A PHP project without a composer.json?
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GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
141–150 of 259 posts
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
The average person is not supposed to maintain their own node for these services. That's why they have us who give our free time and our VPS accounts to host such things. It basically comes down to trusting Big Media or trusting your neighbour with your data. I personally doubt we'll see a big breakthrough for Big Media alternatives because people go where their friends are. I am unfortunately expecting fragmentation…
* Federated vs Centralized * Usenet vs Internet. * IRC vs AOL Instant Messenger * Email vs Xanga / Myspace / Facebook * Torrent vs Dropbox / Cloud Storage Federated has its advantages. Centralized has its advantages. 40 years from now, people will continue to use the federated platform. The centralized platform only stays around as long as it is profitable. But while the centralized platform is around, things are a l…
Damn good observation -- but it begs the question, why can't federated be as frictionless as centralized? Is this a matter of effort, funding and organization, or something more fundamental?
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#143Ok, so I'm bad at landing pages, but ... I mean, really.
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#144Before the site has given me any reason to join, it makes me choose between 7 virtually indistinguishable options of providers with subtle technical advantages and disadvantages. Ah, GNU projects. Never change.
It's just not a centralized paradigm. Joining an existing server means you'll be subject to whatever moderation policy the admin has. Or you can just run your own server and then federate with the rest, as I do.
There needs to be a much better solution to the use case of having to jettison from an existing federation that might be disappearing soon (or where the admin changes the rules and you no longer want to be there).
Currently, the only fix is to create a brand new account on a different federation and start again.
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haha I don't even know which one to join. Feels like I'll make the wrong choice. GNU projects always remind me why programmers alone isn't enough, apps also need good design and UX.
> GNU projects always remind me why programmers alone isn't enough, apps also need good design and UX. Some people need others to think for them. Some people like to make their own decisions. GNU is for the latter ones. GNU has always been freedom of choice. Design is overrated. Functionality and reliability are more important. Even Apple has to admit that. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11061111
Yea.... No.
If you are presented with 6 choices and you cannot reasonably tell the difference between them without spending 15-30 minutes researching all of the options, you have a bad user experience.
Design is important. People like using things that look good.
UX is vital. If a user can't figure out how to navigate through an app in a reasonable amount of time without a great deal of existing knowledge (which they may not even know where to find), your app sucks. People, even technical ones, will abandon it, even if it is more reliable and has more features than the next guy. Making things that are intuitive is really difficult. That is why people get advanced degrees in it and start consultancies that specialize in it. Usability does not just stop at GUIs on your laptop, but also jet fighter cockpits, vending machines, ATMs etc... Think about this, what good is a jet fighter if nobody can actually fly it?
That is not even to begin talking about how people with low vision can operate things. WCAG exists for a reason.
Bottom line... usability is really important.
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#146Before the site has given me any reason to join, it makes me choose between 7 virtually indistinguishable options of providers with subtle technical advantages and disadvantages. Ah, GNU projects. Never change.
Perhaps instead of just complaining, people could help out with the documentation:
https://git.gnu.io/gnu/gnu-social
Then again, you're right... some things never change.
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#147A bit odd to see them all labeled "runs out of Europe". I understand why they do this, but it's not like European hosting is a bullet proof solution for invasive snooping or data requisition.
> A bit odd to see them all labeled "runs out of Europe". For people from a country which touts itself as "land of the free", this has to be a bit of a bitter bullet to bite ;)
[deleted]
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#148What an irony to use twitter bootstrap to make a FLOSS twitter :)
Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#149Re: GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter
#150I just realized that decentralization is awesome for privacy and all, but for social networks sucks big time.