Gab will become a Mastodon fork • Hacker News Board

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#11

Post by 0815test » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

javagram wrote: post #4

> “Moving to the ActivityPub protocol as our base allows us to get into mobile App Stores without even having to submit and get approval of our own apps, whether Apple and Google like it or not.“ The perils (or benefits?) of open protocols. Existing mastodon/pleroma clients will be able to connect to Gab by adding a server setting. Now I wonder if mastodon client app developers will start filtering the allowed server…

Surely there will be some client apps on F-Droid (and 'fringe' ones on iOS) that won't include any such restrictions. But I agree that the most popular apps might be highly tempted to enforce them, out of image concerns.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#12

Post by r3bl » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

javagram wrote: post #4

> “Moving to the ActivityPub protocol as our base allows us to get into mobile App Stores without even having to submit and get approval of our own apps, whether Apple and Google like it or not.“ The perils (or benefits?) of open protocols. Existing mastodon/pleroma clients will be able to connect to Gab by adding a server setting. Now I wonder if mastodon client app developers will start filtering the allowed server…

> Now I wonder if mastodon client app developers will start filtering the allowed servers users can put in...

That's precisely what Mastodon's creator suggested earlier today: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/102184195834215862

Of course, he has no authority over mobile apps, so it remains up to app creators to decide. I believe there are three apps that share the majority of users (Fedilab, Tusky, Mast). Most popular instances will probably stop federating with them as soon as they can.

EDIT: Fedilab's creator already expressed that he'll do so to avoid the chance of being banned from the app store.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#13

Post by vikingcaffiene » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

I had heard about Gab but never visited the site before. I just spent 30 seconds perusing the trending feed. I saw the following:

1. a video of a man being shot and killed during an armed robbery 2. 3 anti islam posts 3. the usual pro trump propaganda 4. a meme warning about the evils of feminism urging women to get back to their "place" in the family.

Gab is a festering pile of trash. Anyone responsible for making any technical decisions on it should be ashamed of themselves.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#14

Post by smacktoward » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:10 PM UTC

loceng wrote: post #2

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gab_(social_network) - "Gab is an English-language social media website, launched publicly in 2017, known for its mainly far-right user base.[9] The site has been described as "extremist friendly"[10] or a "safe haven"[11] for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right.[10] ... Antisemitism is a prominent part of the site's content[24] and the platform itself has engaged in an…

A nice thing about Mastodon/ActivityPub is that administrators of "instances" (which means basically each running copy of the server software; you create a user account with a specific Mastodon instance, rather than with Mastodon itself) can disable federation with individual other instances, if they want to. So if a particular instance becomes a haven for trolls or other miscreants, you can block that entire instance and your users will no longer have to deal anything posted from it.

So I suspect that, if Gab really does become an ActivityPub instance, many other instances will just de-federate from them and that will be that.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#15

Post by linuxftw » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

xrjpi wrote: post #6

>Moving to the ActivityPub protocol as our base allows us to get into mobile App Stores without even having to submit and get approval of our own apps, whether Apple and Google like it or not They also had the option of creating an ActivityPub compatible API, no? But yes I guess it's easier this way. Having said that I wonder if they'll allow federation to happen. Most Mastodon instances restrict and censor speech so…

I don't use gab.

> what would be the point of using Gab instead of just other Mastodon instance?

This question answers itself. "Gab" is a brand name. Other Mastadon instances are not. People will join the brand name, the underlying technology is irrelevant.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#16

Post by macinjosh » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

loceng wrote: post #2

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gab_(social_network) - "Gab is an English-language social media website, launched publicly in 2017, known for its mainly far-right user base.[9] The site has been described as "extremist friendly"[10] or a "safe haven"[11] for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right.[10] ... Antisemitism is a prominent part of the site's content[24] and the platform itself has engaged in an…

This is a good example of why Wikipedia is not a reliable source for many things. I have used Gab and while it is true there are clearly anti-Semitic users on Gab but there are just as many users who call out that behavior and make fun of the simple mindedness of anti-semitism. Just because a platform is for free speech absolutism doesn't mean the platform itself is bad.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#17

Post by Keverw » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:12 PM UTC

I first heard of Gab when big social media sites were accused of censoring conservatives during the 2016 election. One of the idea of Gab is if you don't like what people say you can block them and don't visit their profile...

So for example many social networks banned Alex Jones... With Gab if you don't like what he says, you don't have to follow him... So instead of the site itself trying to censor people, the users can censor things themselves. I believe the only thing Gab censors is if the content itself is illegal in some way, but other than that they support free speech giving users more choices and freedom.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#18

Post by ocdtrekkie » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:13 PM UTC

Oh, the Mastodon community is going to be ticked about this... Purism said Librem One's server wasn't going to police speech, and they were upset about it. Gab is a whole different level.

I think ActivityPub has huge potential to be a way for communities of disparate views and perspectives to exist out there, and two distinct and very opposing groups have grasped onto it: People who want space spaces who don't think mainstream platforms moderate enough, and the alt-right and free speech crowd.

In the long run, I think you'll see a lot of ActivityPub servers, but two distinct federations, with very few links between them: One radically liberal and one radically conservative.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#19

Post by pgeorgi » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

javagram wrote: post #4

> “Moving to the ActivityPub protocol as our base allows us to get into mobile App Stores without even having to submit and get approval of our own apps, whether Apple and Google like it or not.“ The perils (or benefits?) of open protocols. Existing mastodon/pleroma clients will be able to connect to Gab by adding a server setting. Now I wonder if mastodon client app developers will start filtering the allowed server…

> Now I wonder if mastodon client app developers will start filtering the allowed servers users can put in...

Any action of that kind would only fuel the alt-right persecution complex. Servers however do filtering all the time already, and that's how the Gab folks can be left out of view of the rest of the world.

Re: Gab will become a Mastodon fork

#20

Post by treerock » Thu, May 30, 2019, 2:16 PM UTC

loceng wrote: post #2

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gab_(social_network) - "Gab is an English-language social media website, launched publicly in 2017, known for its mainly far-right user base.[9] The site has been described as "extremist friendly"[10] or a "safe haven"[11] for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right.[10] ... Antisemitism is a prominent part of the site's content[24] and the platform itself has engaged in an…

Given it's a federated service, I doubt many mastadon users will know or care that much. Those that run servers might choose to blacklist them, making them all but invisible.