TwilightVulpine

Bigots really want to pretend that some teenager discovering that they are gay or trans is a result of some massive conspiracy rather than, you know, they just being gay or trans.

They call it “grooming” when LGBT people simple exist in society where people might notice them, and they want to make such a scandal that people don’t even think what is the opposite of that which they want.

I am extremely skeptical of 2 and 3, because it means people who already decided to drop mainstream social media platforms will go back on their decision, and it suggests that people want instances to be more like Meta, rather than for it to function in a user driven way that provides things that Meta will never be willing to offer.

If people can be tempted off of the Fediverse so easily, the problem is not Meta. Keep in mind that right now people are already choosing not to engage with Facebook. I’m not naive to assume that they won’t have appeal and influence and dirty tricks. but seems to me like such a complete lack of faith in the Fediverse to assume that if Meta merely exists alongside the ecosystem, it’s inevitable that everyone will jump ship. That sounds like what they wanted was a Big Tech-driven platform all along.

I don’t think that’s right.

Comes to mind also that Mastodon has had many years of headstart. How much of a slow growth does it still need?

In the Fediverse it’s easier to escape that than it would in any other platform.

I don’t think it’s possible to take down decentralized social media unless it fails by itself, unless the ecosystem here is so completely unappealing people decide to get back to all the well known ills and dullness of Facebook.

Even compared to XMPP, it’s not the same. Chat programs are a communication tool. Social platforms are communities.

I am not underestimating them, I don’t know why this insistence that I must be. I think people are catastrophizing and spelling doom forgetting that we are seeing tech companies fucking up time after another, and also not giving enough credit to the advantages and potential that we have here.

If you think all it takes is peeking over the fence and the Fediverse will fall apart, the maybe it could never be. But I think the interest in something different will only grow now. I believe we can take users out of Meta instead.

That’s my point though. There are things that will never find a home under Meta’s umbrella, so it cannot just take it all over.

I’m wondering what they could possibly even Extend in a way that the Fediverse can’t keep up? The most they can do is to gatekeep people who are only in their ecosystem, but… they already do that. Whoever is only on Facebook and Instagram is only on Facebook and Instagram, and it didn’t stop the Fediverse from existing.

Nah, I know they are evil, but I also know that there are things people want that they will never provide because they want full control and an advertiser friendly environment.

Like say, where would NSFW artists be more at ease? The Fediverse or an Instagram offshoot? Especially in the wake of Twitter falling apart.

Let’s also not overestimate the scheming of tech tycoons are either. I believe Meta is making a blunder and I don’t think we should stop them.

People are fearful then meta will retract it/ defederate and take the majority of content with it (EEE). This would effectively kill the fediverse.

I don’t see how that could possibly happen. It’s not like they can buy the Fediverse. Seems to me far more likely that the Fediverse will be gain interest from people wishing to follow/interact with Meta users without being beholden to Meta and if/when Meta decouples from it again the Fediverse will be larger than before. Sure, some may come and go, but others will find interests outside of Meta.

Like everyone is pointing out, they already will be the largest instance. They are not going to gain that much by trying to trying to absorb the rest of people who are likely in the Fediverse from dissatisfaction with Big Tech and wanting to break free from their algorithms and restrictions.

Sucks that we have to deal with those types but I wouldn’t go so far lump them all like that. I feel like some of it might involve neurodivergent people who just don’t feel like they get the best of treatment out there. But just this elitism driven by terminally-online brain rot can get bad enough by itself, it’s not a good mindset.

It really does say a lot when the dreaded other that they want to avoid is someone who is normal.

If anything has become clear over the years is that IQ has no correlation with saying smart or sensible things. There are very smart people out there that keep posting stupid things.

The issue I have with this analogy is that the food here isn’t quite that great. Maybe the service is better and it’s less crowded and more friendly, but the menu is pretty limited and not everything it serves even matches the fast food’s quality. I guess there’s merits from being loyal to your local cafeteria and its community even if it’s not always the best, but lets not exaggerate the quality being delivered here.

I used to browse reddit for gaming news, especially indie games, and the communities I found for this on Lemmy didn’t pick up any momentum yet.