Yeah this is worth talking about a bit. I'll say more about why I consider bluesky to be part of the fediverse. I'm no expert. So this is mostly my way of thinking. I'm not trying to represent any "official" stance. (Again, there's nobody who could do that. Nobody is in charge.)
To me, the thing that makes bluesky count as fediverse is that they intend to support federation and decentralization. They haven't *yet*. But it has always been their stated intent.
https://tenforward.social/@noracodes/111927402077531350
Right now bluesky is a single centralized instance. And it is owned and operated by a corporation, rather private citizens. I understand that's why most people do not want to consider bluesky as part of the fediverse. But right now, bluesky is also synonymous with the at protocol. Their version of ActivityPub. And their stated intent is for that to be a protocol that anyone can support and run their own instance.
I use the word "intent", because I think that's actually what matters. It's not just the tech. The important thing is that the bluesky company promises to interoperate with other servers that they don't own. That's the core of decentralized federation. When you don't have full control, but you still agree to interoperate with other entities in the ecosystem.
The fediverse is not one thing. It's not synonymous with mastodon or ActivityPub. What defines the fediverse is having both tools and norms around compatibility and interoperability. You have your servers that you control, I have my servers that I control. But we can still choose to communicate with each other without entirely giving up that control.
By contrast, with twitter or Facebook, you can't run your own servers. And if you did, it wouldn't work. Because centralized services will not interoperate with servers they don't control. They also have protections that say you can't run a server that pretends to be compatible. If you're speaking their language, it's because you are under their control. Otherwise you're not invited.
Another really important thing to understand is that the fediverse does not mean "no companies allowed". I think many people have been giving that impression. Corporate entities are entirely capable of running their servers that interoperate with the fediverse. Many are doing so right now. Nobody can stop them. Just like they can't stop you from running yours. That's sort of the point.
@polotek A lot of the time, it is less companies and more people parachuting in and thinking they run the place.
From crypto bros destroying instances previously run by local overseas companies.
From companies turning up one day, like that hachy instance, and suddenly thinking they're the center of "policy".
From Facebook trying to smear the place to promote their Threads crap.
