I'm forever and especially now pissed at the people who bullied Snarfed into making the Bluesky/AP bridge explicit opt-in only.
It's like pulling teeth to work with a bridge that's explicit opt-in because that means anyone on the other side of the bridge you want to talk to you have to hand hold them through connecting to a bridge. "Oh it's just following a specific account to opt in", do you think most people have any level of comprehension that they have to follow two wholly different accounts just so I can follow them back?
They see my posts and they think it's done, they're fine with me seeing their posts, they don't give a flying fuck about bridges, but the confusion every time I have to walk them through it...
All for people who have zero idea of what the fuck federation is, assholes who are in the category of thinking this is all Mastodon, that think just because they're posting it here they're perfectly protected from the evil corporate networks and they think the bridge bursts their delicate little bubble... on top of that they demand that no, they don't do anything to be accountable at all, ****EVERYONE ELSE**** has to be accountable for their fucking paranoia.
"I don't want a corporate network to slurp up my data!" - Then why the fuck are you posting where every single corporate network can freely slurp up your data? If you don't want corporations slurping up your data then your only real choice is to only post as followers-only and turn off automatic acceptance of follow requests!
"Bluesky isn't safe, by making it opt-in people can't harass me over it" - They can harass you already, all you're doing is taking it from instead of you blocking one instance you have an issue with you demanded everyone else suffer just so you didn't have to hit the fucking block button.
"But what about people who don't know about the bridge, what about their safety?" - What the fuck about their safety? Are you demanding all the countless literal nazi servers out there block you instead of you blocking them?
And of all things Snarfed bowed to all that dogpiling hate from whiny children who refused to accept responsibility for themselves.
Let alone all the people whining about corporate takeover efforts, THEY ALREADY WON, this isn't letting them take over the network, this is how we fucking fight back by showing them how it's done.
It's like if when Internet Explorer was trying to take over browsers Mozilla and those like it just threw up their hands and decided to just split the internet. Arguing that we can't let IE take over the internet so we're just going to refuse to support anything at all related there and we'll "win" by... dying quietly...
I'm so goddam sick of the combined effect of people with zero sense both signing up for awful platforms and other people with zero sense just handing those platforms victory on a fucking silver platter.
like this
Jamie Booth reshared this.
Shiri Bailem
in reply to Shiri Bailem • •This post brought on by another friend not comprehending that he has to follow both accounts and me waiting all day for his profile to populate on the bridge only to eventually check and see he didn't understand me at all.
I don't blame him, I blame every asshole who demanded explicit opt-in (as opposed to the implicit opt-in it would have had because follow requests are a fucking thing!)
Devil Doll, Esq.
in reply to Shiri Bailem • • •tl;dr
You seem angry. Can you use your words better?
I lost your thesis, in the rant, basically. But, I may (or may not) agree with you.
Who's to say?
Shiri Bailem
in reply to Devil Doll, Esq. • •@Devil Doll tldr: I'm pissed at everyone who kneejerk reacted at the bridge and dogpiled the dev into making it opt-in despite there not being a single valid argument for it, that wouldn't have impacted them at all, and made the lives worse of everyone who wants to use the bridge.
I didn't put hashtags because it's not a thesis, it's just a rage rant into the void.
Devil Doll, Esq.
in reply to Shiri Bailem • • •Shiri Bailem
in reply to Devil Doll, Esq. • •Devil Doll, Esq.
in reply to Shiri Bailem • • •So, I'm a tech human.
Wtf is "the bridge", and why the fuck should I care?
I want to understand you.
Shiri Bailem
in reply to Devil Doll, Esq. • •@Devil Doll a bridge is a service that connects different protocols together, fed.brid.gy connects ActivityPub (the one you're on) to a few different ones, the most controversial is Bluesky's AT network.
It means that you have the ability to, with your current account, follow users on Bluesky and they can follow you.
What people bullied the dev into is a convoluted layer that means you aren't visible on the bridge unless you follow bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy, but not only that... you have to convince anyone you want to follow on Bluesky to follow @ap.brid.gy.
Because it was made explicit opt-in (as in you have to bend over backwards to opt in as opposed to the normal methods), this means that if you bridge your account others can follow you on Bluesky but you won't see their replies (let alone be able to reply to them) unless they follow ap.brid.gy.
So every friend I see joining Bluesky I have to convince to follow this strange account in addition to following me so that we can actually properly connect. Half the time they don't understand, only follow me and shrug at the other account because as far as they're concerned it looks like it's working fine.
Shiri Bailem
in reply to Shiri Bailem • •Devil Doll, Esq.
in reply to Shiri Bailem • • •Why do you care?
I'm on Mastodon, posting my thoughts, and I have no concern about federation, followers, popularity, or how others interact with me.
I know how already skewed Bluesky is, and that it is owned by venture capitalism, and that everyone on Bluesky is a fucking idiot, because we've been here, and it didn't work out well, then, so these idiots' faith that it will be different, this time, is such a red flag, and you want them to see it...people like @mmasnick.bsky.social are FUCKING BRAINWASHED, but they won't listen to you, when you try to save them.
But, why do you care? That's what I'm interested in.
Shiri Bailem
in reply to Devil Doll, Esq. • •@Devil Doll because "idiot" is an ableist term used to dismiss people's very real needs, wants, and realities.
People use Bluesky because they've heard of it, because other people are on there, because they don't even know what the hell the fediverse is and too many people have made it overcomplicated.
I care because what I want isn't just a feed of complete strangers and shitposting... I want to actually keep up with people I care about and I want to do so without having to rely on a fucking corporate network.
The people I follow through the bridge? Mostly people I know in real life.
The people on Bluesky aren't "idiots", they're just people who have moved where it's convenient and popular to move.
Why don't they move here? Because any effort to make the space more acceptable is met with demands for ideological purity.
I don't want the fediverse to just be a toy... I want it to be an actual place to connect, I want it to overthrow the corporate networks... but that'll never happen if people keep demanding that we isolate and make it harder to connect with us.
Devil Doll, Esq.
in reply to Shiri Bailem • • •Stop it.
They're idiots.
Everyone caught up in the "bridge" argument is an idiot.
You might be included.
Stop it.
Mastodon is never lock in, because it is not a currency.
Bluesky converts you to a currency.
Grow up.
Shiri Bailem
in reply to Devil Doll, Esq. • •@Devil Doll given that your response to being told that "idiot" is ableist is to just start throwing it around more and arguing the same ideological purity I claimed about... pretty sure I'm not the one who needs to grow up lol
Good night, I'm not entertaining whiny brats tonight.
Devil Doll, Esq.
in reply to Shiri Bailem • • •Fair, but resolves nothing.
Bluesky is a fucking insane brainwash, conducted in plain sight, and zombies are real.
@mmasnick.bsky.social
IS just my easy goto exemplar.
This is easy, folks.