this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023
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Saddens me to see instance admins reducing their users legitimate concerns as 'reactionary' as if we/they are dumb ignorant fucks with no concrete concerns.
This is the very start of Meta gaining a foot hold in the fediverse. Of course they're not going to do anything overtly shitty at the very start. That'll come later when they get a firm foothold, start suggesting 'helpful' tweaks to ActivityPub, get a seat at various tables etc. The privacy issue is not so much (to me) about what they can do now , because he's right, anyone can set up scrapers and use the API, it's about what they'll introduce on Threads instances a few years from now, then offer to make part of the ActivityPub standard because its just so cool.
Of course there'll be ads at some point on Threads instances and Meta are the absolute masters at online ads. They're so good at it, not even UBO catches them all. If anyone honestly believes they're not going to be capable of injecting ads at some point in the future, they're living in a rose tinted fantasy land.
But those things are the future. Right now, Threads is already a place that is awash with hate groups like LibsOfTikTok etc. One of things I love about the fediverse is that I don't have to wade through that type of shit. It's mostly not here via defederation and if we know (as we do) that threads already has that type of content on it, why the fuck are people so keen to 'wait and see'? We can already see.
And yes, I know - I can user block and instance block, but the times I have to do that right now with an active userbase of less than 2 million across the fediverse are few and far between. Ramp that active userbase up to 100 million and it's going to feel like most of my time is spent playing whack-a-mole. That's not an enjoyable user experience in any way. And even after I've done all that, the open warfare that's going to break out with well-meaning non-Threads users reposting, quoting 'look at this evil fuck' type posts is going to mean I still end up seeing some christian fascists dumb take on COVID or whatever.
We, as a group of people, developed and use fediverse software precisely to escape this sort of shit. When are we going to learn that growth for the sake of growth is absolutely meaningless? Focus on quality and organic growth will occur. Let's have enough faith in the software and users that corporate users want to come to us.
Excellent post. I'm convinced everyone arguing in favor of letting facebook or twitter into the fediverse, are just ignorant of the these company's history, and what they're capable of.
There is exactly zero reason to let a rabid wolf into your house, or say things like, "but what harm can this wolf do???"
Some years from now, this whole subject will be the most upvoted Post on r/LeopardsAteMyFace/
Yeah, and some of us are software engineers and IT admins who understand the technical working of what's happening and can make informed and reasoned posts (like the one linked), instead of making decisions based off of inaccurate metaphors.
I created the software you're using right now, and I'm fully aware of how fragile this entire experiment is. We're going up against a system that can throw nearly unlimited resources in brainpower and money to subvert a system. It takes an astounding level of technocratic arrogance to think that you're immune to EEE, and that you can outsmart that amount of power.
No, it just takes having worked at meta and seen what they actually do. Your fear is boosting them into Gods that they are not.
Keep simping, you might land a job there yet!
Reading comprehension isn't your strong suit is it?
And some of us understand that what's happening here is not just about the technical workings and impact, it's also about how cultures and societies form and operate.
Following full federation, how long do you think it's going to be before the ultra-right groups that already post regularly and freely on Threads start targeting and brigading fedi instances where black people or gay people or trans people or disabled people or women currently feel safe?
Now, you might answer 'well, if they do that then we can just defederate' to which my response would be; they're already doing that, but at the moment only on Threads. We already know how they operate, we already know who they hate - why expose people in the groups they will target to that when it can be avoided?
This is the best do you know who I am foot-mouth I’ve seen in many a year 😂 https://github.com/dessalines
Them also being a software developer doesn't change the fact that their reasoning is based on a metaphor and not a technical detail.
Some of us are IT admins who have been in the game since the 1990 and have seen this happen before. The chances of a good outcome wrt Threads are vanishingly small. Not zero for sure, but damn close.