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Mastodon.technology Shutdown

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Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#411

Post by andsoitis »

qznc wrote: post #63
cmeacham98 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, I like open source federated ecosystems like Mastodon, but claiming Twitter or Facebook will be shut down any time soon is laughable. I'm not sure I could reliably predict whether Twitter or Mastodon will live longer.

Let’s use Google+ as an example. It did shut down and still not all wounds have healed yet. For example, the indie RPG scene laments its demise. Edit: A Reddit thread as citation https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/udegsl/does_anyone_hav...

Didn’t G+ shut down primarily because nobody was using it (failed to compete against other options)?

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#412

Post by mattdesl »

i5heu wrote: post #258
mattdesl wrote: post #174

That's sad to hear, but it makes total sense to shut down the server given its sensitive data, rather than hand it off to another person. Mastodon/ActivityPub is a poor fit for a social network IMHO. - Accounts should not be tied a single server and their continued maintenance. - Private data and DMs should be end-to-end encrypted rather than entrusted with a single administrator. - People don't want to self-host. Th…

> - Accounts should not be tied a single server and their continued maintenance. you can move your account to another instance in about 2 Minutes of work > - Private data and DMs should be end-to-end encrypted rather than entrusted with a single administrator. There is no "private data" on mastodon, I think it gets communicated enough that admins will have access to direct massages. it even says to you "Posts on Mast…

Account migration is a redirect. Your posts do not carry over, and the experience is pretty clunky.[1] Your name alias is tied to the server you created it on, rather than tied to your identity and all that it carries (posts, data, network effects, followers).

Social networks should have private data and E2EE, plain and simple. And the hosting challenges and centralization is why we are here discussing Mastodon.

[1] https://edtechfactotum.com/migrating-to-a-new-mastodon-home/

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#413

Post by mattdesl »

anaganisk wrote: post #260
mattdesl wrote: post #174

That's sad to hear, but it makes total sense to shut down the server given its sensitive data, rather than hand it off to another person. Mastodon/ActivityPub is a poor fit for a social network IMHO. - Accounts should not be tied a single server and their continued maintenance. - Private data and DMs should be end-to-end encrypted rather than entrusted with a single administrator. - People don't want to self-host. Th…

So it boils down to purchasing an NFT to participate, if yes, I’m not sure how long it will last. I’ve been trying to get a namespace on ENS since forever, and no payment processor wants me to buy eth. If that itself is a major hurdle I’m not sure how people will ever join.

I don’t believe it will feel like this. “Buying an NFT” will be more like “paying for a service.” You visit a Farcaster client, and click the buy account name/domain button, it triggers a stripe payment, and then you are given a private key for the account.

A savvy user could circumvent this and use the blockchain directly if they want to pay in crypto and/or cut down on the payment processing fee.

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#414

Post by amadeuspagel »

smoldesu wrote: post #406
amadeuspagel wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm talking about showing ads on the website, which is what's discussed in the github issue I linked, not pushing ads to federated instances.

Oh, then I guess I don't really see what the problem is. It's a platform that lets you move your account freely, of course people are going to leave if you start smearing shit on the walls.

As you know, you see ads everywhere outside, and on many websites, including this one. If this genuinely feels like "shit smeared on a wall" to you, you really need to seek help.

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#415

Post by vgel »

vidarh wrote: post #261
galaxyLogic wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. So what happened to UseNet-News? Would that not be an ideal federated platform with a standard protocol and everything?

Maintaining federation of USENET was a massive effort. I used to run an NNTP server, and spent way too much time dealing with ensuring we had redundant feeds and kept up with the volume. And on top of that handling spam. It worked well for what it was at the time , but it was nowhere near an ideal federated platform.

What has Mastodon improved on this process, though? It seems the same issues are in place -- difficult to administer technically (this post) and hard to deal with spam (have heard before, don't have a link on hand unfortunately). This is a genuine question -- I wasn't around for USENET so maybe this is a "quantity of difference becomes quality of difference" issue where the degree of effort for maintaining it was just way harder than it is now.

