We Are Trying Out PeerTube

Post by xaqfox » Sat, May 09, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

mellow2020 wrote: post #46

olah_1 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly why I said "It sounds silly to the technical demographic". Many people on HN just straight up won't understand what I'm talking about. To a normal person, "@gmail.com" doesn't say _anything_. Give someone a different domain and they will literally look at you funny.

Mine is firstname@firstname-lastname.domain, never had that problem. Plenty of email addresses require spelling out the part before the @ anyway, spelling the part after it out too poses no fundamental challenge to anyone I interacted with (who asked for my email address, that is).

Post by judge2020 » Sat, May 09, 2020, 6:22 PM UTC

chongli wrote: post #61

olah_1 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is the "something else" here that Gmail uniquely lacks? The unique domain that I would otherwise have to associate myself with. "gmail" is so ubiquitous that it just doesn't mean anything anymore. It's just... the protocol. Tell someone that your email is "alice@alice.website" and even _that_ is saying something significant about yourself that you may not want to say. A big aspect of appearing "cool" is not le…

"gmail" is so ubiquitous that it just doesn't mean anything anymore That doesn’t explain how Gmail became ubiquitous. Back when it started, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL were very popular (among many others). Since it was not yet ubiquitous, Gmail’s ubiquity could not be an explanation for success.

Post by judge2020 » Sat, May 09, 2020, 6:24 PM UTC

xaqfox wrote: post #62

mellow2020 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine is firstname@firstname-lastname.domain, never had that problem. Plenty of email addresses require spelling out the part before the @ anyway, spelling the part after it out too poses no fundamental challenge to anyone I interacted with (who asked for my email address, that is).

It's not a problem, but it does send a signal--probably one that is a slight benefit as an adult in a technical line of work, but it might send a different signal for let's say, a teenager who is already struggling to fit in with peers. It may be a stereotype, but stereotypes exist regardless of how easy you or me think it is to register a domain. Sure someone could follow just a few simple steps found on the interne…

Post by judge2020 » Sat, May 09, 2020, 6:28 PM UTC

kevmo314 wrote: post #42

olah_1 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is the "something else" here that Gmail uniquely lacks? The unique domain that I would otherwise have to associate myself with. "gmail" is so ubiquitous that it just doesn't mean anything anymore. It's just... the protocol. Tell someone that your email is "alice@alice.website" and even _that_ is saying something significant about yourself that you may not want to say. A big aspect of appearing "cool" is not le…

It's nice to see someone else have this point of view. I have a personal domain but still run @gmail.com because I get the impression that having my own domain makes me look like a complete nerd to my friends. Of course, I am, but no need to reinforce that.

Post by thekyle » Sat, May 09, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

api wrote: post #30

olah_1 wrote: post #7

The problem for the Fediverse will always be domains, in my opinion. It sounds silly to the technical demographic, but to a normal person, it is a massive issue. "Which server do I choose to get in bed with?" It's not just a question of which server do you trust to be a good actor and to not shut down tomorrow. It's also a question of which domain name do you want associated with your user account? Do you want alice@…

It also means that if these get popular they will coalesce into an oligopoly. Those huge domains will then be pressured by the costs of hosting and the need to improve the protocol to monetize their users with ads or surveillance. Congratulations, we reinvented Facebook. Anything with any hierarchy in its namespace will follow this path. Only pure P2P has a chance of avoiding it, and pure P2P is very hard to build an…