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Are we decentralized yet?

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Re: Are we decentralized yet?

#291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it requires a new account. Migrating PDS on bluesky does not require a new account, is invisible/transparent to your followers and following, and the end goal is that migration will be easy enough that you can do it in less than 5 minutes with no technical skill. Bluesky/atproto is still very early/very young but the general theme is to focus on the UX and ergonomics to make decentralisation viable without fo…

Migrating PDS on Bluesky requires a new account if your old PDS doesn't want you to migrate, or if you get banned from the PLC directory.

This isn't strictly true. If you can sign a did document (i.e. you've set up a recovery key), even if your old PDS refuses to cooperate (or disappears entirely) you can still move to a new PDS and deactivate your account on the old PDS (as this is done via your did document)[1]. It's not exactly trivial to do currently but tools are being developed that automate the process and render all this down into easy to use apps.

> or if you get banned from the PLC directory

This is technically true (for did:plc users) but this isn't a thing that's happened in the past and in the event it happens in the future (or even is seriously discussed in the future), did:plc will be in a substantially different situation than it is currently and the community should be situated by then to handle a federated or coordinated PLC directory.

1. https://www.da.vidbuchanan.co.uk/blog/adversarial-pds-migrat...

Re: Are we decentralized yet?

#292

Sadly, and fortunately, there is no such thing as "avoiding centralization", the evidence is overwhelming: == Politics & Sociology (power concentrates in organizations) - Robert Michels, Political Parties (1911) origin of the "iron law of oligarchy": even democratic groups tend to end up run by a few: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy - Jo Freeman, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" (1970/72): leade…

I just wanted to thank you belatedly for an excellent set of resources and references. I'm familiar with several, others look like worthwhile exploration.
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