Notices by Ben Adida (ben@mastodon.adida.net)

This week, we're launching VotingWorks, the voting system we've been hard at work on for six years. Open-source, secure, and easy to use. So every American can trust their ballots are counted correctly.

I'm so proud of our team and of what we've accomplished together. This is just the first of many finish lines, of course.

https://voting.works/machines

Always love a good @anildash essay like this one. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/internet-future-about-to-get-weird-1234938403/

I'm not sure I fully believe it, but I like the optimism and the very human nature of the world Anil sees. And yeah, a weird, disaggregated, hodge podge future rather than the one big mall everyone goes to is a healthier vision of the future, for sure.

@evan that's not what I said.

@evan i don't agree. One thing that was positive about Twitter is journalists having independent voices and a lasting timeline as they move from job to job. Being tied to your employer is not ideal, IMO.

Newspapers hosting their own Mastodon instances is the wrong model.

This here by WaPo, newspapers verifying their journalists wherever they toot, is the right model.

https://washpost.engineering/heres-how-the-washington-post-verified-its-journalists-on-mastodon-7b5dbc96985c

Bummed to see some folks outright rejecting and even blocking investment-backed players of the Fediverse. The Fediverse can't just be the artisanal cheese shop of the Internet if it means to serve all humans. Gotta try various things. Plenty of opportunity to block and route around later based on actual bad behavior right? That's the point of federation, i think?

Everyone is focused on the Fediverse ActivityPub conversation, but I'm finding it equally fascinating, maybe even more interesting, how Mastodon makes it super easy to have alternate web front-ends that are purely static HTML+JS, like pinafore.social and elk.zone.

Much safer to try these tools than, say, try an alternate ActivityPub host. As these "front-end APIs" become more powerful (and I hope they do), we might see more innovation on this front.

I'm pessimistic about the chances of a federated Twitter gaining and sustaining wide adoption. But I could be wrong, and I'd love to be wrong. So in the spirit of contributing rather than just whining, I wrote up a few thoughts.

Don't let federation make the experience suck.

cc @blaine

http://benlog.com/2022/12/28/dont-let-federation-make-the-experience-suck/

#federation #web #mastodon

What if Firefox became the best Fediverse client? Could be very powerful and timely.

http://benlog.com/2022/12/28/firefox-should-become-the-best-freaking-fediverse-app/

Builds on ideas from @luis_in_brief

@evan right? What's going on??

@evan so good. That scene is intense.

@evacide have you even heard of stalkerware though? I heard an Enigma talk on it once, you should totally look it up.

@evan it's necessary reading for anyone interested in federation!