myrmepropagandist
Hank Green is the absolute KING of *almost* getting it. He has a new very frustrating video where he gushes a bit about how "Blue Sky is a Protocol!"
I mean, yes, you are technically correct. But it is not functioning like a protocol at all, come on.
Paul Cantrell
My pitch for an explanation:
Mastodon is solar. Bluesky is hydrogen fuel cells. Threads is corn-based ethanol.
All three are alternative energy sources that market themselves as being a more responsible alternative. One is better in reality now. One is better on paper, but isn’t even close to being real. One is a hoax even in theory.
myrmepropagandist
I'm really glad that you are doing this. Please take note that Mr. Green is confused and he's a terminally online nerd. You cannot possibly make this TOO simple.
Maybe run it by someone who isn't online much at all.
Gray Miller
@futurebird I have to give a presentation next month on “the new Alternative, social media platforms“ and they are asking me to talk about blue sky and mastodon. Unfortunately, they seem to think they both belong in the same category.
Along with threads…
I’m not sure how to break it to them
Matt McIrvin
@inthehands @futurebird @graymiller Except that Bluesky right now is exploding on a scale that Mastodon isn't, which is the opposite of the situation with solar and fuel cells.
Unfortunately Mastodon is something like the Linux of social-media networks. It's special in a way that may make it more robust than the commercial systems over the long term, and it makes it adaptable to all sorts of special purposes; but from a user perspective, it's a distinction on the basis of an ideology of technology that we probably can't make most people care about.
I suspect we're going to end up in the position of the people who keep wondering why Linux never took off on the desktop--it's so much better! Other operating systems make you dumb! If you can't jump through the simple hoops to use it, you shouldn't be allowed to use a computer! etc. etc.
(and we even have the equivalent of the people arguing "why aren't you calling it GNU/Linux" and arguing about the distinction of "open source" vs. "free software" etc. etc.)
Paul Cantrell
@mattmcirvin @futurebird @graymiller
Oh, yeah, my analogy only extends to the technology. Mastodon is 100% “Linux on the desktop:” every version of it that takes off in the mainstream (Android) will be a version completely co-opted by some large corp.
David Penfold :verified:
@mattmcirvin @inthehands @futurebird @graymiller ActivityPub/Mastodon, if you please.
🤪
myrmepropagandist
@davep @mattmcirvin @inthehands @graymiller
I can't even explain what it is with one word. I always have to say mastodon/fediverse because if they search for "fediverse" they will just get lost and never find their way on here. Mastodon is the only place where one could "get started" without someone helping you OR being a HUGE NERD.
But you know I don't want to JUST say mastodon nooo no good either.
But people learned to use email.
It's not hopeless.
The other systems will keep failing.
Matt McIrvin
@futurebird @davep @inthehands @graymiller And that's *before* you even get to the problem of picking a distro, uh, I mean, an instance.
Matt McIrvin
@futurebird @davep @inthehands @graymiller Anyway, these dark musings of mine were partly inspired by Katharine Hayhoe mentioning that of all the platforms where she talked about climate science, she got a positive reception on Bluesky, hostile denialist troll attacks on Twitter and Threads, dead air on Facebook because the algorithm was soft-shadowbanning her posts...
but Mastodon was, instead, the #1 place for "friendly fire" attention where people were concerned about climate, believed the science but attacked her for advocating it the wrong way. Which is just too perfect. Of course Mastodon would be the home of that.
Paul Cantrell
@ohmu
Sorry.
Weird Socks
@inthehands @mattmcirvin @futurebird @graymiller
Fricking Nostradumus going on right here...
As soon as I read it, it's obvious that's what's going to happen.
mcc
@futurebird There's this classic problem in tech where people think only about the technical aspects of a thing and not thinking about the social dimensions. The bluesky protocol thing is such an unusually pure example! There's social/economics dimensions baked *directly into the protocol* that turn it into something other than a protocol, but if they're focused entirely on the bits they just don't see it.
myrmepropagandist
It's clear SOMEONE tried to explain things to him and about 1/3 of it got through.
And ... really he's not person who I'd call averse to complex ideas about media ... but boy oh boy what a reality check about just how HARD this is going to be.
It also shows that the BlueSky line about "oh we're a protocol too" is doing just what we'd suspected.
clacke
> Except that Bluesky right now is exploding on a scale
@mattmcirvin So, BlueSky is nuclear.
(I kid, I kid, I believe solar, wind and nuclear are all required for us to leave carbon behind, and having nuclear is safer for us than not having it, as shown by France and Germany)
Jes Wolfe
@futurebird we need a word for explaining “technically ‘open’ but prohibitively expensive to peer with”
clacke
@jes5199 @futurebird I think "fauxpen" is a good term, but I've also seen that some people seem allergic to neologisms, some to this one specifically. 😅
"Open in name only" is as good as I can do with existing words, unless you are looking for something more precise.
James Widman
@futurebird
+1
i too am a confused and terminally online nerd, and would very much appreciate any accurate explanations of what bluesky is and how it's worse.
@graymiller will your talk be posted online anywhere?
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