2023-02-07 23:38:22
2022-12-22 13:05:53
2022-12-22 13:05:53
9754795
Why the fediverse will get corrupted
Any federated platform: Mastodon, Friendica, Peertube, Pixelfed, you name it - will get as corrupted as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the like if the trade society we live in takes a hold of them. What do I mean by that?
If your platform is based on trades, it means that it wants something from the users (a trade). Their currency (say a subscription for access or for more features, a badge and such), their data (it collects the user data and trades it for currency or influence and the like), or attention (will insert ads into the platform). These are the methods used to trade in the online world. And any federated platform is subject to these practices.
When any platform engages into trades with their users, the balance of motivation tilts. And the owners of that instance will have to prioritize whatever it is traded (data, currency, attention). And you guessed it, they will become just like Facebook, Twitter or Youtube. Business as usual, quite literally.
Does not matter that these platforms are "federated" since big instances can user their influence and power to keep users on their platforms. Can stop defederating with any other platform and force their users to only use the instance via their own trade-based apps.
This is what we are trying to scream about at TROM for the past 10+ years. Everything gets eventually corrupted by TRADE. Nature, websites, people, projects. Everything.
Read The Origin of Most Problems book where we detail all of it.
So don't get fooled by "federation", "open source", and the like. All of them can and are being corrupted by this trade based society. Therefore we need trade-free platforms more than open source or federated ones, so that we remove the bad incentive of trade. Trade-free can also be federated and open source, and in fact it encourages these other practices.
#tromlive
If your platform is based on trades, it means that it wants something from the users (a trade). Their currency (say a subscription for access or for more features, a badge and such), their data (it collects the user data and trades it for currency or influence and the like), or attention (will insert ads into the platform). These are the methods used to trade in the online world. And any federated platform is subject to these practices.
When any platform engages into trades with their users, the balance of motivation tilts. And the owners of that instance will have to prioritize whatever it is traded (data, currency, attention). And you guessed it, they will become just like Facebook, Twitter or Youtube. Business as usual, quite literally.
Does not matter that these platforms are "federated" since big instances can user their influence and power to keep users on their platforms. Can stop defederating with any other platform and force their users to only use the instance via their own trade-based apps.
This is what we are trying to scream about at TROM for the past 10+ years. Everything gets eventually corrupted by TRADE. Nature, websites, people, projects. Everything.
Read The Origin of Most Problems book where we detail all of it.
So don't get fooled by "federation", "open source", and the like. All of them can and are being corrupted by this trade based society. Therefore we need trade-free platforms more than open source or federated ones, so that we remove the bad incentive of trade. Trade-free can also be federated and open source, and in fact it encourages these other practices.
#tromlive
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Tio, Overloaded, Mark, Informa Pirata, Georgi and Roma like this.
masyukun
in reply to TROM • • •TROM
in reply to masyukun • •Books
TROMRoma likes this.
PublicLewdness reshared this.
masyukun
in reply to TROM • • •TROM
in reply to masyukun • •So for example for me Wikipedia is trade-free. I do not trade anything to them in order to access Wikipedia. Not my data, not my attention (seeing ads), not my currency. Therefore, Wikipedia is trade-free for everyone.
If we could create more and more such trade-free goods/services we will enlarge the chain of them, little by little. We have a big directory of trade-free goods and services here https://www.directory.trade-free.org/ so there are many already, but we need a lot more. And that's what we try to push for.
masyukun
in reply to TROM • • •I *do* contribute to Wikipedia, podcasts and artists I love on Patreon, and my Mastodon server because while the system can handle a degree of parasitism, if everyone paid nothing then the things in the commons that we love would shrivel and die.
Cătă likes this.
TROM
in reply to masyukun • •We provide endless examples of trade-free goods/services created by organizations and individuals all around the world, and in a plethora of domains. So this is not just a wishful thinking.
Marc "Blackie" DuQuesne
in reply to TROM • • •https://value4value.info/
V4V - A New Way to Think about Value
value4value.infoSchianali likes this.
hackbyte (friendica)
in reply to TROM • • •The #FediVerse is neither a corporated space nor even a heterogenous collection of servers but .. way more than that.
I don't see any chance for things to happen as you describe. For a simple example, _ANY_ instance on the #FediVerse which distributes ads will probably immediately get blocked and defederated...
It's just not the same as if one entity would control it all.
Btw .. who is trom? Looks some bit like a one man show to me ... can you tell me more? ;)
TROM
in reply to hackbyte (friendica) • •Let's hope you are right, but do not underestimate the force of trade in this society. The more popular the fediverse becomes, the more trade schemes will appear. For example there is already a plugin for Peertube (the main federated video platform out there) that allows admins to enable ads inside the video player. It is already here. And if some big instances start to implement it, others will follow.
These schemes will slowly get under the skin of people in ways that they will get used to them. Will see what this all will become, but we have to be aware of this risk.
It is a project I (Tio) started in 2011 with the release of t... show more
Let's hope you are right, but do not underestimate the force of trade in this society. The more popular the fediverse becomes, the more trade schemes will appear. For example there is already a plugin for Peertube (the main federated video platform out there) that allows admins to enable ads inside the video player. It is already here. And if some big instances start to implement it, others will follow.
These schemes will slowly get under the skin of people in ways that they will get used to them. Will see what this all will become, but we have to be aware of this risk.
It is a project I (Tio) started in 2011 with the release of the TROM Documentary. Since then and with the help of a bunch of other people we have created a lot more (books, software, websites, etc). See here.
Now there are a handful of people who are helping with the project, although it is true I am the main one working on it.
Documentary
TROMSchianali likes this.
Schianali
in reply to TROM • • •Outbid the advertisers. 😀
hackbyte (friendica)
in reply to Schianali • • •The #FediVerse doesn't exist just since this year ...... some instances are several years old ... and still financially healthy. ;)
Nobody want's ads. So we are kind to our hosts. ;)
Schianali likes this.
TROM
in reply to hackbyte (friendica) • •Schianali likes this.
hackbyte (friendica)
in reply to TROM • • •https://www.ft.com/content/de808736-2e05-4c3b-a53c-55b170ae9efd
"Twitter rival Mastodon rejects funding to protect non-profit status
Fast-growing open-source microblogging site has seen a surge of interest since Elon Musk took over Twitter"
;)
Twitter rival Mastodon rejects funding to protect non-profit status
Ian Johnston (Financial Times)TROM
in reply to hackbyte (friendica) • •hackbyte (friendica)
in reply to TROM • • •Additionally, getting your logo into a sponsor-page is a way different thing than placing actual ads... ;)
Schianali likes this.
TROM
in reply to hackbyte (friendica) • •The post above is not about this, mind you. But about the real possibility of monetizing the fediverse too.
Schianali likes this.
hackbyte (friendica)
in reply to TROM • • •Mastodon is a bit different as it is a german GmbH owning said domains. But he already showed his disinterest in financial investments....
Schianali likes this.
TROM
in reply to hackbyte (friendica) • •Schianali likes this.
Schianali
in reply to TROM • • •distributed social media network practical now ?
hackbyte (friendica)
in reply to Schianali • • •Heck you can rent serverspace with preinstalled mastodon if you want. ;)
hackbyte (friendica)
in reply to TROM • • •Here it started; https://techhub.social/@cloy/109598814392511612 but it's already gone.
Here you can see the local copy still saved on my home instance. https://friendica.utzer.de/display/11842075-4af717613b46e081-b2af9ac1
And here is how it ended:
https://techhub.social/@nicdex/109600410080560554