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Comment by rakoo | Hacker News Reader

Mastodon will probably die first because it's just a software but that's not a problem: ActivityPub, the protocol, and the Fediverse, the network, will most certainly outlast Twitter. Unless Twitter chooses to get compatible with the Fediverse.

A protocol can't die. People are still using IRC, XMPP, good ol' email, decades after they were created. They are still useful, they still work, so there is no reason for them to "die"

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Hey even gopher has 333 unique servers according to a recent census. But for all practical purposes it's pretty much dead.

> for all practical purposes it's pretty much dead.

It has a very small community. That is very different from being dead - in fact, that community is probably much more passionate about what makes it specific than a large community.

For example, you'd find that sysadmins are much more prevalent on Gopher than Twitter.

> For example, you'd find that sysadmins are much more prevalent on Gopher than Twitter.

I'd say ratio of sysadmins to actual users of the service is good indication that something is dead

I get that this was said in jest and I laughed.

But I do think it is worth pointing out there is nothing wrong with folks doing something to scratch their own itch. It does not have to be hugely popular or have a ton of users. If the sysadmins care enough to keep it running, that it literally all that matters...

>I'd say ratio of sysadmins to actual users of the service is good indication that something is dead

I may steal this quote.

Aren't the sysadmins actual users?

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