I know there are tens of us Canadians here. Gander social is best described as Canadian Bluesky. It's owned and operated in Canada and hooks into Bluesky. It's currently the only social media...
I know there are tens of us Canadians here. Gander social is best described as Canadian Bluesky. It's owned and operated in Canada and hooks into Bluesky. It's currently the only social media account I have. Well, besides Tildes. I also realize that if you're not Canadian it's pretty pointless.
So my fellow Canadians, if you haven't already, will you be checking out Gander when it launches Wednesday?
Not Canadian, but their features contain some positive things. A built-in bias check for news articles, the ability to filter for what you want to see, the ability to choose whether you see videos...
Not Canadian, but their features contain some positive things. A built-in bias check for news articles, the ability to filter for what you want to see, the ability to choose whether you see videos or not... All in all, it seems like a social media platform with better tools?
Yeah, all good points. The built-in bias checker is a little wonky because it's largely trained on American examples so it leans right but it does a decent job. My understanding is that there...
Yeah, all good points. The built-in bias checker is a little wonky because it's largely trained on American examples so it leans right but it does a decent job. My understanding is that there weren't other good options out there.
Owned and operated in Canada, so your data stays in Canada. Your feed defaults to just being the most recent post, so no algorithm. Plugs into Bluesky so you can still interact with that world,...
Owned and operated in Canada, so your data stays in Canada.
Your feed defaults to just being the most recent post, so no algorithm.
Plugs into Bluesky so you can still interact with that world, since Gander is still very small as it's just coming out of beta.
And more esoteric, it kind of feels like old internet? People posting silly nonsense and generally being nice because it's not full of bots and assholes. Obviously attracted a lot of people pissed off about all the threats America was making to our sovereignty.
So basically trying to give a Canadian solution to Twitter/Bluesky.
Beyond all that, I guess it depends if you already interact with Bluesky or similar platforms. If not, I don't know if Gander will change that for you, although it does kind of have a small town feel, at least for now.
Love to see it. I'm not at the most social stage of my life and even less inclined to tap into the online zeitgeist, but I'm happy to see this. Building Canadian cultural independence has been a...
Love to see it. I'm not at the most social stage of my life and even less inclined to tap into the online zeitgeist, but I'm happy to see this. Building Canadian cultural independence has been a longtime coming.
Feels like the inverse of how Voat started with a userbase of "People Reddit banned" - if you're starting off with "People that are proud of being Canadian", I guess I'm not surprised by:
attracted a lot of people pissed off about all the threats America was making to our sovereignty
Feels like the inverse of how Voat started with a userbase of "People Reddit banned" - if you're starting off with "People that are proud of being Canadian", I guess I'm not surprised by:
People [...] generally being nice because it's not full of bots and assholes
I'm not frequent on a lot of social media, but i joined gander during the beta phase because I was curious about having a Canadian option. It's been interesting watching the platform take shape......
I'm not frequent on a lot of social media, but i joined gander during the beta phase because I was curious about having a Canadian option. It's been interesting watching the platform take shape... I'm still not a particularly frequent user but I like the vibes on Gander better than most other platforms I've tried out. I hope they will be successful in building a more positive social media platform
Same. It's not my thing. I never really used Twitter and mainly creeped on Bluesky before deleting my account. I want them to succeed and the vibes are good.
Same. It's not my thing. I never really used Twitter and mainly creeped on Bluesky before deleting my account. I want them to succeed and the vibes are good.
Doesn't look like it's really for me. When it comes to 'Social Media' I am only interested in long form heavily moderated discussion boards (like this one). Pictures and videos do not interest me...
Doesn't look like it's really for me. When it comes to 'Social Media' I am only interested in long form heavily moderated discussion boards (like this one). Pictures and videos do not interest me whatsoever. Though I do wish I had a replacement for the Province/City local subreddits, those are the only things keeping me using Reddit these days.
