A very detailed article about the whole Meta (Instagram/Threads) vs. Fediverse discussions. It’s a long read, but well-worth it if you’re interested in the subject.

  • From my paltry observations it seems like opinions about federating with Meta spread into the following:
    1: All for-profit corporations bad, so no federation
    2: Meta bad, so no federation
    3: Meta bad, but wait & observe first
    4: Growing the influence of fediverse is usually preferred
    5: Free speech for all

    Honestly the article resonates with me a lot. I assume many old-guards of Mastodon are ppl who are fully aware of how federation works & are somewhat left-leaning and anti-capitalist, so they have a tendency to not want to federate with Meta.

    So it certainly doesn’t help that a few very influential people signed the NDA to join the Meta meeting, which would almost signal that they are more right-leaning (which is not what most people are like on fedi). Regarding the NDA part: people sign NDAs for too many things in pharma (my undergrad field) so I didn’t realize it was such a big deal… I think it probably rubbed too many people in the wrong way.

    Also, for large general instances, I wouldn’t be surprised if many people have ideological differences with their admin or their neighbors, which probably resulted in some “fun” discussions.

    Finally, PSA: I know some people hate their admins now but please do not ever send death threats to people, seriously

      • Ah so there are some people on the fediverse who believe that any restriction is bad… Like the ppl who think domain blocks are too strict and stuff like that.

        Pretty much everyone I’ve seen on Mastodon knows that Meta is bad. However, I’ve seen quite a few people echoing the sentiment that “hey I know Meta is bad but blocking is wrong & they haven’t done anything wrong on the fediverse”. The thought comes across as a bit naive to me but… to each their own.