this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2023
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Lemmy
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We, the users should make sure to stay on lemmy servers that use the open-source lemmy code. If other servers open up, who have closed source code, we should consider blocking them, at a minimum not support them by using their communities.
That will make sure that lemmy servers will keep using the open source code and thus will allow other people to spin up new servers.
I'm no expert, but my understanding of the AGPL license of Lemmy code is that any modification is legally required to display the modification's source code prominently online. So if I'm not mistaken then they can't close source the code, so long as the devs are willing to threaten legal action (like Mastodon vs. Truth Social)
Okay so they would have to write their own website that supports ActivityPub and is compatible to lemmy :)
And unfortunately, those companies have a huge leg up. They'll generally be the ones to write ads and tracking into the server. They'll get the investors money. They'll make the flashy ads they play on Facebook and TikTok.
I mostly agree, I don’t think I would block closed source servers as long as they weren’t promoting bigotry, and as long as the federation still worked properly. I don’t fault users of a service for the sins of their parent company. It’s the same reason why I probably won’t block the Instagram ActivityPub initially - need to see how it shakes out.
That's totally fine, but I remember when google users could communicate with XMPP. They captured all the users with better UI, etc, then closed it off.
Classic EEE. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish
I admit I didn’t pay attention in the last when big tech would do this.
This is...hmm. I hadn't even thought of this.
I have mixed feelings over faulting users for the sins of the service provider. I know that not everyone can care about everything, politics gets complex very quickly, but users are exactly what gives the service power. So I do fault them for continuing to use it. If a reasonable alternative exists, I think it's important to stop supporting a dangerous company and to help start alternatives. Otherwise, inertia will just prevent any good changes.
True. I’ve been gently encouraging my friends and online contacts to switch away from the big tech / centralized offerings. There is a lot less toxicity in the federated versions of social media right now.
Yeah, it's especially hard with social media, where a lot of their value is only because your friends use it. And your friends use it because most of their friends use it. So without a big event that shifts whole communities over, it can be unreasonable to expect people to "just move", as much as I'd love that to happen.