Is this an honest attempt at a social media for Canada or is it like "W social" in the EU that is more of the same shady big tech behind the scenes stuff? The Gander website sure reads a lot like...
Is this an honest attempt at a social media for Canada or is it like "W social" in the EU that is more of the same shady big tech behind the scenes stuff?
The Gander website sure reads a lot like the W social one.
Will Gander be open source?
Parts of it, yes. We believe in transparency and community input. As we grow, we plan to open source core elements and support public participation in the platform's governance.
Is the problem here that they are not fully open source? They are still ultimately a company looking to make money. I'm not pretending that they are somehow a good company. There are layers of...
Is the problem here that they are not fully open source? They are still ultimately a company looking to make money. I'm not pretending that they are somehow a good company. There are layers of bad. I will take whatever Gander is over any US based tech company. It's interesting and I don't know if it will last, but anyone trying to create something Canadian based is better than most options in my book.
It's not particularly a problem that they're not fully open source, they can do whatever they want of course. I just wish one of these attempts would actually double down on being open source....
It's not particularly a problem that they're not fully open source, they can do whatever they want of course. I just wish one of these attempts would actually double down on being open source. Being a profitable company and providing open source software are not mutually exclusive.
It stood out to me that they say they believe in transparency and community input, but apparently they do not believe in it enough to firmly commit to being open source.
I'm a tech pessimist though so take the above with a grain of salt. :P
That's a fair point and concern. I imagine their investors don't want them to open source as everyone is obsessed with owning IP. I think your pessimism is justified, especially when tech...
That's a fair point and concern. I imagine their investors don't want them to open source as everyone is obsessed with owning IP. I think your pessimism is justified, especially when tech companies so rarely do anything to push back against that pessimism.
For me the issue is that they haven't published any technical details at all about how their system will work. Maybe they'll do that after they launch?
For me the issue is that they haven't published any technical details at all about how their system will work. Maybe they'll do that after they launch?
I seem to remember there being talk about doing that but I couldn't find anything so I could be making that up. That would go a long way to reassuring Canadians so it would be nice if they do.
I seem to remember there being talk about doing that but I couldn't find anything so I could be making that up. That would go a long way to reassuring Canadians so it would be nice if they do.
I’m wondering if Gander uses regular PDS’s that interoperate with Bluesky. There’s no technical information that I was able to find. If you have an account, does your account have a dtd? Do tools...
I’m wondering if Gander uses regular PDS’s that interoperate with Bluesky. There’s no technical information that I was able to find. If you have an account, does your account have a dtd? Do tools like pdsls work with it?
Gander claims to use AT Proto and to somehow make sure your data stays in Canada, but both can’t be true if it participates in AT Proto in the normal way, because PDS’s are public and designed to be replicated without asking permission. (Bluesky is designing a new protocol called Spaces to allow more privacy.)
I have no clue. Everything you're talking about is above my head. You don't have to interact with Bluesky and it is set to Gander only by default. So you may be giving up some of that "stored in...
I have no clue. Everything you're talking about is above my head.
You don't have to interact with Bluesky and it is set to Gander only by default. So you may be giving up some of that "stored in Canada" security if you decide to interact with Bluesky.
Ironically, I will be in Gander on Canada Day - but I'm not much of a social media user so I'll probably pass. But I'll still support and spread the word for Canadian companies, provided they're...
Ironically, I will be in Gander on Canada Day - but I'm not much of a social media user so I'll probably pass. But I'll still support and spread the word for Canadian companies, provided they're actually beneficial and not a bunch of crooks like Rogers/Shaw or basically all our grocery barons.
Yeah I mainly creep and like the idea in theory, but who knows how it will turn out in practise. I bet they would be overjoyed to be as hated as Rogers or Loblaws. I can't see them getting that...
Yeah I mainly creep and like the idea in theory, but who knows how it will turn out in practise. I bet they would be overjoyed to be as hated as Rogers or Loblaws. I can't see them getting that big but who knows.
