Say No to “Fedified” in Fediverse #SNFF
An Open Letter regarding centralization processes in the Fediverse
As a bunch of fediverse inhabitants, we invite both individualities and collectives to question about fediverse dynamics. We have been focussing on software and protocols, and we have gone beyond those. A part of our discussions dwelt on which interactions we borrow from the data‑extractivist centralised social networks – even unconsciously, as a matter of social network imprinting.
Particularly, we noted that some of the dynamics we deem harmful for the networks – so that, the relation networks we try to build in-and-outside the fediverse everyday – are the bread and butter of social networks out there. That is due to “equivocal” design choices, at the very least, if not made on purpose to steer engagement tickling anti-social vanities of humankind, and thus profit. Aral Balkan called that business model “people farming” (here an example).
The recent events in the fediverse steers us onto multi-level reflections about virtual identities, anonymity, community-driven platforms, and personal branding. Once again we witness an exodus of accounts from Twitter to the fediverse and – we hope – to many, different nodes, approaches, programs, with new instances that are founded day by day.
That is desirable, the fact that people experience what federation means. Sadly, we saw phenomena that were against the concept of fediverse itself and that worried us early on. Among those, we count the “Fedified” list curated by an individual who claims to act as a self-proclaimed authority.
For the sake, anyone is free to join a group and make of it what they want, for instance the “Awesome Fediverse Acquaintances” or the many more examples offered by the lists of people with shared interests. However, creating a central authority in a federated context is something else – and we stop here not to give authors unhealthy suggestions. Moreover, the creation of a centralized verification process, a tool that is not only meaningless, but also unaware of existing verification methods, threatens to reproduce elitarian hierarchical structures that are at odds with fediverse culture.
We’ve always been for equality, “kaos”, anonymity or pseudonymity, multi-accounts, and guerrilla marketing. We stand for fragmentation of identities and their free recomposition.
The fediverse itself stands (and has always stood) as a safer place for those who escape from “people farming” social networks and online harassment awarded by that “farming”. Thus, we fear that the proliferation of these examples, if not challenged, might lead to an erosion of those founding values that we all care about.
We thus encourage both newcomers and old-timers to keep these same values alive and preserve our communal spaces by opposing such centralising phenomenon, and by being aware of your surrounding instances. We think that it is a “hot” topic to address together, and that it will stay “cool” in the future due to the nature of social-network communication as self-representation.