←back to thread

Are we decentralized yet?

(arewedecentralizedyet.online)
487 points Bogdanp | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
INTPenis ◴[] No.45077453[source]
We're more decentralized in fedi but we're also not really consistent either. Which I think is the number one gripe for users who manage to get into the fedi.

I don't mind, I still think it's a huge leap forward, but it's important to set realistic expectations.

replies(2): >>45077542 #>>45121194 #
1. immibis ◴[] No.45121194[source]
I think that thinking of "the fediverse" as one thing at all is a mistake. It's Gilbert Ryle's classic category mistake:

> A foreigner visiting Oxford or Cambridge for the first time is shown a number of colleges, libraries, playing fields, museums, scientific departments and administrative offices. He then asks “But where is the University?” .....

"The fediverse" is not a thing. There are many separate sites and the collection of all of them in total may be called "the fediverse", but that is not a thing by itself. They don't even all share a protocol in common. You cannot join the fediverse any more than you can join the game industry or the startup scene. You have to join a specific server, game company or startup (or more than one). And while from the outside you might have heard a lot of "the game industry is cut-throat" or "startups work together to innovate technology", once you are inside one of them, you'll find that it's a lot more fragmented than it at first appeared, and totally incohesive, and although from a bird's eye view it looked like you and your competitor down the hall were both making VR happen, they won't work together with you.