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1. Embed this notice
   vid (vid@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 21-Jan-2024 03:03:46 JST vid

   Why does mastodon look like twitter? Why can't it look like a research platform (data view, annotation, repositories)? It just seems like a waste of people's time. I can't even be bothered to try to make this clear it's so asinine. Look I'm using twitter but it's open source

   • Embed this notice
     Boris Mann (boris@toolsforthought.social)'s status on Sunday, 21-Jan-2024 03:03:43 JST Boris Mann

     in reply to

     @vid the big vision is in #ActivityPub the protocol.

     I can’t speak to Mastodon’s plans (although it is open source so people can help build it, fork it to be something different, or run custom instances).

     You can run many different client front ends that change how you use Mastodon.

     And build other types of apps. The “Article” type is for longer posts, and Postmarks is a bookmarking app https://github.com/ckolderup/postmarks

     So it’s Twitter and Delicious and Evernote and lots of apps all together.

   • Embed this notice
     vid (vid@cosocial.ca)'s status on Sunday, 21-Jan-2024 03:03:45 JST vid

     in reply to

     What is the big vision? What is it working toward? Or is just one cool feature to the next by the people who are inside the not very well defined protocols?

     Tim Chambers repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Boris Mann (boris@toolsforthought.social)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 21:55:10 JST Boris Mann

     in reply to

     @vid you could build a research platform if you wanted to!

     My vision is that ActivityPub will get adopted more, new apps and protocols and schemas will emerge with varying levels of interop, and this in turn leads to a thriving ecosystem of backend and front end apps, code, projects, and large and small businesses growing ecosystems around these things.

     Are there specific things I want to build? I have ideas for small business, and a recipe protocol would be fun. Something with maps / places.

   • Embed this notice
     Boris Mann (boris@toolsforthought.social)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 21:55:11 JST Boris Mann

     in reply to

     @vid there is no plan. No one’s in charge.

     Funding, open source effort and contributions, individuals writing tutorials, design research etc etc etc

     Same as the web. Same as the world. Everything is lacking. Find others and work on what you want to see.

   • Embed this notice
     vid (vid@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 21:55:11 JST vid

     in reply to

     • Boris Mann

     @boris hmmm I don't think that's precisely true. There is latent biss. I described my vision. What's yours?

     phiofx repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     vid (vid@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 21:55:12 JST vid

     in reply to

     • Boris Mann

     @boris yes, the use of schema.org json-ld is basic, if ramshackle. That's, from what I've seen, the problem with the whole "suite." There aren't any good high level libraries, and the apps that exist are very opinionated and go in different standard stretching directions.
     I hope to be proven wrong, but so far it is lacking in vital areas including general libraries/foundations, identity protection, terms of content re-use, and so on.
     Do you see what I mean in my OP?

   • Embed this notice
     phiofx (phiofx@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 22-Jan-2024 22:13:13 JST phiofx

     in reply to

     • Boris Mann

     @boris

     Seems to me we are well on our way towards that inspiring vision. Kinda hard to be objective but it feels that the #fediverse mindshare is reaching critical mass https://fedidb.org/software

     My sympathy for the "not another twitter" feeling is moderated by the fact we wouldn't be here if #mastodon was not around to offer a tangible alternative at the right moment (the federation concepts behind #activitypub are not particularly new and were for a long time in limbo)

     @vid

   • Embed this notice
     phiofx (phiofx@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 23-Jan-2024 01:04:21 JST phiofx

     in reply to

     @vid if you click through you get links to source code, API, forums etc. The issues you mention seem to be on the radar of developers. An important site in this respect (to see where things are heading technically) is the collection of Fediverse Enhancement Proposals. Quote: "The goal of a FEP is to improve interoperability and well-being of diverse services, applications and communities that form the Fediverse."

     https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep

   • Embed this notice
     vid (vid@cosocial.ca)'s status on Tuesday, 23-Jan-2024 01:04:22 JST vid

     in reply to

     • phiofx

     @phiofx the fedidb software list reminds me of the early days of BBS, there were many forks of a few systems, eventually networks emerged, but portable identity and data specs are the key point today.

   • Embed this notice
     vid (vid@cosocial.ca)'s status on Tuesday, 23-Jan-2024 01:04:23 JST vid

     in reply to

     • phiofx

     @phiofx that's a neat site. Looks like the source code is no longer offered?
     "Alternatives to twitter" always exist, but what are they bringing is the main point. It's nice to see news sources, I think that's the most valid case for a 1:1 twitter, but it is inhibited past that by privacy issues, minimal adherence to network data ideas, and the fact its led by a few implementations/personalities, not any spec/reference implementations.