As a Canadian, I find anything that is geared toward Canadians as incredibly corny and I don't want anything to do with it... like when Tim Hortons was bought out by non-Canadians and suddenly got...
As a Canadian, I find anything that is geared toward Canadians as incredibly corny and I don't want anything to do with it... like when Tim Hortons was bought out by non-Canadians and suddenly got into that whole patriotism bend. yuck.
That's fair. It has been mostly fine. Part of their promotions for launch is something about taking back the red hat and that just feels forced and lazy.
That's fair. It has been mostly fine. Part of their promotions for launch is something about taking back the red hat and that just feels forced and lazy.
yeah -- super corny. Also, did we ever have an iconic red hat to begin with? This feels very Winnipeg for some reason. I have no idea if it is, but it definitely isn't west coast.
yeah -- super corny. Also, did we ever have an iconic red hat to begin with?
This feels very Winnipeg for some reason. I have no idea if it is, but it definitely isn't west coast.
I had a cool coke one when I was about three that I loved. Maybe they’re reclaiming it for me. It’s a neat idea, but typically sites like this end up being right-wing nut jobs from up here —-...
I had a cool coke one when I was about three that I loved. Maybe they’re reclaiming it for me.
It’s a neat idea, but typically sites like this end up being right-wing nut jobs from up here —- maybe the Queen of Canada will have an account if she’s still doing that.
It definitely is not in my experience. A lot of people jumped on the band wagon when Trump was attacking our sovereignty so definitely leans middle left, at least for now.
It definitely is not in my experience. A lot of people jumped on the band wagon when Trump was attacking our sovereignty so definitely leans middle left, at least for now.
I know there are tens of us Canadians here. Gander social is best described as Canadian Bluesky. It's owned and operated in Canada and hooks into Bluesky. It's currently the only social media account I have. Well, besides Tildes. I also realize that if you're not Canadian it's pretty pointless.
So my fellow Canadians, if you haven't already, will you be checking out Gander when it launches Wednesday?
I’m Canadian, but I’ve never heard of this. Why do I want it?
Not Canadian, but their features contain some positive things. A built-in bias check for news articles, the ability to filter for what you want to see, the ability to choose whether you see videos or not... All in all, it seems like a social media platform with better tools?
Yeah, all good points. The built-in bias checker is a little wonky because it's largely trained on American examples so it leans right but it does a decent job. My understanding is that there weren't other good options out there.
Owned and operated in Canada, so your data stays in Canada.
Your feed defaults to just being the most recent post, so no algorithm.
Plugs into Bluesky so you can still interact with that world, since Gander is still very small as it's just coming out of beta.
And more esoteric, it kind of feels like old internet? People posting silly nonsense and generally being nice because it's not full of bots and assholes. Obviously attracted a lot of people pissed off about all the threats America was making to our sovereignty.
So basically trying to give a Canadian solution to Twitter/Bluesky.
Beyond all that, I guess it depends if you already interact with Bluesky or similar platforms. If not, I don't know if Gander will change that for you, although it does kind of have a small town feel, at least for now.
Love to see it. I'm not at the most social stage of my life and even less inclined to tap into the online zeitgeist, but I'm happy to see this. Building Canadian cultural independence has been a longtime coming.
Yeah I am at a similar place. It's good for us to do but I haven't used it much even through beta.
Feels like the inverse of how Voat started with a userbase of "People Reddit banned" - if you're starting off with "People that are proud of being Canadian", I guess I'm not surprised by:
I'm not frequent on a lot of social media, but i joined gander during the beta phase because I was curious about having a Canadian option. It's been interesting watching the platform take shape... I'm still not a particularly frequent user but I like the vibes on Gander better than most other platforms I've tried out. I hope they will be successful in building a more positive social media platform
Same. It's not my thing. I never really used Twitter and mainly creeped on Bluesky before deleting my account. I want them to succeed and the vibes are good.