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#416

Post by Kye »

andsoitis wrote: post #411
qznc wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s use Google+ as an example. It did shut down and still not all wounds have healed yet. For example, the indie RPG scene laments its demise. Edit: A Reddit thread as citation https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/udegsl/does_anyone_hav...

Didn’t G+ shut down primarily because nobody was using it (failed to compete against other options)?

They shut it down because PR disasters were adding up due to security breaches from not having enough people paying attention to it.

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#417

Post by proactivesvcs »

seti0Cha wrote: post #399
INTPenis wrote: post #318

I'm going to be frank, as a long time federated node admin. In the last few years I've seen so many admins act just like Ash. They have a huge heart and a lot of passion for federation. So they open their doors to thousands of users. And I keep thinking that it's just not sustainable. I've worked in ops for over 20 years, I feel like that background has given me a healthy scepticism and a respect for Murphy's law. So…

How hard is it to get connected to other instances? Is this done through personal relationships or prior history or can a complete outsider get involved? I know exactly zero people using Mastodon (that I'm aware of) but this sounds interesting and makes me want to try to set something up.

I believe Mastodon servers (and presumably, most of the rest) have a bootstrap list of other instances which they automatically federate with. If a user attempts to interact with an instance unknown to the server it then reaches out and begins federation. The user can follow, reply to and read the content on that server immediately, although sometimes it can take a little time for a full list of posts and profile data to appear. Admins can also choose various levels of blocking against federation of instances of their choice.

As a user this is all transparent. I follow loads of people from all over the Fedi (some of them not even microblogging platforms) and it basically just works.

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#418

Post by ihuman »

nightpool wrote: post #222
orblivion wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Today, several in my mastodon timeline mentioned they finished the move. But without them mentioning, I, an outstander (i'm on another instance) wouldn't notice it. Do you mean that part of the protocol allows for a migration process that includes changing who your follows are pointing at? (assuming all servers involved are up to date and have this feature) I.e. did your account automatically start following your f…

Yes. The process has three steps: First, you update the receiving profile to "allow" the move by pointing at each other using the as:alsoKnownAs relationship. This allows everybody to confirm that the receiving account is participating in the move, and authorizes it. Then, you update your old account with the "movedTo" property, so that any new users who look up your account will see a notification that you've moved.…

If it doesn't update the old content on your old account, then is there a way to copy the old content to your new account?

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#419

Post by proactivesvcs »

jacooper wrote: post #231
rglullis wrote: post #11

On the one hand, I am sad to hear about it and even more so due to the circumstances. On the other, I feel a bit validated in my belief that we need to have professionally managed instances on the fediverse. "Community Support" only goes so far. Thousands of people using a service, but how many of them actually help with its upkeep? I know that my instance has only a handful of paying users, and it is barely paying f…

Well if only having your own server on Mastodon was realistic, instead its totally impossible to get discovered. There is fix for this, which is Fedverse Relays, but guess what ? Mastodons official servers don't use them.

That simply isn't true. I'm a nobody and plenty of folk have found me from seemingly inane posts. People have found me out of the blue, from across the Fediverse, and I have no idea why; all I do know is we now chat frequently and without either of us even looking for one another. What's impossible is to discover how to use a platform without reading the documentation, and assuming that algorithms will just do the work for us.

Re: Mastodon.technology Shutdown

#420

Post by masukomi »

a couple people have mentioned it in passing, but i figured this warranted a top-level comment

anyone considering setting up an instance and not wanting to worry about having to ssh in during the night and deal with maintence stuff just to talk with friends should 100% consider signing up with masto.host.

I've had an instance there for months now.

While there's some manual setup on his end (the guy who runs masto.host) from the perspective of someone wanting a new instance it's _very_ easy, and he does a great job of keeping everything up to date.

I'm extremely happy to throw money his way each month and _not_ have to worry about maintaining my instance beyond occasionally granting access to new users and proactively blocking remote instances. As a small, invite only, server I don't have to worry about a lot of BS from obnoxious humans.

Note: if you use masto.host you don't get ssh access to your server so there are some settings you can't tweak. I'm ok with that in exchange for never having to worry about maintenance.

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