I do not think that is accurate. I know plenty of non-tech people using reddit for a variety of things. Everything from music to personal advice to fashion, interior decorating, and food. It is far from a tech only forum. Very few people I know use tiktok. Instagram is definitely used mostly by normies, I will give you that.

Where have I said that I want them to turn into a full mega corp? All I am hoping for is enough success to be useful for people. Like Mastodon and Lemmy are already. Like blue sky is.

Efficiency == effectiveness.

Maybe not within the “geek” world, but Facebook is one of if not the largest social media platform out there. So I am not sure it’s quite accurate to say “not many people” want to use a site like that. I know for a fact a lot of my friends would join one of an alternative existed.

I am not a programmer or web developer. This post is meant as a contribution to those that are capable. If there is some user feedback forum more appropriate, I would be happy to contribute there. I apologize for not being able to contribute more. I will work on my programming skills and see if I am able to help in a more concrete way.

Was the smallness the magic? For me, I did not notice or care about the size. It was about personal connections first and foremost. The feed was full of your friends posts, and nothing else. Then they all started going all in algorithms, trending/engagement, advertisements, bots, and AI, and it all went to shit. In other words, corporate profit seeking is what ruined it, not the size.

I fully agree with that. Personal choice is a big part of what the fediverse is a big part of what the fediverse is about, after all.

That is pretty depressing then. I always viewed the fediverse and activitypub as a transformative technology that could reshape the state of corporate control of the internet. What you are saying that that will never happen and we should just basically give up.

That second one is actually pretty good. The first one needs to die in a fire.

Eh, I think rejecting anything associated with Meta seems perfectly normal for people trying to get away from corporate social media.

The poking was annoying, but somewhat endearing. I feel like myspace was where it was at to be honest. There is a site called spacehey that replicates it, would be nice for something like that to be on the fediverse.

You’re the third person I’ve heard this from. Seems marketing is not the only issue.

Forgive my ignorance as I am not a developer, but how hard would it be for a new development team to take it over? I know that open source software is a collaborative process, but it feels like most of the biggest fediverse platforms have dedicated teams that drive it. What exactly happened that led this one to fizzle out? What would it take to get another one engaged? Or would it just be a start from scratch type situation?

I do agree that the functionality is pretty good, if not a bit wonky at times. I’ve heard those hosting servers discuss how hard it is to keep an instance running smoothly.

True, but then why have Mastodon and Lemmy been able to make it work? I’m not sure about Lemmy, but I know Mastodon is a non-profit that has a paid development staff. What is stopping friending from following a similar model? Do they just not care enough about it to try to pursue it full time? I do know there are grants and different types of funding structures for fediverse projects, but I do see how funds can be a limiting factor. For me, it seems more of a matter of passion and dedication. I could be wrong about that though.

Totally, the name and overall functionality is decent, and I actually do enjoy using it once I figure out how. It just needs a bit of a face lift and overall marketing rework.

For sure. It basically just comes across as a Temu version of the Facebook logo.

The website is not bad as far as websites for open source software go, but for a social media site, it is honestly one of the worst I have ever seen.

It’s part of an overall image. I know it seems minor, but when the sign up is janky, the website is janky, then you somehow get a janky error with some bizarre looking rabbit, it just adds to the pile of things that might make people think it’s amateur hour.

This album is so moving. It captures the event of the challenger explosion perfectly, both in the lead up to it and the emotional aftermath. One of my all time favorites.

So he basically admitted that he farmed it out, otherwise he would have proven it.