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Are we decentralized yet?

(arewedecentralizedyet.online)
487 points Bogdanp | 4 comments | 30 Aug 25 19:26 UTC | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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Animats ◴[30 Aug 25 19:59 UTC] No.45077547[source]▶
Keep the needle pointing north. Towards the center of that dial.

Too decentralized, and you can't find anything. Nobody uses it.

Too centralized, and censorship takes over. Nobody can speak freely.

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maxbond ◴[30 Aug 25 20:04 UTC] No.45077578[source]▶
I don't disagree but I do wonder if a.) discoverability is really so intractable in a decentralized environment if you're willing to throw a lot of resources towards indexing and b.) if that middle ground isn't like balancing a pendulum upside down - a very fragile equilibrium. A bunch of decentralized units might join together, or a large centralized unit might fail, pushing the pendulum to either side.

You can think of the golden age of blogs and search as an example of both. Search engines formed a centralized hub with blogs, forums, etc. forming the spokes. For a while that worked well before it was degraded by spam and consolidation of disparate forums etc. into a handful of major platforms (fueled partly be acquisitions).

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1. hklgny ◴[30 Aug 25 21:15 UTC] No.45078074[source]▶
The fediverse folks are violently against any efforts for discoverability. They like the high bar for discovering and joining. Any attempt gets brigaded and shut down quickly
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2. M2Ys4U ◴[30 Aug 25 22:35 UTC] No.45078588[source]▶
They're against opt-out discovery, not discovery in general.
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3. immibis ◴[30 Aug 25 22:52 UTC] No.45078686[source]▶
Some are. That doesn't mean they can do anything about it.

Remember, "the fediverse" is a bit like saying "the internet". "Internet folks are against centralization." Are they?

4. maxbond ◴[31 Aug 25 01:53 UTC] No.45079630[source]▶
Given how toxic big tent communities like Twitter can get, I think that makes perfect sense for some communities. Some plants thrive in full sun, some plants thrive in the shade. Some social interactions happen in the town square and some happen at more intimate functions.