GNU Social, a FLOSS alternative to Twitter

Post by shmerl » Tue, Feb 09, 2016, 5:30 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #167

shmerl wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His core ideas of free software are based on the concept of being free from control over it. The idea is anarchistic since by controlling the software and computing technology one controls society in some way, and the more technology is intertwined with social aspects (which gradually happens the more technology progresses), the higher is that level of control.

As someone else said, Stallman does not identify himself as being an anarchist. If you listen to his talks, he does spend some time on what we need to do to protect ourselves politically and the need to protect democracy. I may be in the minority: I agree with almost everything that Richard says.

Post by yarrel » Tue, Feb 09, 2016, 5:35 PM UTC

akumpf wrote: post #126

How hard/easy is it to switch servers and retain @accountname references (i.e. your username)? When faced with a big list of servers to choose between, my hesitation is that I'll pick one now and realize later that another one is better. For example, I may someday want to host GNU social myself, but if I do so will I essentially be starting over (even if I can retain my data, will my connections still retain a relati…

Post by motters » Tue, Feb 09, 2016, 5:44 PM UTC

rocky1138 wrote: post #144

motters wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Post by queeerkopf » Tue, Feb 09, 2016, 5:49 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #164

After reading about GNU Social on HN last night I created an account on the first of the 6 provides, loadaverage.org I like the service and I am considering running my own server. My account is https://loadaverage.org/markwatson and I am going to start out by cross posting some of the things I post on Twitter and G+ and see where this goes. When I quit consulting at Google in 2013 the first thing I did when I got hom…

Post by yarrel » Tue, Feb 09, 2016, 5:56 PM UTC

zyxley wrote: post #165

mattl wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably shouldn't choose any of them, but should set up your own server, but some people don't want to do that, and we don't want to play favorites and say "this is the best server to join" so instead we list a few servers run by our community.

"To use our version of Twitter, first set up your own server" is even worse user experience than picking between seven preexisting servers.