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1. Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:55 JST Chris Trottier

   • Ev Williams

   Twitter Co-Founder and Medium Founder @ev just joined the Fediverse.

   This was his first post.

   https://me.dm/@ev/109740873132908694

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:39 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Kindness is thankful

     @qurlyjoe @atomicpoet My only piece of advice: the only time you can kill a startup is at the very beginning. You do it by not using their initial offering and by socially shaming them so other people know not to either. If, instead, you do use it and legitimise it, and enough other people do also so they achieve network effects, it’s too late. You have no power by then. They scale and get their exit and you get left with yet another huge turd floating in the sewer of surveillance capitalism.

   • Kindness is thankful (qurlyjoe@mstdn.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:46 JST Kindness is thankful

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet
     But a billionaire would be more interested in profiting from an instance, I’d presume.

     Ok, I get that the ethos is such that ads are anathema to the fediverse, but are there “official rules” somewhere that definitively prohibit ads sold solely to offset the cost of hosting an instance. If an instance offered some sort of token—say a check mark, for example—for a fee, is that something that would be tolerated? Or would they be laughed off the planet?

     Aral Balkan repeated this.
   • Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:48 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     • Kindness is thankful

     @qurlyjoe Anyone can start an instance. That game goes both ways.

     A billionaire can start an instance, but so can you.

     A billionaire can buy capacity, but he can't buy friends 🙂

   • Kindness is thankful (qurlyjoe@mstdn.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:49 JST Kindness is thankful

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet
     So if someone with a couple billion $ lying around tricks out a server with mega capacity all around, and plops it down somewhere, they can make their own “rules” I guess? What does something like that do to the general ambience of the fediverse? Maybe a bunch of em do it. I don’t know enough about how any of it works to know if that’s a threat in some way. From my little cubbyhole it feels like a threat.

   • Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:50 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     Also, if you want to build out the Fediverse and get compensated for your efforts, do it.

     We don't have to choose between giant tech companies and volunteer hobbyists.

     We don't have to pursue surveillance capitalism.

     If someone has the ability, offer services to others who need help.

     Why not run a mom and pop operation on the Fediverse?

   • Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:51 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko

     I mean @Gargron has already turned down VC money, and has opted to continue operating Mastodon as a non-profit.

     Good for him.

     But if you want Mastodon to continue to operate beyond VC meddling, it's important that you all donate both to the folks building Fediverse software *and* to your local instance (if it's volunteer-run).

     Don't take the current Fediverse for granted.

   • Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:52 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     • Ev Williams
     • Biz Stone

     For the past year, I've been saying that VCs are watching the Fediverse very closely.

     They haven't been acting on anything because they're seeking validation.

     But when @ev and @biz join the Fediverse in a VERY public fashion, then that validates the Fediverse in their eyes.

   • Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:53 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     • Ev Williams

     I sense that Twitter Co-Founders are planning something with the Fediverse.

     That's actually obvious since me.dm is an instance operated by Medium.

     But I have a suspicion that they're planning on being more ambitious.

     @ev doesn't ask questions like this unless there's more lofty goals in mind.

   • Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Jan-2023 18:16:54 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     • Biz Stone
     • Biz Stone

     Another Twitter Co-Founder, @biz@macaw.social, joined the Fediverse last month.

     He also has an account at @biz@me.dm that was registered 12 days ago.