The author of "Protocols, Not Platforms", Techdirt's Mike Masnick, has joined the #Bluesky board of directors. His goal is to help the organization stay true to their original vision.
https://wedistribute.org/2024/08/mike-masnick-joins-bluesky/
Discussion
I just want this NIH syndrome to stop. We have ActivityPub for server centric federated social network, and Nostr for a virtually serverless and nomadic experience. No need for ATProto, just integrate with Nostr!
While there's something to be said about the value of converging on existing efforts, shoring up support, and strengthening existing communities, each project brings different things to the table that are valuable.
Sometimes, these things only get as far as being experiments. nostr:nprofile1qqs8d3c64cayj8canmky0jap0c3fekjpzwsthdhx4cthd4my8c5u47spzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43z7qg5waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t0qy3hwumn8ghj7urjdau8jtt90pcx2unfd4jkuapwdah8yetwv3jhytnrdaks0duay6 mentioned to us in an interview that he has a list of like 90 different protocols / projects. The nature of decenteralized communication is itself decenteralized.
We're in the process of writing a big article that compares the strengths and weaknesses of ActivityPub, Nostr, and AT Proto, and are convinced that each comes with ideas the others should consider.
Sure, I do not mind experimenting with protocols.
My problem is that today one needs 4-5 different apps. Bluesky should evaluate allowing federation with Nostr (very similar to their implementation) or ActivityPub (perhaps a bit harder from a technical point of view, although we have bridges already, so definitely doable).
Also, let's be honest; since Threads started to grow, Bluesky feels a bit of a dead town. I was an early adopter (joined before the 1mil user count), and out of almost 200 followers, I had 4-5 active and the rest just dormant. I ended up leaving as well a few weeks ago, and it's sad because the UX of Bluesky is miles ahead of Mastodon, and their onboarding is fantastic compared to Nostr.
I do not want it to end up like other Twitter-alternatives, which either went offline or are dead. The Bluesky team has done an amazing work. I wonder if it would made more sense to port their know-how on Nostr instead of keep going on this road.
This quote sounds (maybe) like Mike still views decentralization primarily through the lens of companies instead of individuals. In that case censorship resistance may continue to be a defining difference between #nostr and ATProto
“One of the key things that has fascinated me about Bluesky is that they have made it clear from the beginning that they recognize how a future version of the company could, itself, be a threat to the vision the current team has,” Mike Masnick concludes, “They are designing the system to be technically resistant to such a threat — which is why building an open protocol is so important.”
I wrote about that a little here. Enshittification resistance vs censorship resistance 😊
nostr:naddr1qqgrzwpnvd3rxdmpxu6kywtxvesn2q3qdq0vnsph9wpmp9pcsc6qj2l5h7xsjyxyxt5tsl986u3v4lncknnsxpqqqp65wy8ddeg