a deep dive into the messy substrate and coordination layers below decentralised networks, and how authoritarian thinkers like peter thiel view this substrate as a way to capture networks

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[–] abeorch@friendica.ginestes.es 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@wisdomchicken I first thought that this article seemed to suggest variety in the implementation of Federated protocols was a bad thing but actually its saying the opposite and supports the organic development of activitypub which i complely agree with. Variety, experminentation and dare I say it diversity are strenghts. Uniformity is boring and weak. It gives us choice, the opportunity to try things out without completely starting anew and has sonfar meant we have an amazing choice ofnservers, clients, features and options.

[–] wisdomchicken@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

yeah, there are two aspects to this: what do you think is beneficial for the ecosystem, and what do people do in practice. And those are largely different things, turns out.

I think you can make a pretty good case why it would be beneficial for ecosystem development to have protocols more standardised. But that also kinda doesnt matter much, because in an open network you dont have control over what other people are doing.

Bluesky has a much more structured protocol, and much more control over their protocol and anyone in the fediverse has over activitypub. Still, the first thing that people do is tweak the protocol. The three most successful other products on atproto (tangled, streamplace and roomy) all significantly modify the protocol to fit their own needs, theoretical arguments be damned

[–] Jayjader@jlai.lu 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The next time I'm about to moan and complain about how nobody directly implements activitypub apis "the standard way", I'll remember this article and be mollified.

As @abeorch@friendica.ginestes.es states, diversity is a strength when it comes to resisting capture.

[–] abeorch@friendica.ginestes.es 1 points 1 month ago

@Jayjader @wisdomchicken Yeah its weird I never thought I would find myself arguing against standards but when you think about it that's what made the Internet so successful.