Myth: The #Fediverse™ Is Decentralised™

I run my own #Mastodon instance just for myself. An instance of one. What does that mean on today’s fediverse?

It means I’m on mastodon.social.

What?

That makes no sense!

Let me explain:

Since I have my own instance, surely I decide who I follow and anyone can follow me, right?

Wrong.

For ~1M accounts, Eugen decides. If he blocks my instance, a large number of people who follow me today will no longer be able to.

So I may as well be on his server.

@aral I also run my own instance, that a dozen people use daily as their own… just wondering why you would imagine that mastodon.social or any other “big” instance would block yours…

I have been running and participating in online communities for 40 years (since fidonet / bbs days). I have never been blocked by anyone. Honestly, why would your experience be any different?

Also, I have no issues with big tech companies joining the fediverse… you can silence/block their instance if you wish (something I would not do myself, but hey, it’s up to you as an instance manager).

Although I dislike Facebook / meta with a passion, and do not use any of their sites, I do not have a problem with the people that make different choices. Glad to follow and be followed by some of them.

I really don’t get it. I follow you, love reading your posts, but do not share some of your views. I respect others, with different opinions and perspectives, live and let live.