I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, defederation should be removed from the protocol. (And replaced with a default ban list that can be overriden by the user).

Each instance should basically just be a set of default settings that are used to access the same shared pool of content.

This removes the new user hurdle, because they can now join any instance and not be worried that they are making some important, permanent decision. If they find that they don’t like something about the instance, they can tweak their settings later.

Also, some of the other solutions to this issue carry significant risks. Pushing users towards a ‘default’ instance increases centralization. Apps that are preconfigured to use a specific instance are even worse (since people wont want to change instance if it means giving up a familiar app). Without some degree of vigilance decentralized services tend to centralize over time. This gives too much power over the entire fediverse to a handful of instance admins. If an instance with 60% of all users starts defederating all smaller instances, most users will just migrate to the larger instance.

This isn’t just some theoretical that I pulled out of my ass, its an easily abusable weakness of federated services. It has been abused in the past, and there is no reason to believe it wont be abused again.

Google used it to kill XMPP. Facebook will almost certainly use it to kill mastodon, once they siphon enough users and content to build a critical mass. Microsoft is so notorious for using this strategy that they has their own internal phrase for it: Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

I know it’s incredibly unpopular to agree with anything that Elon Musk says or does these days. But I actually have some moderately high hopes for this.

Elon has always been a voice of reason and caution in the field of AI, and has been fighting to keep AI ethical since long before AI made the public spotlight.

I don’t know the details of the events leading up to Elon’s departure from OpenAi, and we can only speculate as to what would have happened if he hadn’t left. (I’m sure some of you would speculate that he would run the company into the ground like twitter).

But what I can say, is that I was (and still am) extremely disappointed to see OpenAi become a closed-source & for profit venture, doing billion dollar dealings with Microsoft. This spits in the face of the initial vision of the company, and they are no longer deserving of having the word ‘Open’ in their name.

I have some major concerns that AI is now missing its top ‘ethical’ player, right as the race explodes. We sorely need a strong voice of reason in the industry, that can help push through sensible laws that simultaneously enable AI, whilest protecting the public from gross overreaches by Silicon Valley.

Now as for Elon’s new project: I certainly have a healthy dose of scepticism. I doubt it will be anything close to what OpenAi once promised to be. But I’d still put more faith in it being a ‘responsible’ AI, than anything developed or funded by Google, Meta, Amazon, or Microsoft.

I haven’t really noticed that tbh, though I definitely believe it. A sizeable portion of people who populate ‘alternative’ platforms, are the people who get kicked off of, or censored on, mainstream platforms.

Unfortunately, that often means that those platforms struggle to attract regular users and content, since regular users are scared away by the existing users bad behavior…

The only way I can see those platforms really getting over that hump, is when the major platforms make stupid, overreaching, and greedy decisions. Pushing their regular users away, and onto those alternative platforms.

I don’t know what it will take to get ‘regular’ users migrating off of youtube. But I can tell you right now that I will NOT accept watching ads, nor will I ever pay a cent to google.

The day that I am unable to block ads on youtube will be the last day that I use it.

You could give Odysee a try. I was pleasently surprised at how well it works, and how nice the UI/UX is. Especially considering it is a decentralized platform.

It’s missing a lot of the content that youtube has. Especially if you trying to look up a specific video or niche topic. But there’s still a lot of great content available if you are happy to browse.

Odysee is a great, decentralised alternative if you are looking to jump ship.

If you do end up sticking with youtube, ReVanced is good. Smart Tube Next is good for TVs, and firefox + ublock origin on desktop.

Check out Odysee. Open source, decentralized, great interface. It’ s a great youtube alternative but is unfortunately still a little lacking in content.

Hopefully youtube continuing to pull shit like this will drive users there, much like reddit has driven users here.

Google is an ad company. To them, a web browser is nothing more than a tool for collecting user data and delivering ads.

When you use a chromium based browser you are allowing google, an ad company, to decide what the future of web browsing should look like. And this is the result.

Firefox is the ONLY browser which is genuinely competing with google. Do you think ad and tracking blockers are going to get better or worse once they die out, and literally every major browser is running on chromium?

Use firefox and u-block origin. Enjoy a superior, ad free, browsing experience, and support the future of an open web.