Ask HN: Why does everybody say “Mastodon” when they mean ActivityPub? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why does everybody say “Mastodon” when they mean ActivityPub?

Isn't that like saying "Chrome" when you mean the World Wide Web?

Mastodon is made with the ActivityPub protocol and Mastodon is a notable social network implementation of the ActivityPub protocol so when everyone is talking about the decentralized social network that they are joining after leaving Twitter, they will say Mastodon. If someone is talking about a federated decentralized protocol, then you will hear them say ActivityPub.

Your comparison is like asking why people say Wordpress when they mean CMS platform. I joined Mastodon rather than I joined the ActivityPub protocol. I joined Wordpress rather than I joined a CMS platform.

    I joined Mastodon rather than I
    joined the ActivityPub protocol.

To me it is the other way round. You joined an ActivityPub node that runs the Mastodon software. If you are @denu@x.com and I am @jona@y.com - how did we not join the same network, independent of which software x and y use?

If x or y changes their software from softwareA to softwareB - did one of us then "leave" the "softwareA network" or the "softwareB network"? I would say no. We can still interact just like we did before. We are still on the same network, as long as x and y speak the same protocol.

There is no such thing as a ActivityPub node whereas there is such a thing as a Mastodon node. I joined a Mastodon node that uses the ActivityPub protocol, because the Mastodon node I joined uses this protocol, I can communicate with software nodes other than Mastodon that also use the ActivityPub protocol.

Maybe you are better off asking why people say Mastodon when they mean Fediverse. Even ActivityPub's user guide says to join a Mastodon node, they don't say to join a ActivityPub node.

https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/pub/guide-for-activitypu...

    There is no such thing as a ActivityPub node
    whereas there is such a thing as a Mastodon node.

It is simply the other way round. It is the same with every protocol and its implementations.

You run an Ethereum node, not a "Geth node" or a "Mantis node".

You run a BitTorrent node, not an "rtorrent node" or an "qBittorrent node".

You run a webserver, not a "Django behind Nginx server".

The "Chrome/Web vs Mastodon/Fediverse" isn't event correct, it should be "Chrome/Web vs Tusky/(Mastodon|Fediverse)", or "Twitter/Web vs Mastodon/Fediverse"?. Those things operate on a different level, they can't really be compared because they serve a different purpose.

Twitter users aren't joining the Fediverse, they're joining Mastodon. They rightly don't care about the Fediverse, they're just looking for a Twitter alternative, that's what Mastodon is. The Fediverse isn't tangible like Mastodon is. For the majority of users, that's an implementation detail.

Because it's already complicated enough. Marketing matters, even for open-source projects. If you want people on your decentralized social network, don't make it sound more complex than it already is.

Did the same happen during the beginning of the web?

Did people say "I found this info on Mosaic" or did they say "I found this info on the web"?

Because ActivityPub is just the protocol, and they mean the platform and social network family.

So, more like saying Blink or Chrome instead of http.

I've never heard about ActivityPub before your post. And Mastodont is complicated by it self. Is it one server, one service or multiple ones? Why handle isn't something simple. Where are my messages stored? So put on top of that protocol and it would be a total mess.

Mastodon is to ActivityPub what Chrome is to the Web.

Most Apple users don't use Chrome. They all use Safari. And others use Firefox.

So nobody talks about "Chrome" when they mean the web. Everybody says "I found this info on the web". Nobody says "I found this info on Chrome". No chaos because of this.

No need to talk about Mastodon when you mean ActivityPub.

ActivityPub is the protocol. Nobody talks about "I found this on HTTP". Your analogy should be corrected to: "Mastodon is to ActivityPub what Chrome is to HTTP". Or perhaps: "Mastodon is to the fediverse what Chrome is to the Web."

You are correct that there is no chaos caused by using the wrong terms, but you are proving that point in a different way than you think.

You are right about ActivityPub being the protocol.

I would be fine with my question being rephrased to "Why does everybody say “Mastodon” when they mean the Fediverse?".

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