One answer is right under Introduction:
> Content portability
> Users move between hosts without losing their content, audience, or metadata.
> Content portability
> Users move between hosts without losing their content, audience, or metadata.
ATProto has lexicon, which are more about social coordination than schemas for data correctness
https://pfrazee.com/blog/lexicon-guidance
The protocol is much more than data portability, it essentially turns the global social media system into a giant distributed system anyone can participate in at any point. Imagine if FB also let you tap into the event stream or produce your own event stream other FB users could listen to in the official FB app. That would be a pretty awesome requirement for all social media apps, yea?
Don’t we already have that and is called “the web”? It’s already a giant distributed system anyone can participate in at any point.
What are we really gaining here?
Perhaps it is time to read more about the protocol directly instead of asking questions on HN to poke holes in it from a position of ignorance.