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I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

blog.joinmastodon.org

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Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#361

Post by rckt »

latexr wrote: post #359
rckt wrote: post #357

Decentralisation on Mastodon is an illusion. For me a truly decentralised thing is where I am a node that transmits and can receive transmissions, like radios. When there has to be a server that's being administrated by somebody, this already puts me in a position where I depend on the people who own the server. This means that if for any reason these people don't like me, they can simply ban me and that's it. Basica…

> When there has to be a server that's being administrated by somebody And that somebody can be you. There are Mastodon servers operated by individuals for their friends or their small company. Anyone can host a server with their own rules.

Yes, I know this. But it feels overkilling to host a server which is capable of hosting thousands of users just for me alone. I'd like something small, dedicated just for my own usage. Kind of a way to have my RSS feed discoverable and commentable.

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#362

Post by ktpsns »

rckt wrote: post #361
latexr wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When there has to be a server that's being administrated by somebody And that somebody can be you. There are Mastodon servers operated by individuals for their friends or their small company. Anyone can host a server with their own rules.

Yes, I know this. But it feels overkilling to host a server which is capable of hosting thousands of users just for me alone. I'd like something small, dedicated just for my own usage. Kind of a way to have my RSS feed discoverable and commentable.

Modern software deployment methods can fill the gap between your selfhosted need and the work to be done. I won't name technologies here, because existing have its flaws (docker, helm, etc).

Mastodon is federated and thus basically fulfills your whish. IMO "decentralized Web3" such as IPFS may rempve that need for classical "hosts" but at the costs of an entrance barrier for users (have to install that client).

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#363

Post by Tepix »

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #29

Mastodon is great. It's just unfortunate that the number of people is on the low side.

Yes, it's disappointing frankly to see how many smart people still are on X.

Then again it's disappointing to see how many people with fuck you money don't say "fuck you".

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#364

Post by [deleted] »

spacechild1 wrote: post #360
deadbabe wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I really wonder what the crowd I interact with here on HN is really like. Are they true tech intellectuals, or are they people who wouldn't hesitate to hurl racial slurs if there wasn't the threat of being banned or flagged.

I think very few people on this forum would qualify as intellectuals, most are just ordinary people. Now, some users certainly present themselves as Renaissance polymaths, but typically they just suffer from Engineer's Disease :) Needless to say, even "intellectuals" can be racist.

[deleted]

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#365

Post by philipallstar »

spacechild1 wrote: post #360
deadbabe wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I really wonder what the crowd I interact with here on HN is really like. Are they true tech intellectuals, or are they people who wouldn't hesitate to hurl racial slurs if there wasn't the threat of being banned or flagged.

I think very few people on this forum would qualify as intellectuals, most are just ordinary people. Now, some users certainly present themselves as Renaissance polymaths, but typically they just suffer from Engineer's Disease :) Needless to say, even "intellectuals" can be racist.

> Needless to say, even "intellectuals" can be racist.

Not "even" intellectuals. Eugenics and racial superiority were progressive intellectual concepts less than 100 years ago, with people writing self-important letters to each other about it.

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#366

Post by Tepix »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #114

Mastodon seems pretty unhealthy to me. I logged in for the first time in months a few days ago and it was mostly angry memes, a surprising number of which were celebrating violence and murder. This is despite me aggressively muting people who post that sort of thing. I hope they find a niche, but the cultural damage may already be done.

It's the people you follow and perhaps your Mastodon instance. I suggest setting one up on your own.

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#367

Post by nostrfanboi »

rckt wrote: post #357

Decentralisation on Mastodon is an illusion. For me a truly decentralised thing is where I am a node that transmits and can receive transmissions, like radios. When there has to be a server that's being administrated by somebody, this already puts me in a position where I depend on the people who own the server. This means that if for any reason these people don't like me, they can simply ban me and that's it. Basica…

Yes. It's just larping as long as you are to use a username and a password to log in to a server - even if it's your own server. This is why I have never tried bluesky, their apps wants me to enter a user/pass and my date of birth. Nostr fixes this.

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#368

Post by M2Ys4U »

tannhaeuser wrote: post #67

Found it interesting they've lost status as a non-profit for tax exemption in Germany, and now establish a non-profit in the US for attracting investors while dev and ops remain in a German gGmbH.

They're part-way through setting up a Belgian non-profit entity (AISBL) which will be the main organisation.

From https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/11/the-future-is-ours-to-...

>A vital aspect of our restructuring initiative is transitioning Mastodon to a new European not-for-profit entity. Our intent is to form a Belgian AISBL as the future home of the Mastodon organisation. > >As an update on our current status, Mastodon is continuing to run day-to-day operations through the Mastodon gGmbH entity (the Mastodon gGmbH entity automatically became a for-profit as a result of its charitable status being stripped away in Germany). The US-based 501(c)(3) continues to function as a strategic overlay and fundraising hub, and as a short-term solution until the AISBL is ready, the 501(c)(3) will own the trademark and other assets. We intend to transfer those assets as soon as the AISBL is ready. To enable tax-deductible donations for German donors, we partnered with WE AID as our fiscal sponsor.

Re: I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon

#369

Post by krapp »

lenkite wrote: post #306
krapp wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like exactly the kind of addiction-reinforcing Skinner box nonsense that leads to influencers, parasocial relationships and a content economy, and all of the dark patterns of social media that the fediverse is designed to avoid. People shouldn't be posting to get the endorphine rush from clicks or to satisfy metrics. They should post whatever they want, whenever they want. If you like what someone posts,…

> That sounds like exactly the kind of addiction-reinforcing Skinner box nonsense that leads to influencers, parasocial relationships and a content economy, No, this is the digital analogue of a non-verbal expression. Basic table stakes - unless you categorize human behavior as "addiction-reinforcing".

>unless you categorize human behavior as "addiction-reinforcing".

In the context of social media most human behavior is addiction-reinforcing, because that is the behavior that those platforms are designed to reinforce. The medium is the message.

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