Doesn't look like it's really for me. When it comes to 'Social Media' I am only interested in long form heavily moderated discussion boards (like this one). Pictures and videos do not interest me whatsoever. Though I do wish I had a replacement for the Province/City local subreddits, those are the only things keeping me using Reddit these days.
There's at least 5 of us.
According to Tildes survey #3 there are at least 12 of us!
Is this an honest attempt at a social media for Canada or is it like "W social" in the EU that is more of the same shady big tech behind the scenes stuff?
The Gander website sure reads a lot like the W social one.
*sigh*
Is the problem here that they are not fully open source? They are still ultimately a company looking to make money. I'm not pretending that they are somehow a good company. There are layers of bad. I will take whatever Gander is over any US based tech company. It's interesting and I don't know if it will last, but anyone trying to create something Canadian based is better than most options in my book.
It's not particularly a problem that they're not fully open source, they can do whatever they want of course. I just wish one of these attempts would actually double down on being open source. Being a profitable company and providing open source software are not mutually exclusive.
It stood out to me that they say they believe in transparency and community input, but apparently they do not believe in it enough to firmly commit to being open source.
I'm a tech pessimist though so take the above with a grain of salt. :P
That's a fair point and concern. I imagine their investors don't want them to open source as everyone is obsessed with owning IP. I think your pessimism is justified, especially when tech companies so rarely do anything to push back against that pessimism.
For me the issue is that they haven't published any technical details at all about how their system will work. Maybe they'll do that after they launch?
I seem to remember there being talk about doing that but I couldn't find anything so I could be making that up. That would go a long way to reassuring Canadians so it would be nice if they do.
I’m wondering if Gander uses regular PDS’s that interoperate with Bluesky. There’s no technical information that I was able to find. If you have an account, does your account have a dtd? Do tools like pdsls work with it?
Gander claims to use AT Proto and to somehow make sure your data stays in Canada, but both can’t be true if it participates in AT Proto in the normal way, because PDS’s are public and designed to be replicated without asking permission. (Bluesky is designing a new protocol called Spaces to allow more privacy.)
I have no clue. Everything you're talking about is above my head.
You don't have to interact with Bluesky and it is set to Gander only by default. So you may be giving up some of that "stored in Canada" security if you decide to interact with Bluesky.
Ironically, I will be in Gander on Canada Day - but I'm not much of a social media user so I'll probably pass. But I'll still support and spread the word for Canadian companies, provided they're actually beneficial and not a bunch of crooks like Rogers/Shaw or basically all our grocery barons.
Yeah I mainly creep and like the idea in theory, but who knows how it will turn out in practise. I bet they would be overjoyed to be as hated as Rogers or Loblaws. I can't see them getting that big but who knows.
As a Canadian, I find anything that is geared toward Canadians as incredibly corny and I don't want anything to do with it... like when Tim Hortons was bought out by non-Canadians and suddenly got into that whole patriotism bend. yuck.
That's fair. It has been mostly fine. Part of their promotions for launch is something about taking back the red hat and that just feels forced and lazy.
yeah -- super corny. Also, did we ever have an iconic red hat to begin with?
This feels very Winnipeg for some reason. I have no idea if it is, but it definitely isn't west coast.
I believe they are Ottawa based. I think the only red hat I have worn is a red Jays hat. I don't think that counts.
I had a cool coke one when I was about three that I loved. Maybe they’re reclaiming it for me.
It’s a neat idea, but typically sites like this end up being right-wing nut jobs from up here —- maybe the Queen of Canada will have an account if she’s still doing that.
It definitely is not in my experience. A lot of people jumped on the band wagon when Trump was attacking our sovereignty so definitely leans middle left, at least for now.
nice. that's good then. Shame these sites all get terrible domains. I can't imagine any of them gaining any sense of widespread popularity.