10 votes

Aether | A decentralized social network

12 comments

  1. Eva
    Link
    I tried it a year or so ago, and though the client itself was nice, the people on it were kind of...bad? Not posting anything illegal, mostly, but it seemed to have a bit of the Voat problem going...

    I tried it a year or so ago, and though the client itself was nice, the people on it were kind of...bad? Not posting anything illegal, mostly, but it seemed to have a bit of the Voat problem going on in the few groups that weren't entirely dead.

    10 votes
  2. Death
    Link
    There's some interesting ideas in there but the election system, especially with how much of it is encoded with hard numbers, seems like it's just begging to be abused.

    There's some interesting ideas in there but the election system, especially with how much of it is encoded with hard numbers, seems like it's just begging to be abused.

    6 votes
  3. [2]
    ThyMrMan
    Link
    I've messed around a little bit, but don't really like the idea of content disappearing. I like the idea that everything sticks around for however long somebody feels like hosting it, and that I...

    I've messed around a little bit, but don't really like the idea of content disappearing. I like the idea that everything sticks around for however long somebody feels like hosting it, and that I can look back at conversations from years ago to see how things have changed.

    4 votes
    1. ruspaceni
      Link Parent
      Yeah I'm with you on that one. There's nothing worse than not being able to find something but you don't know the name/what to search. If you know you've posted/mentioned it before, you can just...

      Yeah I'm with you on that one. There's nothing worse than not being able to find something but you don't know the name/what to search.

      If you know you've posted/mentioned it before, you can just chug through the history. Without that? goodbye thing i wanted to share... was nice fogetting ya

      2 votes
  4. [3]
    unknown user
    Link
    One question the website wasn't particularly explicit about: is it open-source? They make all kinds of claims about not being able to trust sites like Twitter that try to algorithmically serve you...

    One question the website wasn't particularly explicit about: is it open-source?

    They make all kinds of claims about not being able to trust sites like Twitter that try to algorithmically serve you content, but unless it's possible to verify that the client isn't hiding data from me (and from their DMCA policy, it sounds like that's exactly their plan), I don't see why I should trust it much more than Twitter.

    4 votes
    1. unknown user
      Link Parent
      Right, so, after some investigation, the answer is "sort of". There is some source code available on GitHub, but by the author's own admission it does not correspond to the binaries distributed...

      Right, so, after some investigation, the answer is "sort of".

      There is some source code available on GitHub, but by the author's own admission it does not correspond to the binaries distributed via the website; there are three commits total in the public repository, and the last one was almost three months ago.

      3 votes
    2. Arshan
      Link Parent
      I assumed it was open source, but actively looking I agree that it is vague.Their protocol, mim, is explicitly open source.

      I assumed it was open source, but actively looking I agree that it is vague.Their protocol, mim, is explicitly open source.

      2 votes
  5. Octofox
    Link
    I tried the previous version many years ago. It was a cool tech demo but really I don't think this is the answer we need. Moderation is very good and makes a website worth while. I think mastodon...

    I tried the previous version many years ago. It was a cool tech demo but really I don't think this is the answer we need. Moderation is very good and makes a website worth while. I think mastodon has it right, anyone can set up an instance and run it however they want and the user gets to pick which set of rules they find suitable instead of picking between no rules at all and the one size fits none from megacorps.

    4 votes
  6. [2]
    Thrabalen
    Link
    My honest opinion is that if it doesn't remain, why should I (or anyone) care? I like permanence.

    My honest opinion is that if it doesn't remain, why should I (or anyone) care? I like permanence.

    3 votes
    1. stu2b50
      Link Parent
      tbf that's like the primary reason people use snapchat

      tbf that's like the primary reason people use snapchat

      1 vote
  7. determinism
    Link
    I've been checking Aether on an (almost) daily basis. It is not very active but I'm a fan of the platform and want it to "succeed". I will consider that to have happened when it reaches a usership...

    I've been checking Aether on an (almost) daily basis. It is not very active but I'm a fan of the platform and want it to "succeed". I will consider that to have happened when it reaches a usership that is large enough to convince my family or friends to use it. So far I haven't even gotten my (free software fanatic) friend to install it. He doesn't like that the posts are ephemeral (cease to be shared after a certain lifetime without activity).

    Regarding this feature/constraint, I've always viewed it as a drawback that was just a consequence of the finite network throughput versus an unbounded "corpus" of content to distribute. However, recently I was reflecting on how much more relaxed it is knowing that your bad ideas or shitty jokes that don't land will eventually disappear if people stop commenting on them.

    3 votes
  8. Arshan
    Link
    I have been following development of aether for a while, and I though other tildinos might be interested.

    I have been following development of aether for a while, and I though other tildinos might be interested.

    1 vote