W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty • Hacker News Board

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#111

Post by erxam » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

dolmen wrote: post #77

erxam wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me when the Fediverse has a search function that actually fucking works. Most of my time in social media is spent searching for keywords of whatever I'm interested in, which is one thing which Mastodon is absolutely awful at. Also, while we’re at it, try to make Fediverse culture less insular and more open. There's no point in trying to reply to anyone since everyone hates everyone else. Pointless platform.

> Call me when the Fediverse has a search function that actually fucking works. Actually that's a feature. If search doesn't work, there is less incentive for bots polluting others people searches. On the other hand, search works so bad than even connecting to people you know on other networks is painful.

It's not even about connecting to other people. I'm a toxic, friendless miserable asshole. I don't have anyone to connect with.

All I use social media for is to look at whatever funny piece of media I'm obsessed with currently and related things.

Unfortunately, Mastodon both has busted search and useless tags. Tumblr's search has been hilariously bad for ages now, but at least the tagging system is so comprehensive it more than makes up for it.

Mastodon is the worst of all worlds in that aspect.

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#112

Post by trolleski » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

European elites are so corrupt and complicit that if they say they will do something, you can rest assured the opposite will take place.

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#113

Post by erxam » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

jwr wrote: post #90

erxam wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me when the Fediverse has a search function that actually fucking works. Most of my time in social media is spent searching for keywords of whatever I'm interested in, which is one thing which Mastodon is absolutely awful at. Also, while we’re at it, try to make Fediverse culture less insular and more open. There's no point in trying to reply to anyone since everyone hates everyone else. Pointless platform.

I have entirely different experiences and I haven't seen much hating — but having read this, perhaps indeed mastodon isn't for you :-)

It's not hating, it's just this general reaction against strangers even seeing your posts.

I haven't actually been subject to this, yet, but I've seen enough people react negatively against others doing this that it saps all my desire to do anything other than just aimlessly scroll every once in a while. I can read the room, you know.

Sometimes I wonder why do instance admins even open up their instances? Just run it for your friends and those who you like and cut the crap.

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#114

Post by deathanatos » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:13 PM UTC

colesantiago wrote: post #97

deathanatos wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could name so many projects or people. The Rust language? KDE? Comics like War and Peas, or David Revoy's works? Hackers like Foone, Mara Bos? Technology Connections! Countless cute kitten pics. Minimal hate or bigotry in my feed. Don't have to log in. Don't even have to sign up. Finite scroll on the homepage.

You've just described Bluesky?

But why would I ever choose locked down, corporate Twitter v2 "it'll be different this time!" over Mastodon?

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#115

Post by joe_mamba » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

oytis wrote: post #109

kristianc wrote: post #49

Sovereignty is mostly just a protectionist racket. European firms struggle to compete with dominant US platforms, framing industrial policy as "sovereignty" rather than protectionism just sounds more strategic and security-oriented. I've seen US platforms bend over backwards to meet the requirements and they still choose their preferred winner. Predictably the goalposts keep moving.

EU doesn't have enough money to just buy the competition

EU had more money than China yet shipped fewer dominant software platforms

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#116

Post by urbnspacecowboy » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:31 PM UTC

colesantiago wrote: post #96

mystraline wrote: post #76

How to create an account on #WSocial in 13 easy steps: 1. choose a username 2. choose a password 3. choose your interests 4. download the #WIdentity app to your phone (two options: Apple AppStore or Google Play Store) 5. scan a QR code 6. create a PIN code optional: enable biometrics; re-enter PIN 7. choose whether you simply want to verify that you're human or if you also want to verify your name 8. choose the verif…

> Or.... How about not? Seriously, join Mastodon! Which decentralised instance?

> Which decentralised instance?

any of them

all of them

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#117

Post by colesantiago » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:42 PM UTC

urbnspacecowboy wrote: post #116

colesantiago wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or.... How about not? Seriously, join Mastodon! Which decentralised instance?

> Which decentralised instance? any of them all of them

> any of them

> all of them

That is the problem.

The paradox of choice stiffles adoption for Mastodon for the regular user and pushes them away.

Choosing the main instance goes against the whole point of Mastodon for federation.

There was even a time Mastodon wanted to promote other federated instances by closing off the main instance, it failed.

You might as well use Bluesky or Threads and be done with it.

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#118

Post by slater » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:45 PM UTC

colesantiago wrote: post #117

urbnspacecowboy wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which decentralised instance? any of them all of them

> any of them > all of them That is the problem. The paradox of choice stiffles adoption for Mastodon for the regular user and pushes them away. Choosing the main instance goes against the whole point of Mastodon for federation. There was even a time Mastodon wanted to promote other federated instances by closing off the main instance, it failed. You might as well use Bluesky or Threads and be done with it.

It's true, same goes for e-mail host, just so many options to choose from! /s

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#119

Post by jasonvorhe » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 10:47 PM UTC

xg15 wrote: post #31

> Europe already has an ATproto social network - Eurosky - run by a non-profit foundation - Modal - that is building everything in the open, with full transparency, sharing all the steps in their development roadmap: And weirdly, there was never a peep about this in the press - while the W Social launch was on national news and a bunch of high-profile EU politicians immediately joined. What's going on here?

They want people to get used to digital id.

Re: W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty

#120

Post by colesantiago » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

deathanatos wrote: post #114

colesantiago wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've just described Bluesky?

But why would I ever choose locked down, corporate Twitter v2 "it'll be different this time!" over Mastodon?

> But why would I ever choose locked down, corporate Twitter v2 "it'll be different this time!" over Mastodon?

So that you don't have to move from Mastodon instance to Mastodon instance over a petty owner disagreement after they delete the entire server with all your data.