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silverpill

silverpill

@silverpill@mitra.social remote
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Ripple/XRP (a cryptocurrency company) just granted 200k USD to Social Web Foundation, "...to research sustainable revenue and operating models for digital publishers and community-run platforms":

https://interledger.org/news/interledger-foundation-awards-200000-social-web-foundation-support-decentralized-social-media

This means they will be able to influence the development of the ActivityPub specification at W3C.

For those who don't know: Interledger, WebMonetization and OpenPayments are basically the same thing, these projects were created by Ripple ~10 years ago in order to insert their cryptocurrency and related payment services into web standards. These projects are sometimes presented as independent, but this is a lie, they are not (not in 2019, not in 2025).

Needless to say, Ripple itself is a borderline scam: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2019/03/01/is-ripple-a-scam/. It's not even a cryptocurrency really, their infrastructure is completely centralized and no one in cryptocurrency space takes them seriously. But they have a lot of money to bribe people, so I am sure that we will hear more about their adventures soon.

RE: https://socialwebfoundation.org/?p=99982

Phantasm

Phantasm

@phnt@fluffytail.org remote
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@silverpill @kirby Now that this popped up in my timeline again, I completely forgot who social web foundation was. And now I remembered that fediblock mastodon had a meltdown about them couple months ago, after Meta became a sponsor and Mastodon got involved.

Funny thing, Flipboard, a public fediverse scraper, and IFTAS, an autojanny blocklist aggregator, are also involved.

This might be the time, when the network splits completely in half, if they manage to convince Mastodon to do another subject-esque hijack, but on a larger scale.

https://socialwebfoundation.org/2025/03/27/defederation-on-the-fediverse/
https://socialwebfoundation.org/2025/01/12/content-policy-on-the-social-web/
FourOh-LLC

FourOh-LLC

@FourOh-LLC@pkteerium.xyz remote
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Lemmy started out by building their own protocol, which was totally justified for their reddit-like rating and all the potential feature sets - then they switched to AP. The best way to make it impossible for VC to capture a project is by staying small and fractured, like Zot and ZAP.

The Fedi relying so much on AP is a death-knell.
Replying to @FourOh-LLC@pkteerium.xyz
Phantasm

Phantasm

@phnt@fluffytail.org remote
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@FourOh-LLC @kirby @silverpill I don't think it's an issue. At this point the network is split so much and diverse enough, that if an actual takeover of the protocol happens, nobody except those involved (Mastodon) would implement it.

If Mastodon wants to make a splinter network, they can, and very little people would care I think. Actual development would continue anyway through FEPs and progress on a spec alà LitePub, but built from FEPs would probably accelerate if people realized it's necessary.

Maybe pointless and endless discussions why a certain special URI should be banned would finally stop.

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5
Replying to @phnt@fluffytail.org
silverpill

silverpill

@silverpill@mitra.social remote
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@phnt @kirby @FourOh-LLC I'd prefer to avoid a network split. Most of the development still happens around Mastodon, maybe even more than 5 years ago. if there is a split it will look like Pleroma vs Misskey vs everyone else, not like Mastodon vs everyone else.

What fedi needs is an alternative to W3C, one that is run by people who actually build things, not by linked data theorycels.

Replying to @silverpill@mitra.social
Phantasm

Phantasm

@phnt@fluffytail.org remote
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@silverpill @kirby @FourOh-LLC I would prefer that as well, but at least from my view, those two projects are the only "worth it" part anyway. If it happens, then oh well. Personally I don't care much about anything else besides that. Trying to build fully interoperable "mega apps" isn't worth it. Forums can talk to other forums, microblogs can talk to other microblogs. Actual blogging (not microblogs) platforms only have to support the absolute basic of Create(Object(Note))) and same with video platforms.

Trying to build support for everything into everything won't end well and the UX will be a complete mess. The protocol supports it, but making UX work is another thing. Different projects for different things, which are unrelated is imo better.

And with W3C, I don't think there is much to save when original spec authors are so defensive about their funding and intentions that they have to resort to cheap ad hominem arguments to get out of a conversation. An alternative could work, but you end up with the same issue. A protocol made by a committee where nothing ever happens, because nobody fully agrees on what is the "proper" way. Not really sure how to solve this one.
Replying to @phnt@fluffytail.org
Replying to @silverpill@mitra.social
FourOh-LLC

FourOh-LLC

@FourOh-LLC@pkteerium.xyz remote
Open link
I'm working on a ESP32-S3 firmware to create a network based on Wireguard - without giving access the VPN endpoint. Access is granted only by connecting to the home network via WiFi, and routing happens based on geographic location - I live in Kane county, Illinois, and only people who send a SASE (Self-addressed Stamped Envelop) can buy the device.

I am entirely discussed by all the global networks, they all suck. I want to chat with individuals who are invested in property taxes, crime, local news, elected officials - because they are affected, they have skin in the game. Even the strongly opinionated is affected the same way as the prepared and conservative.

At least the MUCs are sill under our control, and coding for them is still relatively easy. I do see the network as better even than Zero-tier because you are focusing on a Civic Concern Domain, not on global static and white noise.

The LUG, the Fedi was supposed be for the owner-operator, now I think the MUC will continue where they failed and folded.
Replying to @phnt@fluffytail.org