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   Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 03:54:17 JST Chris Trottier

   On my timeline, some people are saying that if you are federating with Threads, you are a terrible person.

   But these folks don’t seem to have any plan for migrating people off Threads. And should they have a plan, what’s their plan for getting them to migrate to a server that de-federates Threads – and ensure they’re happy when they do it?

   The ironic thing is that a lot of these “morally upright” folks came to the Fediverse during the #TwitterMigration. They benefitted from tools to make the transition easier. They used auto-crossposting, look-up sites to find their old friends, and various importing tools to help them ensure their switch to Mastodon was a success.

   In other words, they benefitted from connecting their Fediverse accounts to Twitter. They can’t use these tools right now, mind you, but that’s not because Fediverse developers were so outraged by Elon Musk that they pulled the plug. No, it was Twitter that pulled the plug by entirely killing off API access.

   But now that these folks “got theirs”, they want to kick the ladder off the roof. Should there be some sort of crisis on Threads – and there likely will be – what’s the migration path for Threads users to leave Threads? Why should they trust some random Fediverse server that they’ve never interacted with instead of continuing to deal with the devil they do know, Threads?

   By no means am I telling you to federate with Threads. As a server operator, that decision is entirely up to you. Yet I am very skeptical that if all Fediverse servers de-federated Threads, it will make the world a better place. On the contrary, no migration path from Threads makes the world worse.

   • Tim Chambers repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 03:54:12 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     A few folks are saying, “I don’t care about a migration path from Threads because Threads users will never leave anyway.”

     This is funny because you know what they used to say this about? Twitter.

   • Embed this notice
     Tim Chambers (tchambers@indieweb.social)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 04:18:08 JST Tim Chambers

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet Or MySpace TO Facebook in the first place, or to a lesser scale Digg to Reddit….

   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Mar-2024 04:18:09 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     I’m actually seeing people say, “Never in the history of tech have people migrated from proprietary software to open source software.”

     Oh yeah? Then what about the server migration from Windows NT to Linux?

     What about the migration from MCA to ISA?

     What about the migration from closed networks like AOL to the bloody Internet?

     Thing is, when all those migrations happened, the benefits were obvious to all. Linux saved people millions of dollars because it was free. ISA gave us cross-compatibility for off-the-shelf PC parts. The Internet vastly expanded the network effect for online services.

     But what made all those migrations possible was that the emerging tech was somewhat familiar to those who used a previous generation of tech. Linux adoption was possible because it was similar to *nix. ISA adoption was possible because of DOS. Internet adoption was possible because it was not that much different from using AOL, and soon enough, AOL provided users with access to the broader Internet.

     So if we want broad adoption of the Fediverse, and eventual migration off proprietary services, then the benefits of federation need to be obvious to people who are not yet here – and they need some level of familiarity.