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Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

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Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#121

Post by lsiebert »

codingdave wrote: post #3

It isn't an alternative to Facebook unless my grandma can use it, and she couldn't set this up for herself. The idea that centralized storage is the problem masks the actual concern. There is nothing inherently wrong with centrally stored data. There is a problem is when it is locked down by a 3rd party, and/or you don't control how it is used.

Okay, but FB wasn't something your grandma used when it began.

Arguably it isn't FB if regular college kids can't use it. If they can subsequently onboard less tech savvy people, so be it, but that could be a future goal.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#122

Post by roadbeats »

Imagine if Mark created Facebook as an open source alternative for Myspace. Would it ever succeed ?

Good technology is not enough to replace a popular product. We need to find the next popular product. The next cool, fun product can be also an ethical one if right team works on it. It's harder than building a robust decentralized network.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#123

Post by fjfaase »

wolco wrote: post #105
Promarged wrote: post #24

I wanted to take a look at how it works but the on-boarding process is not really welcoming. Getting started [0] redirects to this weird site [1] served over plain HTTP, installer is also not signed :( [0]: https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/getting-started.html [1]: http://dinosaur.is/patchwork-downloader/

Have we reached the point where plain http seeks not welcoming. If the site above doesn't require you to login why do you think you need https? Is the only reason to hide your visit to that site from your isp?

The idea of https to have a secure communication channel where you can verify that the other party is who they say they are. Each https domain needs a certificate that is bound to the domain. It is a good way to prevent malware to be installed on your machine.

A website only needs to require you to login if they want to make sure that you are who you are and/or to prevent others from accessing information that you have shared with that website.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#124

Post by lsiebert »

staltz wrote: post #83
f_leon wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Just tried to give it another shot and there's only 3 public servers and none are currently working

Public servers were a temporary hack and nowadays most of the community is putting their public servers down. It's not a good idea for scaling, but above all, public servers connect you with strangers , which is basically undesired for a social network with a similar use case as Facebook. There should be a pub server for each real community. I know it's not the most user friendly, but it suffices that one person in a…

You have to handle the case of people who belong to multiple communities though, whether through context switching or otherwise.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#125

Post by Vendan »

staltz wrote: post #114
nemo1618 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point me towards the Go implementation? I'd love to contribute.

https://github.com/andyleap/go-ssb

(I'm the author of the repo in question)

Note that this repo has been sidelined, as I have fundamental issues with the protocol SSB is built on. Unless there's changes to how the messages are signed and verified, I'm not planning on putting any serious effort into SSB.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#126

Post by twblalock »

madamelic wrote: post #44
lukeschlather wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is no worse than Facebook though. With Facebook, your friend could steal all of the data you let them see. With Scuttlebutt, your friend could steal all of the data you let them see. Your friend can, but Facebook can scrutinize third-party apps. In a decentralized world, there's no one who has access to holistically examine automated access and detect shady activity. In a decentralized world, everything is ess…

>Facebook can scrutinize third-party apps I can assure you that they don't. Anyone can have a third-party app that scavenges for private info. See: Cambridge Analytica. >there's no one who has access to holistically examine automated access and detect shady activity There is. It is you. You can shut off access your data any time you want to. Yes, if you give someone access to some data, that data could potentially be…

Facebook is going to scrutinize third-party apps now. They don't want another scandal similar to the Cambridge Analytica one.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#127

Post by twtw »

ibdf wrote: post #120

2018 will be the year of "alternative to facebook" apps that are in no way an alternative to facebook. To be an alternative to facebook, it should at least do 50% of what facebook does, and it should be accessible to all. Anything that takes more than 3 steps to get it running it's going to keep people out. And if you keep people out, you don't have a social network, at least not anything like facebook where your gra…

"You need ... a business plan."

I don't agree. What is the business plan of email (by which I mean SMTP, not some webmail provider)?

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#128

Post by Jtsummers »

wolco wrote: post #105
Promarged wrote: post #24

I wanted to take a look at how it works but the on-boarding process is not really welcoming. Getting started [0] redirects to this weird site [1] served over plain HTTP, installer is also not signed :( [0]: https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/getting-started.html [1]: http://dinosaur.is/patchwork-downloader/

Have we reached the point where plain http seeks not welcoming. If the site above doesn't require you to login why do you think you need https? Is the only reason to hide your visit to that site from your isp?

HTTPS can be used to verify that the host is actually the host we think they are. This is especially useful when we're downloading executables/scripts.

A plain HTTP site which is merely informative is perfectly reasonable.

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#129

Post by wjh_ »

Vendan wrote: post #125
staltz wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://github.com/andyleap/go-ssb

(I'm the author of the repo in question) Note that this repo has been sidelined, as I have fundamental issues with the protocol SSB is built on. Unless there's changes to how the messages are signed and verified, I'm not planning on putting any serious effort into SSB.

Would you be able to elaborate on these issues?

Re: Scuttlebutt, a Decentralized Alternative to Facebook

#130

Post by staltz »

lsiebert wrote: post #124
staltz wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public servers were a temporary hack and nowadays most of the community is putting their public servers down. It's not a good idea for scaling, but above all, public servers connect you with strangers , which is basically undesired for a social network with a similar use case as Facebook. There should be a pub server for each real community. I know it's not the most user friendly, but it suffices that one person in a…

You have to handle the case of people who belong to multiple communities though, whether through context switching or otherwise.

Intersections are allowed. It's not like you need strictly one server per community, because servers are just mirrors of each community member. In fact, when a server goes down, no data is lost and it's easy to put a new one up.
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