Is it just me but I feel "social" would imply centralization. After all, if I want to socialize I will want to go where other people go, using a tool/client/channel that works for most people --- this inevitably leads to centralization.

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DrewADesign 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I don’t agree — I can socialize with my neighbor and I can also socialize in a centralized hub, like a club.

What I like about the Bluesky setup is that you’ve got the potential for neighbor socialization while having central areas be accessible. What I’m not sure about is whether they’ll still have momentum when(if?) tech-averse users understand the model enough to use it. Because if there’s one thing that definitely isn’t social, it’s a lack of active users.

I think it’s far more likely to work than mastodon because there is that centralized hub for people who don’t give a shit about decentralization.

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utilize1808 3 days ago | parent [-]

What if your neighbors decided it's just easier to socialize in a centralized club and go there all the time?

Gradually, you "lose" neighbors to socialize with because people (and things in general) gravitate towards the path of least effort. Eventually you will have to go to the club too.

Centralization can be contagious.

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bee_rider 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

This is something we lived through already, right? Centralized social media platforms are largely dominated by annoying people nowadays. The article is about a group that decided “hey, the club sucks, let’s make our own,” and they seem to be doing alright.

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utilize1808 3 days ago | parent [-]

If they make it really right, then eventually the annoying people will come too and we are back to square one.

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pjc50 3 days ago | parent [-]

Not if you ban them, which is the missing ingredient.

	▲	utilize1808 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		I am afraid you might have seriously underestimated the number of annoying people around you.

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pjc50 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think people are missing that there's a middle ground between "fully decentralized" (everyone in their own home) and "fully centralized" (entire population of the earth goes to one spot to converse, like the Hajj a hundred times larger.

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DrewADesign 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Bluesky connects these things though, right? Isn’t that the point of the article? But even if someone was deliberately segregating them: if I don’t want to go to the club, but my neighbor wants to go to the club more than they want to hang out with me, then I don’t get to hang out with my neighbor. That’s life.

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l72 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is why I miss RSS so much. It is such a great way to keep up with people over a wide variety of platforms with your own powerful user agent.

I still use a self hosted FreshRSS heavily and fortunately many sites still accidentally support it, but it could be so much easier for non tech people.

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daft_pink 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I know right. Seems like they’re just reinventing the wordpress blog.