Comment by raydiatian | Hacker News Reader

Comment by raydiatian | Hacker News Reader

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> It took you longer to wonder about this stuff, than it would've taken you to actually find out.

It was a genuine question, because I didnt know the answer, but the effort it took to write all that out is because I’m trying to make a point. Additionally, it also didn’t require much effort to imagine theoretical models for how it, or any platform covers operating costs: Decentralized BYOServer, Ads, Subscriptions, User data markets.

I just don’t see it reaching scale without not grinding through people unnecessarily. And with the planet gently cooking itself stupid, I don’t understand how building YetAnotherSocialNetwork™ is a priority (which I know you aren’t advertising for).

I think we should all just let Elon run Twitter into the ground, and take it as the win it secretly is, and quit socializing on the internet (which I know will never happen).

I think the concept of it is kind of cool. The NYT or any other journalist institution could put up their own "twitter" and not rely on Elon not to ban them if they criticise him. Other people are setting up what is essentially their own YouTube, at least I found a French Blood Bowl 2 mastodont server that was full of match videos. I'm sure it'll be too much of a hassle, because you sort of need to put effort into it, and you don't on twitter/YouTube/discord/tiktok/whatevercomesnext. Especially in terms of actually turning your "views" into money, but the concept is pretty cool and very old "you own your own shit" internet.

Unlike a blog or something else you make on your own, it'll all be semi-connected though.

WRT the “uncensorability” of fediverse, the servers are all still built on top of (a) Amazon/Google/Microsoft IaaS or rolled at home. Those silicon chips and boxes are almost guaranteed to be produced and distributed by Apple/AMD/Intel/Qualcomm. They will pass around bytes on the internet policed by Comcast, Xfinity, Google, and Mediacom.

While it’s not impossible to pull off a coup against corporate owned social media, there are so many places where fediverse counts as parasitic competition that we basically need to have an open-source eternally-libertarian RISC-V shop at the scale of AMD to have a fighting chance of building a truly unbiased fediverse.

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