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   Ramin Honary (ramin_hal9001@emacs.ch)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2023 23:40:42 JST Ramin Honary
   Why #FediPact is important (1/3) The #fediverse should all agree to never federate with #Facebook

   #FediPact is an agreement between all current Mastodon instances to never federate with #Facebook, in response to the #Meta corporation's recent announcement that they will be making Facebook compatible with the #ActivityPub standard, and thus allow Mastodon and other ActivityPub services to federate with Facebook.

   Most of the arguments I hear in favor of federating with Facebook come down to trying to expand the reach of the fediverse and Mastodon in particular. If people on Facebook can interact with Mastodon, this can only grow the fediverse and make it more relevant. This is a failure to recognize the real threat of Meta.

   This pro-Facebook sentiment is usually accompanied by accusations of #FediPact supporters being irrationally dogmatic, overly paranoid about advertising and other for-profit ventures, overly concerned with privacy, and/or ignorant of how technology works. The attitude here is "Don't be so paranoid, just try it and you will see the benefits." This is a straw-man argument against #FediPact.

   (1/3 continued)

   #Mastodon #Kbin #Lemmy #Pixelfed #PeerTube #Fediverse #Facebook #Meta #FediPact

   • Embed this notice
     Louis (louis@emacs.ch)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2023 23:40:38 JST Louis

     in reply to

     • 🎓 Doc Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱

     @ramin_hal9001 You make some strong arguments here. It's great to see you laying out your reasoning in detail and with passion. ❤️ That's the spirit.

     What I have learned, however, is that Meta will only federate with select larger instances from the beginning. There will be contracts which also provide for financial compensation for the instance owners. Meta positions itself as a "savior", because especially the big instances have a very strong financial pressure. Users take it for granted that someone else is paying for everything.

     In these contracts, Meta also specifies the rules regarding the moderation. Instances will have the option of allowing ads from Meta or not (with the benefit of additional compensation).

     Smaller instances will have the possibility to register for a federation with Meta in a second step, but there will be no financial compensation and Meta decides if they will grant access based on their reputation.

     In summary, there will be instances with the "plus Facebook" feature and those that do not belong to the illustrious circle. No #FediPact will be able to change that (btw. these are the same people that will silence and defederate from you if you don't play by "their" rules).

     At the turn of the year there was a proposal from @freemo, where he proposed the creation of a "United Federation of Instances" (https://ufoi.org - ssl cert is expired). However, people associated the idea with one person and made fun of it because of his "reputation". If we had such a foundation today we would be in a much stronger position against Meta. It is the human condition not to be able to think outside our own bias.

     Whatever Meta will do, the Fediverse will not go down because of Meta's decisions but because of the actions of its admins and users. When I follow the daily arguments on #MastoAdmin or (#)Fediblock, I quickly realize where the journey is headed. Silcening and public shaming instead of mutual respect and cooperaton is the motto.

   • Embed this notice
     Ramin Honary (ramin_hal9001@emacs.ch)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2023 23:40:39 JST Ramin Honary

     in reply to
     Why #FediPact is important (3/3) Simply said: a battle between a federation and a corporation.

     #Mastodon (and other #ActivityPub #fediverse services) needs to see themselves the way the #Meta corporation sees Mastodon: as a competitor and a bitter enemy. Mastodon and the larger fediverse needs to strive to make itself a better and separate from #Facebook. The federation should not be providing free content that improves the quality of their competitor who is trying to shut them down.

     Therefore all #fediverse instance admins (#Mastodon #Kbin #Lemmy #Pixelfed #PeerTube) should agree to #FediPact . Federating with Facebook entails nothing but risk, and provides no actual reward. Federating with Facebook will not grow the fediverse, it will destroy it, slowly but surely.

     Maybe, if hell freezes over, Meta might agree to pay admins of Mastodon instances for federating with Facebook. Those who provide the service of quality content should be compensated, after all. But that is a separate discussion entirely. Let's just say that any Mastodon admin that allows Facebook to federate with their instance without compensation, especially for the increase in web traffic to their server accompanied by the increased bandwidth costs, is poorly informed fool who is happy to be exploited by a massive corporation.

     (3/3 end)

     #Mastodon #Kbin #Lemmy #Pixelfed #PeerTube #Fediverse #Facebook #Meta #FediPact

     Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Ramin Honary (ramin_hal9001@emacs.ch)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2023 23:40:40 JST Ramin Honary

     in reply to
     Why #FediPact is important (3/3) Simply said: a battle between a federation and a corporation.

     #Mastodon (and other #ActivityPub #fediverse services) needs to see themselves the way the #Meta corporation sees Mastodon: as a competitor and a bitter enemy. Mastodon and the larger fediverse needs to strive to make itself a better and separate from #Facebook. The federation should not be providing free content that improves the quality of their competitor who is trying to shut them down.

     Therefore all #fediverse instance admins (#Mastodon #Kbin #Lemmy #Pixelfed #PeerTube) should agree to #FediPact . Federating with Facebook entails nothing but risk, and provides no actual reward. Federating with Facebook will not grow the fediverse, it will destroy it, slowly but surely.

     Maybe, if hell freezes over**, Meta might agree to pay admins of Mastodon instances for federating with Facebook. Those who provide the service of quality content should be compensated, after all. But that is a separate discussion entirely. Let's just say that any Mastodon admin that allows Facebook to federate with their instance without compensation, especially for the increase in web traffic to their server accompanied by the increased bandwidth costs, is poorly informed fool who is happy to be exploited by a massive corporation.

     **EDIT (2023-06-23 16:10) Someone I trust has explained to me that Meta will in fact pay some instances for federating with Facebook. In that case, I favor an evidence-based approach to deciding whether to defederate with the instances "blessed" by Facebook.

     (3/3 end)

     #Mastodon #Kbin #Lemmy #Pixelfed #PeerTube #Fediverse #Facebook #Meta #FediPact