@silverpill What are your thoughts on Freenet and Freebird?
https://freenet.org/
https://github.com/skandragon/freenet-freebird
Replying to @light@noc.social
@light I remember Freenet from the 2000s, it was an interesting project. I tried it once but didn't keep using it.
This Freenet looks like a vibe-rewrite in Rust, even whitepaper is vibe-slopped: https://github.com/freenet/paper-1/commits/main/. Apparently, the project maintainer went completely bananas.
GitHubCommits · freenet/paper-1Source for the Freenet architectural whitepaper (LaTeX) - Commits · freenet/paper-1Replying to @silverpill@mitra.social
>Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for apps that no company controls.
In general, I think the world doesn't need more protocols. Everything can be built on top of ActivityPub.
Replying to @silverpill@mitra.social
@silverpill Admins control ActivityPub nodes whereas everyone runs their own Freenet node.
It works pretty smoothly so far, despite(?) the AI help.
Replying to @light@noc.social
@light This simply means that everyone is an admin. Sounds good in theory but doesn't work at scale.
Replying to @silverpill@mitra.social
@silverpill Why not? Node operators don't do moderation. That uses contracts.
Replying to @light@noc.social
@light Because being a node operator is not an easy job. This is true for any complex network, and social networks are probably the most complex.
My point, however, is that you don't need a new protocol if you want to run your own node. It's already possible with ActivityPub.
Replying to @silverpill@mitra.social
@silverpill @light The kitchen sink protocols. HTTP isn't good enough for what we want, so we wrap everything in increasingly complex JSON schemas. Besides Nostr which is somewhat sane, both ATProto and ActivityPub are "do everything, badly" protocols. What you always end up with is something largely non-ideal in the name of being "interoperable" in big quotes on the same network.
I've recently read someone asking how they could implement a simple ActivityPub server for sharing their blog posts with the world. And while that is perfectly doable and a valid case, it's also a solved problem for almost 30 years with way less hassle. It is called RSS.
All this to say that almost every attempt to make something a kitchen sink always ends up badly, while AP supports lots of interesting stuff like offers (technically payments) and much more, it was made to be a microblogging protocol. That's the only thing it is somewhat good at, everything else requires a bunch of extensions to fix what is there. While all that effort could have been concentrated on making something actually good instead of fixing the at best mediocre.
I've recently read someone asking how they could implement a simple ActivityPub server for sharing their blog posts with the world. And while that is perfectly doable and a valid case, it's also a solved problem for almost 30 years with way less hassle. It is called RSS.
All this to say that almost every attempt to make something a kitchen sink always ends up badly, while AP supports lots of interesting stuff like offers (technically payments) and much more, it was made to be a microblogging protocol. That's the only thing it is somewhat good at, everything else requires a bunch of extensions to fix what is there. While all that effort could have been concentrated on making something actually good instead of fixing the at best mediocre.
Replying to @phnt@fluffytail.org
@silverpill @light What ActivityPub in the last few years is, is basically an attempt to build an open WeChat alternative. Same with Nostr.
But enough thread derailing.
But enough thread derailing.
@silverpill @light
I don't like mega apps like WeChat. The UX is almost always a disaster with them, just try to use Gleason's Soapbox/Ditto which would be the Nostr alternative to it. If you can actually get it working without a login that is.
If you can separate everything to the point that it doesn't create more unwanted baggage for everyone on the network to support, then I guess it is fine. (Mastodon has failed this simple task yet again with their relay protocol.)
I don't like mega apps like WeChat. The UX is almost always a disaster with them, just try to use Gleason's Soapbox/Ditto which would be the Nostr alternative to it. If you can actually get it working without a login that is.
If you can separate everything to the point that it doesn't create more unwanted baggage for everyone on the network to support, then I guess it is fine. (Mastodon has failed this simple task yet again with their relay protocol.)