Robert S @rgs@qoto.org

Having run my own test mastodon server, I can tell you that boosting is REALLY important. That's how posts propagate between servers that are not federated together.

I may get a bit technical, and it can be hard to describe but it's something like this:

Let's say that you have 2 servers, A and B that are not connected. They have their own federated timelines that is vastly different.

let's assume they have their users @a@A and @b@B that are mutuals. If user @a@A sees something interesting on theirs federated timeline and boosts it, user @b@B will see that on their own home page. But more importantly server B will now know about and download that post, and everyone else on B server will be able to see that post on their own federated timeline!

And that's why you boost, guys! It helps posts to spread.

#FediTips

The first black child ever allowed to attend a white school is only 68 years old now.
White parents pulled their children from school. White teachers refused to teach her.
Ruby Bridges now works as an activist & public speaker
This wasn’t a million years ago. /1

It's perfectly reasonable and possible for *both* of these statements to be true:

* it is better here than on Twitter
* this better *isn't good enough*

Federation and decentralization *as currently and inconsistently and idiosyncratically practiced* while better, are not good enough.

Digging in and saying that decentralization and federation *is* good enough is really, really unhelpful.

Also, the potential for better does not mean the practical experience is better.

Some quick notes on how we might build some of the essential infrastructure and governance processes that will be needed if #Mastodon is really going to be sustainable and viable as a mass-adoption social network (1/n):

After hearing some feedback,a nd wanting to be fair in my representation, I have change the title of the article. It is now:

# Eugen Rochko, CEO of Mastodon, Caves to Nazi's Agenda

I think we can all agree thats a more faithful title.

https://jeffreyfreeman.me/eugen-rochko-ceo-of-mastodon-found-to-support-nazis-agenda/

@bruvik Occam’s Razor

The hardest problem in computer science is to make a social network without nazis

I wrote a piece for the New York Times about how scientists used Twitter during the Covid pandemic and about what comes next.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/opinion/pandemic-twitter.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I logged into mastodon just now & the first post I saw was someone advocating for content warning tags over all self-promotion of books or writing. And just like, hell no.

One, writing is my job, & telling me to hide it feels terribly wrong. 1/

Let's take a look. Galactica can generate wikipedia articles, supposedly.

So let's see what they look like. Here's one for Brandolini's law, the principle that bullshit takes another of magnitude less effort create than to clean up.

Left: Galactica's attempt at creating a wikipedia entry
https://galactica.org/?prompt=wiki+article+on+brandolini%27s+law

Right: The actual wikipedia entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law

Coping with climate change: Advice for kids — from kids.
#climate #climatechange
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/17/1137156134/kids-youth-coping-climate-change

In its way, this is the most important election story: All of the election-denying secretaries of state in swing states lost. That means an attempt to repeat Jan 6 and steal the 2024 election will be a lot more difficult https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/us/politics/jim-marchant-nevada.html

The EU flag and the Ukrainian flag. Central Kherson!