Dear Fedi friends,

[_elena@mastodon.social]

@joakimfors OMG this is BRILLIANT! 😂

[palin@livellosegreto.it]

@ed @_elena I politely ask why not both? A centralized system could be better if there are no drawbacks. We know that there no such thing as a free lunch, so we should explain that on top of fediverse advantages.

[mensrea@freeradical.zone]

@_elena they seem like great domains to start hosting fedi services. they go looking for euro-corp they find international co-op

[nopatience@swecyb.com]

@_elena Unless you can do both at the same time... then do both 😉

[mensrea@freeradical.zone]

@_elena what's known as guerrilla marketing

[vonblubba@livellosegreto.it]

@palin Europe is finally taking steps toward independence from US IT infrastructure. It’s likely too little, too late, but it’s still a move in the right direction. While I appreciate the effort, I suspect the Fediverse might have been a better solution. That said, I cynically believe this initiative will fail miserably without much outside interference 😅 @ed @_elena

[everton137@social.vivaldi.net]

@_elena @nopatience I second that.

A video addressing the nearly 60% of Members of the European Parliament still active on X would be beautiful.

https://leavex.eu/politicians

What would happen if prominent politicians had official, active accounts on the Fediverse? Public attention would certainly follow, as would journalists, who are obligated to track and report on political figures.

People don't leave the Fediverse solely because of technical hurdles. Many arrive, look around, and simply don't find enough reasons to stay. Retention is not just a usability problem, but also a matter of social density and relevance. With a sufficiently large and visible group of active participants, the Fediverse could generate its own gravity and flourish beyond the tech-savvy community.

[odd@mstdn.social]

@_elena its probably better not to sabotage EU alternatives, but by grabbing domains the fediverse could be injected into the news cycle, if done with a coherent message to the media.

[angelomassaro@mastodon.social]

@nopatience @_elena I second this

[sturmsucht@mastodon.social]

@d1re_w0lf @_elena

EDIT: Sorry, I mixed up Wsocial with Wedium https://wedium.social

New social networks are popping up everywhere these days.

[crossgolf_rebel@moppels.bar]

@_elena@mastodon.social Do it!
Every voice that points out how stupid the idea is must be publicly available.

[nanianmichaels@tech.lgbt]

@_elena The "you need to upload a valid form of ID" is reason alone to blast it, so I very much support blasting it.

I was curious about it, but as soon as I saw that requirement, I went "NOPE".

I get the why they want to do it that way, to clamp down on bots and have traceability in case of abuse, but it's an Orwelian nightmare. Not to mention that a third party will have access to your ID photos, and we all know how well (as in, not) said third-parties handle and secure PII...

And then of course there's the advertisers salivating over the whole thing, because it's a 100% sure way to pinpoint EXACTLY who they're advertising to.

Not to mention over-zealous (to put it mildly) law enforcement accessing said targeting data...

Yes, this very much needs a major blast.

[vladcampos@mastodon.social]

@_elena Honestly, I think that will only create a sense of division: "Mine is better than yours".

I don't believe that's what the world needs now. I think we need to try to find a common ground. For example, why did they choose the ATProto?

Although I would prefer them to have decided on ActivityPub, maybe they have a reason.

[paul@misskey.ellidaf.ru]

@nopatience@swecyb.com @_elena@mastodon.social When it comes to competitors, treat them like the dead: praise them — or keep it buried. 😎

[vladcampos@mastodon.social]

@_elena One thing I see myself doing more and more lately is writing to companies and institutions, asking them why they don't have an account on the Fediverse and explaining how to do it. It works, but it has to be easy. One thing I'm constantly telling them is that there's a simple way to do it if they are running their blog on WordPress. I also send them a how-to I wrote.

[androcat@toot.cat]

@_elena Hijacking the ludicrous agitprop for a better purpose is a good idea.

[ghose@gts.xmgz.eu]

@_elena

.fr
.es
...and some others already taken :D

I voted «yes go ahead», but it all depends on the expected ROI 😃 (how much attention is that w-thing getting so people would reach that alternative sites)

[ikuturso@mastodon.social]

@vladcampos @_elena Well, I guess a counterpoint would be that them deciding to do this thing while pretending nothing at all exists in this space in Europe currently is also creating a sense of division already.

[vladcampos@mastodon.social]

@ikuturso @_elena Sure it is! And that's my point. The more we as humans embark on this division, the worse things will get.

[frankaulux@polyglot.city]

@_elena

A couple of arguments, if I may:

1) why reinvent the wheel ???

2) why a proprietary system (as it is derived from bluesky)

3) why not simply ask every member state to put up an official mastodon instance and use that ??? That would be much simpler and cheaper !!

Good luck