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Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

scuttlebutt.nz

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Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#71
post #20

Related: Secure Scuttlebutt - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34480864 - Jan 2023 (82 comments) Ask HN: Anyone got experience using Scuttlebutt? Thoughts? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29974051 - Jan 2022 (4 comments) Scuttlebutt Protocol Guide - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29672518 - Dec 2021 (35 comments) Scuttlebutt: Decentralised, off-grid, mesh network and self-hosted social media - https:…

Dang.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#72
post #2

Secure Scuttlebutt Consortium on Github: https://github.com/ssbc ssb/ssbc is a fun and cool project built on solid code by smart people.

SSB was designed by an ocean sailor to be a social network that was infrequently synchronized and then only by local connection. The idea being, when sailors went ashore or rafted up for a gam to catch up on the scuttlebutt, they could synch their databases and have something to read on the next leg of their journey. Blockchain tech was used to assure that messages created by others had not been altered in transit. S…

As an entry into what's going on currently, this blog by the Manyverse leader is useful:

https://www.manyver.se/blog/2023-05-05

He is pivoting into a new protocol which is intended to preserve the community aspect of SSB, while providing important factors, like the need to delete previous posts.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, that's a total midwit dismissal. Scuttlebutt has a context and a meaning behind it. People might hear it without knowing the context, think "that it's a weird name, why is it so?", and then judge whether they like it or not. But to just hear the name and claim that it is inappropriate/bad/not-to-be-used because it reminds you of something that has nothing to do with the original context is ridiculous.

No offense, but you're repeatedly using the term "midwit", which demonstrates that you have a higher-than-average tolerance/liking for non-layman vocabulary, and so might not be the best judge of what the average person is going to accept. Most people are not going to bother looking up the etymology of a word before dismissing a product named using it. Personally, I'm not a fan of the name because it's a word that, l…

My point (in relation to the top the of the thread I responded to) is that there are other things beyond the name that are more important/relevant when evaluating why the product wasn't successful.

If Scuttlebutt had an amazing feature that had a viral component to attract people, was easy to use and had no roadblocks for distribution, it would likely succeed, regardless of the name (like github).

But it's not. Scuttlebutt is a complex system, requires users to understand concepts like public keys and distributed systems, content discovery literally involves chasing other people around the internet to spread the gossip to you, the client was primitive, the development team had a size of one, etc, etc, etc... Those factors are way more relevant to understand why it hasn't taken off. Even if Scuttlebutt had a perfectly "appropriate" name, it wouldn't matter.

To put it another way: "Glimpse" is a fork of GIMP, and the author forked only because of the name. How many people actually cared enough about it to switch? How many people left Photoshop and started using "Glimpse" because that was the tipping point? Or the inverse: look at the whole Twitter -> X "branding". How many people left Twitter because of the name change vs because of the other changes since Elon took over?

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#74
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, that's a total midwit dismissal. Scuttlebutt has a context and a meaning behind it. People might hear it without knowing the context, think "that it's a weird name, why is it so?", and then judge whether they like it or not. But to just hear the name and claim that it is inappropriate/bad/not-to-be-used because it reminds you of something that has nothing to do with the original context is ridiculous.

it's not ridiculous and countless FOSS projects will keep banging their head upon the wall forever till they actually learn it.

Please name one FOSS project that has found its success after being renamed to something more "appropriate".

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#75

At this point my decentralized social network is RSS. Just the right level of interactivity for me!

I'm not interested in many decentralized things. I have multiple chat apps from separate companies on my phone, that's my decentralization.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#76
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I keep hearing about Scuttlebutt for a long time but haven't seen anyone actually using it? Why? It's called Scuttlebutt, meaning it can never be remotely popular enough to function as a worthwhile social network.

Upvoting because I'm also the guy who understands that, similarly, GIMP will never be big as it should be.

Yeah, the guy who renamed it to "Glimpse" is now worldwide famous for solving the only problem with the project. Designers are dropping Adobe Photoshop in droves and giving the project the complete recognition it rightfully deserved.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#78
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and this is why 99% of niche developer attempts don't flourish into the next big social network. Might as well call it "Codswallop", which is also a valid historical slang that is equally completely ridiculous for mass appeal.

Yeah, yahoo and google is very meaningful on the other hand.

They are short, memorable and don’t have “butt” in the name.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#79
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it's a DB layer, sure. When it's a social network? "Hey guys, have you seen Dave's new post on Poopypants?"

Again, that's a total midwit dismissal. Scuttlebutt has a context and a meaning behind it. People might hear it without knowing the context, think "that it's a weird name, why is it so?", and then judge whether they like it or not. But to just hear the name and claim that it is inappropriate/bad/not-to-be-used because it reminds you of something that has nothing to do with the original context is ridiculous.

Aye, and most people who use social networks are midwits!

Butt in the name will absolutely make the project a joke and cause it to misfire. As a fellow midwit I only just heard of the project and dismissed it before I got to the technical pain in the arse you describe it being in other comments.

Butt, lmao. Now Mastodon has disowned the term they should start calling their messages toots.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#80
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I think it's a fine name, better than most, because it's a normal English word that says exactly what it does / what it's for. You're not just saying that because the word happens to end in "butt" are you? Or am I missing something?

> You're not just saying that because the word happens to end in "butt" are you? They're saying precisely that and they're 100% right, and it seems you're missing a lot of things. It's a social network. Its only value is in it having people using it and coming back. Just try and imagine any person in your IRL circles (who's not on HN) actually using a social network with butt in its name. I seriously can't believe yo…

I mean, I wouldn't expect problems if the thing were called "Buttercup" would you? Or what about "Button"? "Saturday" (which has "turd" in it)? Are there problems with a Harpoon ("poon") IPA?

Clearly the presence of a sequence of four silly letters isn't in and of itself disqualifying. Native speakers often won't even register the juvenile bit inside it.

My only surprise here is that "scuttlebutt" doesn't work that way for other native speakers. It must be just my dialect or circles then, because it's an ordinary word for me which subsumes the "butt" within it (like I'm certain "button" does for you). But I guess it's not universally like that and the word is odd or rare enough that it doesn't do the same for others.

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