Watching the drama unfold regarding Threads' promise/threat to federate with mastodon and all I can think is, why are we trying so hard to smoosh everyone back into the same place again? Communities don't work like that. Smooshing everyone together causes all the problems that plague internet communities. It's good to have separate places for separate communities. Stop trying to cram everyone together! IT NEVER WORKS.
It's also funny to me that the excuse for all that smooshing before was that the ad model demanded it. More people = more value = more expensive ads to sell! But mastodon is not ad supported so why the fuck do we want interop with ad-driven companies? Just to make us feel like big important adults? THAT'S WHAT THERAPY IS FOR.
I fully understand what Threads/Meta sees in mastodon because it's what they always see: unclaimed eyeballs and the money they can make by selling those eyeballs to the highest bidder.
But what do we get? We get to follow Instagram accounts here? THAT'S WHAT INSTAGRAM IS FOR. Why would I want that shit in my stream? Instagram fucking sucks.
We get to be followed by the thirsty creeps on Threads? NO THANK YOU. Threads sucks, too, and if I wanted my words there, I'd post them there.
I know, there are lots of fediverse projects, it's not just mastodon. All of them are virgin hills full of gold and we're seeing miners with pickaxes on the horizon and it's SO WEIRD to see them being welcomed as if they're not going to mine this place hollow just like they have every other place we've let them take up residence.
Point is, communities have boundaries. That's what makes them communities. And there's good reason to have the friction of creating a new account, agreeing to the community guidelines, and getting to know a new place. That's part of what makes communities communities.
Maybe we should think twice before turning on a spigot we can't turn off.
