cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/24088740

Do you think Lemmy and other parts of the fediverse will eventually enshittify? I think this would be an interesting discussion to have. There currently is not financial incentive like the ones that have led centralized platforms to enshittify. But there might be in the future. Does decentralization protect against that tendency in some way?

Lemmy and Mastodon do give me the hope, that when one platform turns to shit, there will be people creating a platform that - for the time being - is not.

  • 5dhOPEnglish
    81·
    9 days ago

    Even if, for instance, Threads was widely allowed to federate with Mastodon servers?

    • BlazeEnglish
      120·
      9 days ago

      Ironically Mastodon.social is still federated

      https://fedipact.veganism.social/

      But I guess if Threads fully federates with some Mastodon instances, people would leave those instances

      • 5dhOPEnglish
        70·
        9 days ago

        What really helps is that fediverse users are quite aware of the ideology behind federated social networks. I think, indeed, they won’t all stay on a server that is federated with Threads if it threatens the fedi network.

      • Lost_My_MindEnglish
        11·
        9 days ago

        Maybe, but threads userbase would swallow mastodons whole, that you wouldn’t notice. Facebook has something like 58 million people. Mastodon I think has 12 million people, including the recent brazil exodus.

        So if that happened, even if every mastodon user were on that one instance, you’d still have a potential growth of 46 million new users.

        • BlazeEnglish
          30·
          9 days ago

          If the number of user is someone’s top priority, wouldn’t they be using Threads directly in the first place?

          • Lost_My_MindEnglish
            11·
            9 days ago

            I’ve never had facebook because I don’t trust them with privacy. I’ve never had an account, but they still have my name, my phone number, my address, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they can identify my face with AI.

            I’m NOT signing up for them, and I feel like I’m not alone on that.

            But as far as content goes, I’m a niche person. Most of my interests don’t have communities on Lemmy. But they might…if you infused 58 million new users to the mix.

            • lambaliciousEnglish
              20·
              8 days ago

              But they might…if you infused 58 million new users to the mix.

              It’s far, far more likely they’ll be interested in eugenicism, UN conspiranoia and the divine right of Israel, given the platform they’re “branching” from.

            • BlazeEnglish
              10·
              9 days ago9 days ago

              I’m not sure that millions of Facebook users are interested in Super Famicom Wars and G-scale trains

              To be fair, if you really want to post about those in dedicated communities, Reddit is probably your best choice.

              • nillocEnglish
                10·
                9 days ago

                Do any of the bots that repost subreddits in Lemmy reverse and post Lemmy communities to reddit?

                I’m sure Reddit would ban it if it noticed, but might be a way to attract users here for niche communities.

                • BlazeEnglish
                  10·
                  9 days ago

                  Lemmy tolerance is up to the mods. Most of the time it’s seen as self promotion and forbidden

    • catloafEnglish
      50·
      9 days ago

      That doesn’t affect access to any of the Mastodon servers.

    • xigoiEnglish
      10·
      8 days ago

      How would federation with Threads have any effect on the usability of a Mastodon instance?