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Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

scuttlebutt.nz

31–40 of 143 posts

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#31
post #3

Rethink the name. Seriously.

Kinda too late, it's a 10 year old project. Besides, scuttlebutt is the name of the water barrel on a ship, and is synonymous with gossip. As a gossip protocol originally written by someone who lives on a ship, I think it's pretty fitting.

This matters little. The majority of potential users live on land and take water from a tap. The subtlety if the naming is lost for them. But the schoolchild-level silliness of it persists and repels.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think this should be downvoted. It’s a valid point and potential lesson for anyone thinking about reviving or doing something similar. While this might not be the only issue I wouldn’t doubt that the name might prevent a larger audience.

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?

"Normal English Word" feels like a stretch. At least in the US, pretty obscure and kind of archaic sounding?

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#33
post #6
post #3

Rethink the name. Seriously.

Why? If someone will not use an app because it has a silly sounding name, or because they're so immature that "butt" is objectionable to them, I'm happy not to have them bring that attitude into a social space I'm part of.

That's fine, but incompatible with popularity.

All people are rather different. No matter who you are, the art of popularity is the art of attracting people who are unlike you. Just because most people are unlike you, and unlike each other. Yes, this assumes removing some nice edginess, and appearing slightly generic.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#34
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.

Is it actually in a usable state right now?

The last 3 times I tried to use it the ~5 projects you had to run/put together to get any higher-level usable application were always in some way incompatible with each other, as they always seem to be in a constant mode of refactoring. Figuring out a set of compatible versions looked like more like a dark ritual than anything else.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#35

I keep hearing about Scuttlebutt for a long time but haven't seen anyone actually using it? Why? edit: hm, the recommended application on the website itself is ... from 2021, and the github of the app itself is archived now. And there is "bleeding edge" one ... from 2019. OK I can see that there might be problems

> 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.

Rumor has it, Microsoft balked away from a billion dollar acquisition of this source control and project management tool because they didn't want to be associated with a collaboration portal for gits.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#36

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.

Rumor has it, Microsoft balked away from a billion dollar acquisition of this source control and project management tool because they didn't want to be associated with a collaboration portal for gits.

If you're good enough that your name doesn't hold you back, good for you.

As it stands, I turn my nose at stuff like Cockroach DB.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#39
post #34
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.

Is it actually in a usable state right now? The last 3 times I tried to use it the ~5 projects you had to run/put together to get any higher-level usable application were always in some way incompatible with each other, as they always seem to be in a constant mode of refactoring. Figuring out a set of compatible versions looked like more like a dark ritual than anything else.

I'm not sure. The last time I tried using it, I had a similar experience.

Nobody was ever able to coalesce a coherent UX/UI around ssb, the core contributors at the time weren't interested in scaling the network without outside funding.

I was working on implementing lighting fast discovery for ssb using a distributed BitTorrent-like tracker. Getting onto the ssb network took way too long. Still, there were not many users on the network, and nobody seemed interested in growing.

Re: Scuttlebutt social network: a decentralised platform

#40

I keep hearing about Scuttlebutt for a long time but haven't seen anyone actually using it? Why? edit: hm, the recommended application on the website itself is ... from 2021, and the github of the app itself is archived now. And there is "bleeding edge" one ... from 2019. OK I can see that there might be problems

Scuttlebutt had the Bitcoin like problem of requiring everybody to have a local copy of the entire database, with a confusing / glitchy "syncing" process to download the latest posts. I tried to use it for a few days on my Android, but it never showed any new posts and the syncing process took like 30 seconds every time I opened the app.
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