this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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In the end I don’t think internet users in rich powerful countries are the users most likely to benefit and invest their time into in the fediverse. They might be the ones with the most free time, money and privilege around computers which makes being on the leading edge of niche technologies far easier, but I don’t think using the fediverse vs commercial social media is thattt crucial of a difference for most (add a million qualifiers here except if you are black, queer, trans etc… I am talking in relative terms here) livimg inside the borders of colonial powers like the US, France, Germany etc..

Speaking as a hetero white dude who grew up with a decent amount of privilege the fediverse isn’t for the countless versions of me living within the borders of colonial powers…

It might have been programmers living within the borders of colonial powers that did most of the labor to create the fediverse, and most of the early users might have come from within colonial powers but I think it is important to recognize that the gift that the fediverse represents to the world is the capacity to empower people living outside the borders of colonial powers to own and run their own social networks instead of having some random Facebook employee who doesn’t have the time or basic knowledge of a country to make major decisions about what news accounts to moderate as dangerous spam and what to allow.

From a 30,000 foot view, speaking in broad terms and specific values and priorities, what do you think are the best strategies for flipping the script on the fediverse being mostly a tool used by people within the borders of colonial powers to one used by without and within?

I wonder about the capacities of fediverse software being useful as a compliment to HOT open street mapping type initiatives in the wake of disasters and just in general?

(Are server costs just generally cheaper/easier in colonial countries to run or is it purely a money and time thing? I don’t really know)

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 5 months ago (13 children)

its about mature infrastructure.

small, less mature countries have shit for internet resources.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 months ago (10 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I think GDP in this case, but yeah, same idea. It makes sense that wealthy countries with good infrastructure are going to be high on the list.

Country (nominal GDP rank)
USA (1)
France (7)
Germany (4)
Japan (3)
Finland (47)
Canada (9)
Netherlands (18)
Russia (8)
UK (6)

High-GDP countries that are notably missing are China (2, users are limited by the Great Firewall) and India (5, still building their infrastructure).

I wonder why Finland is so high on the list? Good for them, regardless.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Things you can do in finland: tango, fight with knives, computer stuff.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Nice mix of mental stimulation and high risk hijinks

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (3 children)

The leaders of countries such as the PRC, Modi's India, Putin's Russia, ans Iran might not like the idea of decentralization.

Indeed, they might not like the internet itself.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think you're overthinking this, and extrapolating limited data way too far.

For one, of course historically rich countries are going to be hosting more technology. Tech is expensive, and less developed countries are called that because they're less developed, which includes electricity grids, internet, economic power, and so on.

Another issue is that just because a Mastodon server is hosted in a particular country, doesn't mean only people in or from that country can make an account there. Sure, there are some servers that want to keep their communities specific to their local area, but the vast majority have no restrictions. Anyone from anywhere can sign up.

If you're trying to figure out how to make it so historically poor countries have the most servers instead, you're going to have to figure out how to fund and manage infrastructure expansion.

It feels like you're coming at this with the assumption of "every country has the resources to spin up hundreds of social media servers, but they're just not interested", which is kind of a weird conclusion to come to after recognizing the historical impact of colonialism and the privilege differences it's led to.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You don't have to use a local server though.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Yeah.. those leeches from underdeveloped countries should be hosting fediverse servers with all that expendable income they have.

What a shit take.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I m happy that France is just behind the USA knowing that we are way less massive in number of people. I think that s cool , let democratize the fediverse nom Mather where you are ;)

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Are server costs just generally cheaper/easier in colonial countries to run or is it purely a money and time thing?

They are cheaper. Locations outside US/EU and very few countries in Asia are sometimes called "exotic" and can be a bit expensive. Lemmy also has this issue where servers that are distant from each other lag behind.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Yeah, fuck those colonists with their colonial powers! 💪

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What about the usage demographics within each country?

In underdeveloped/exploited countries, internet usage is more likely to be concentrated among the economic elites who formerly benefited from colonialism—so if increasing adoption in those countries just follows the pattern of other internet use, it could have the opposite effect from the one intended.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It would be cool to have some Lemmy servers from some more obscure countries, like, I don't know, Mali, or something. Do they have any interesting top level domain names?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Oh true you could probably get some sick domains for smaller countries not well represented on the internet (not me I mean someone from that country).

Honestly I think cities are cooler though they feel more local and human than country names to me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Pretty sure that's a joke, Mali's TLD is .ml

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

And as far as I know, lemmy.ml has no affiliation with Mali whatsoever.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

A good strategy is for you, and you specifically, to donate a lot of what sounds like your likely massive white-privledge trust fund to a tech charity of the country of your choosing.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

This fails to solve system error.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Maybe...? As many have reminded me on this thread, be wary of your kneejerk assumptions.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah your original post came off as pompous and offensive. Even though your intent was to be hopeful, optimistic and productive, you come off as arrogant and ignorant in your writing. Please do not take this as a non-sequitur, I'm simply calling it as we see it here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think that is a fair criticism, I appreciate your honesty and straightforwardness!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Apologies that we all came at you with swords. Keep at it, we can work together and find a solution.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Keep at it, we can work together and find a solution

I would say with -30 votes and 50 comments that I am clearly not part of this "we"

I think I am done participating here

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes Lemmy is a form of wealth. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a wealthy country

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

Then how do we most effectively fight wealth inequality along the axis of software, fediverse software in particular?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

You can’t drop a mean comment like that and not expand on what you specifically mean by it.

What makes my post brain dead then specifically ?

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