Post AVUH8rB3csVId15gYK by raccoon@home.social
(DIR) More posts by raccoon@home.social
(DIR) Post #AVUH8rB3csVId15gYK by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-07T15:37:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🧵 [1 / 7]When #Bluesky says "Protocols, not platforms", they intent two things:1. Grabbing people's attention by telling them what they want to hear.2. Presenting the AT Protocol as an alternative to #ActivityPub to capitalize on the current hype around #Mastodon, the #Fediverse and decentralized social media in general.The two protocols are not equal solutions for the same problem and, in fact, AT is not even a (communication) protocol to begin with.
(DIR) Post #AVUH8sCrndXrouwe0m by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-07T15:37:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🧵 [2 / 7]The purpose of (communication) protocols is to standardize how two separate systems can talk to each other. They are interfaces that allow for different implementations. ActivityPub [1] is such an interface, describing how to accept and forward content in a federated network. There are many implementations of the protocol, each serving a different application: Mastodon, Friendica, PixelFed,...All can talk to each other and are inter-operable.
(DIR) Post #AVUH8syivhpIDLKrbc by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-07T15:37:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🧵 [3 / 7]AT isn't exactly a protocol. The scope of its specification largely describes an implementation, not an interface [2] . Granted, that implementation is very flexible and allows for different applications to be build on top of it, so it may look like a protocol, but it misses the crucial part (on purpose): vendor independency.
(DIR) Post #AVUH8tvDQEc98khZmC by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-07T15:37:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🧵 [4 / 7]It is not (realistically) possible to build an AT based system without relying on Bluesky code and/or their network, which puts Bluesky in the position to enforce rules and, when push comes to shove, step in to sabotage competitors that are getting too big [3] . The whole point of a standardization is to prevent exactly that.
(DIR) Post #AVUH8udWlU3lMBQxqS by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-07T15:37:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🧵 [5 / 7]The problem, AT (Authenticated Transfer) solves has nothing to do with federation or decentralization. It's a method for moving a user's content around in a cloud (or between clouds) and updating the storagelocation/userhandle relationship in a directory afterwards. The purpose is to allow Bluesky to rent server capacity, on demand, from the big cloud providers and jump between their datacenters. It's simply part of their strategy of avoiding getting vendor locked-in themselves.
(DIR) Post #AVUH8vMY464XboUv1E by WomanCorn@schelling.pt
2023-05-09T18:51:17Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@raccoon this seems like a bit of a stretch to me. If Bluesky wants to be able to hop between data centers, they don't have to sell the public on a protocol, they just build the sharding internally.I think it makes more sense to treat it as a future wish. We might lose the bet if they pivot to serving their existing customers, but the scenario you've sketched with the datacenter hopping doesn't justify straight disbelief. (To me, anyway.)
(DIR) Post #AVUH8wOMEr76niLsTg by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-07T15:37:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🧵 [6 / 7]In the broader sense, an authenticated transfer of content might be called a protocol, depending on the definition of the term [4] . And that is what Bluesky is playing at here: putting a retrofit component of their system in the spotlight, labeling it "protocol" and using the ambiguity of the term to break into the public discussion about open communication protocols with a protocol for database synchronization, for the purpose of promoting its own service.Sources:
(DIR) Post #AVUH8y7PookY9kRNLc by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-07T15:37:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🧵 [7 / 7][1] https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/[2] https://atproto.com/guides/overview[3] https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/5-5-2023-federation-architecture[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol
(DIR) Post #AVUJ4q71qMPA4jQ0Z6 by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-09T19:12:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@WomanCorn My working theory is that Bluesky wants to build a social network on the cheap. That means renting rackspace with Amazon, Microsoft or Google. So they needed sharding to avoid vendor lock-in on themselves.Trying to sell the public on it, is exactly that: after the Twitter fiasco, the public has heard about Mastodon and federation. So now they are rebranding the sharding as federation in order to buff their sales pitch.
(DIR) Post #AVUWgUK0bk66tvlwgq by WomanCorn@schelling.pt
2023-05-09T21:45:27Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@raccoon People who want to do that just fork Mastodon and don't federate. (Like Gab.)Bluesky was announced as decentralized in the first place, because Jack wanted to get out of the business of moderation.Now they might fail at that or pivot to something profitable, but I don't think it was fake to begin with.
(DIR) Post #AVVMFXNoJTDAC31LX6 by zleap@qoto.org
2023-05-10T07:23:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@raccoon What does AT stand for?Q2, is the fact I am even asking that an indication that they have a long way to go? I know AP would refer to ActivityPub for example.
(DIR) Post #AVVVuCpUXCcpuMR3JI by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-10T09:11:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@WomanCorn The two motivations do not contradict each other (and it would only be reasonable to assume that multiple motivations led to the design of AT), neither do they contradict my hypothesis that it was retrofit to align with marketing.
(DIR) Post #AVVW90LREc2rWzR0uu by raccoon@home.social
2023-05-10T09:14:06Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@zleap AT stands for "Authenticated Transfer" it is a method to move a user's content around in clouds and being to recognize it by cryptographic methods, when location and/or user handle changes.
(DIR) Post #AVVlGgwQl51syvrRsO by zleap@qoto.org
2023-05-10T12:03:35Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@raccoon Thanks :)