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Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

blog.diasporafoundation.org

41–50 of 65 posts

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#41

diaspora is flawed by design. it will only ever be used by techies b/c either you take care of your own server or you have to trust somebody with your data. what is needed is a facebook e.V. with a strict data safety policy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_association_(Germ... it would cost transparently what is needed to sustain the service.

Your comment contradicts itself. A facebook e.V. with a strict data safety policy would be nothing more than another organisation running something similar to diaspora.

here are the options:

data is controlled by:

a) yourself b) your hacker-friend c) a profit-oriented company d) a non-profit-oriented organisation

a and b are the restrictions diaspora faces.

Facebook is c - not good for well-known reasons.

d is an organisation responsibly handling your data.

no contradiction.

the organization though could in fact be based on Diaspora and maintain pods.

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#43
post #13

I like these guys' perseverance. But part of me can't stop the feeling of sadness that they've spent a better part of a decade working on it, perhaps the best years of their lives. I know perseverance and failure is seen as good things in certain circles, but I don't think I've ever read a biography where the author spent ten years on something that ultimately went nowhere and then went on to do things of enough note…

I spent 8 years working on Appleseed (also a federated social network, 2003 to approx. 2011) and it was worth every minute, even though it never went anywhere. Working on a problem that nobody has been able to solve gives you really good insight into software engineering that you can't get when you're implementing other people's solutions, no matter how complex those solutions are. Even though I failed, I benefited q…

Hey Michael, good to see you around :)

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#44

Does event management exist yet? I.e, can my friends and I create events and invite people to them like you can on Facebook? Also, ISTR from last time I played with it, there was no ability to create photo albums/collections. Does that exist now? Without those two things I couldn't even begin to consider getting people to start using it.

Friendica does that.

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia gives 677,000 as the size of the Diaspora community https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(social_network) citing The Federation: https://the-federation.info That's ... on the order of Usenet ~1990 or so, per personal conversations with Gene Spafford a few years back. Where "OTO" could be 500k - 5m users. Much of Usenet was far smaller. Microsoft did some studies on Usenet nodes and behavioural patterns…

I may have those too; I was at a company that bid to host microsoft.public around that time and their views on Usenet were very enlightening. I'll see if I can dig them up. (Funniest part of the requirements spec: it had to "appear to be" hosted on a Windows server...)

That is ... amusing.

As I recall, there was some degree of contention over whether or not Unix (a/k/a not infrequently Linux), or servers from a certain Redmond, WA, based company were superior and/or at all capable of general Internet hosting, at the time.

Hotmail comes to mind as well. FreeBSD.

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm only peripherally attached (I've got a ... long-dormant Diaspora account), but there are a number of semi-inter-related open-social projects, which talk to various extents. "The Fediverse" includes a few of those, and I think it has bridges/gateways to Diaspora. Frendica is another, I think , related protocol. The problem generally is that the communities are small, diversified, hosting is a hurdle for virtually…

Mastodon instances are actually part of the Fediverse (OStatus)

As I'm aware.

Largely through the whinging of previous Fediversalists.

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#47
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm only peripherally attached (I've got a ... long-dormant Diaspora account), but there are a number of semi-inter-related open-social projects, which talk to various extents. "The Fediverse" includes a few of those, and I think it has bridges/gateways to Diaspora. Frendica is another, I think , related protocol. The problem generally is that the communities are small, diversified, hosting is a hurdle for virtually…

Cool. I just signed up on Mastadon. Have you tried patchwork yet? The slow-start mode seems to be default mode for all new social media platforms while FB is dominating the space. I could see a service business rolling Diaspora out on-site to organizations. I think poaching users is fair game and should be perfected across all the platforms. Basically, sharing on FB links that are hosted on a Diaspora instance. So th…

I haven't.

https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius

https://mastodon.cloud/@dredmorbius

First is primary, though I hop back and forth a fair bit.

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#48
post #2

Is there a bigger community actually using Diaspora? Maybe I'm outside of that bubble that's why I'm wondering.

It's not an overwhelming lot, so I wouldn't expect you to find someone on there that you already know, but it has this sort of early internet forum charm, where you can easily get to know a handful of strangers and hop on there every now and then to talk to those.

Also, its community does very much consist out of the more technical crowd, with a focus on privacy and it also helps if you don't mind the occasional free software activist shouting about. That's just the group that's most likely to sign up to it, which can be a blessing as even with so few people, you always find someone to talk about tech stuff, but it can at times also get somewhat old...

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#49

diaspora is flawed by design. it will only ever be used by techies b/c either you take care of your own server or you have to trust somebody with your data. what is needed is a facebook e.V. with a strict data safety policy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_association_(Germ... it would cost transparently what is needed to sustain the service.

That's not helpful. "data safety policy" is only as safe as you trust the people running it, and as long as you trust the government not to change the playing field.

Historically, neither of these tend to be sustainable.

Re: Diaspora version 0.7.0.0 released

#50
post #49

diaspora is flawed by design. it will only ever be used by techies b/c either you take care of your own server or you have to trust somebody with your data. what is needed is a facebook e.V. with a strict data safety policy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_association_(Germ... it would cost transparently what is needed to sustain the service.

That's not helpful. "data safety policy" is only as safe as you trust the people running it, and as long as you trust the government not to change the playing field. Historically, neither of these tend to be sustainable.

With your attitude you cannot trust anybody.

Also government is nothing bad. A part of a good data safety policy is absolutely also including cooperation with law enforcement. If you think that your government is abusing its power then choosing super-crypto is not the right battle field - you have to become politically active.

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