late 2016 when +Eugen Rochko started Mastodon. +I was an early adopter of Mastodon, deploying Mastodon 0.6 on Heroku, using the +`mastodon.dereferenced.org` domain for my account. +But running Mastodon on Heroku (and later Scalingo) was expensive. I did not +want to manage a Rails application by hand, and I hadn't started using Docker or +Kubernetes yet. + +In early 2018, a developer psuedonymously known as lain began adding ActivityPub +federation support to Pleroma, and he convinced me to try it out as an alternative +to running Mastodon. +I found Pleroma and developing with Elixir to be exciting and fresh, compared to +other technology I was working with at the time. I felt empowered to start doing +serious hacking on ActivityPub as a result of writing patches to Pleroma and +sending them to lain. + +After a while, I became a Pleroma developer with commit rights. +I felt like we could use the same strategy I used to promote Alpine to promote Pleroma: +build a coalition of willing influencers to demonstrate the value proposition of +self-hosted social networks for user freedom, and so I started working on building +a group around it. +Because I was showing it to friends I already had, Pleroma grew into being a +project where many of the contributors were from queer and marginalized backgrounds +similar to mine. +Everything was going fine. As a team, we built a lot of features that are still +innovative in this space, such as MRF and building the LitePub profile of ActivityPub, +which shifted the protocol from being a Content *Distribution* protocol to being a +Content *Advertisement* protocol. + +Towards the end of 2019, it started going to shit. By that time, I was running a +public instance, and the database kept having index corruption issues on a daily +basis. +Around the same time, the Soapbox project was launched, and they decided to use +Pleroma as their backend. This led to a lot of friction inside the project, because +the Soapbox author had a tendency to share [his ideological positions][ag-trans] +inside the project space as part of his anti-trans activism. +I wound up leaving Pleroma toward the middle of 2020 because of the scalability +issues in the database with Pleroma 2.0 and the lack of any effort to maintain a +welcoming space for everyone. + + [ag-trans]: https://blog.alexgleason.me/trans/ + +I decided to take a break from the fediverse because of that decision, because I +felt a break was warranted. I decided to try Twitter in earnest during that time, +but to be honest, I've never found using Twitter to be enjoyable in the same way +as I found the fediverse to be enjoyable. + +As I said a few weeks ago, I think that [commercial microblogging][cmb] has been +an absolute disaster for our society. Relationships on Twitter are parasocial +and transactional, which leads to poisonous behavior, while relationships in the +fediverse are largely grounded and mutual. + + [cmb]: https://ariadne.space/2022/10/27/the-internet-is-broken-due-to-structural-injustice/ + +In April of this year, Elon Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter. Based +on the experience of watching a [rich fanatic purchase and then ruin something he +deeply cared about][leenode] and my experience of being a Tesla owner, I thought it +would be relevant to set up an [escape hatch][th-masto]. Others were of the same +mind, and we shared notes. + + [leenode]: https://ariadne.space/2021/05/20/the-whole-freenode-kerfluffle/ + [th-masto]: https://social.treehouse.systems/ + +With the events of the past few weeks, I strongly believe that Twitter's demise is +going to bring all of the proprietary social silos crashing down. People are starting +to realize that trading freedom for the alleged convenience of using a proprietary +network isn't worth it. Although not perfect, ActivityPub is eating the world: there's +now a million new users a week and this number is growing. + +### ... which brings me to the not so fun part, the things that aren't going so well. + +Although the fediverse is a decentralized and disparate network with many different +groups with their own cultural norms, some of them have tried to enforce their cultural +norms on the new users. This is normal and to be expected to some extent, as people +don't like big changes. + +I don't want to get into the nuances of some of these conversations. What I do want +to say is that the fediverse is a diverse network of different people who bring their +own styles and approaches to posting and content curation. It is entirely fine to +bring your whole self to the conversation in uncensored form if that is what you feel +is right to do. Do what *you* feel is right, and don't worry about people muting or +blocking your account, because you're not here for *them*, you're here for *yourself* +and you will meet likeminded people regardless of who blocks you. + +The other problem is, of course, a question of scaling anti-abuse tools. Many have +posted screenshots of abuse they have received, and it comes from a segment of the +larger network where the culture is most diplomatically described as "player vs +player." It is fine for those instances to exist, but we need to build better tools +so that newcomers can be aware of segments of the network that they may want to +exclude themselves from: what we have today where admins informally share threat data +with each other is hard to scale upwards. + +In general these are good problems to have, because they are easy to overcome. Overall +the future is looking bright. + +### Which instances are you recommending right now? + +At the moment, I am trying to recommend instances which have a moderation policy +aligned with providing a safe space for marginalized identities like mine which +are also targeted at technical people. + +Some recommendations: + +- [hachyderm.io](https://hachyderm.io), running Mastodon 3.5.3 and administrated + by Kris Nova and other volunteers. + +- [social.restless.systems](https://social.restless.systems), running Mastodon 4.0 and + administrated by NCommander, a tech YouTuber. + +- [social.treehouse.systems](https://social.treehouse.systems), run by me and other + volunteers. It also runs Mastodon 4.0. + +The reasons why I recommend these instances are because the administrative capabilities +far exceed those required by the Mastodon Server Covenant: the above instances are run +by teams with marginalized backgrounds and extensive SRE experience. + +I am planning to put together a larger tool for finding instances which have been stood +up as part of this new wave of SRE-backed quasi-professional instances. + +### What next? + +Next time, I will write a bit about how my own instance is put together and how it has +evolved over the past few months. Stay tuned for that one.