←back to thread

Are we decentralized yet?

(arewedecentralizedyet.online)
487 points Bogdanp | 2 comments | 30 Aug 25 19:26 UTC | HN request time: 0.404s | source
Show context
d4mi3n ◴[30 Aug 25 19:39 UTC] No.45077410[source]▶
Neat! I'm not surprised at the findings here. BlueSky (for the average user) is pretty much a drop in replacement for Twitter.

Despite the smaller total numbers in Mastadon, it's great to see that the ecosystem seems to be successfully avoiding centralization like we've seen in the AT-Proto ecosystem.

I suspect that the cost of running AT proto servers/relays is prohibitive for smaller players compared to a Mastadon server selectively syndicating with a few peers, but I say this with only a vague understanding of the internals of both of these ecosystems.

replies(6): >>45077507 #>>45077986 #>>45078151 #>>45078889 #>>45079652 #>>45080382 #
1. epcoa ◴[31 Aug 25 01:58 UTC] No.45079652[source]▶
> Despite the smaller total numbers in Mastadon, it's great to see that the ecosystem seems to be successfully avoiding centralization

But since essentially no one is using it doesn’t suggest much avoidance of centralization. These factors are not independent. It’s pretty easy to avoid anything when your total user count is a rounding error compared to the alternatives.

replies(1): >>45079997 #
2. yborg ◴[31 Aug 25 03:04 UTC] No.45079997[source]▶
Bluesky user count is the same order of magnitude as Mastodon and is centralized. I think your argument is actually that if you are on a minority platform your wants and needs for how that platform operates are irrelevant. I suppose that's true if you aren't on the platform, but I don't think it's true if you are.