@liaizon protocol wise there is authenticated Fetch, otherwise slurping might be individual server admin concerns (not saying they should be, but it requires other tools to the stack).
I think the point @_elena was pointing to is that this hodgepodge, Unusable Fediverse probably provides more friction to slurping than the structured nature of ATP.

@jaredwhite

Yeah, definitely agree. Even if you host your own PDS, you have to have a lot of trust in people running each additional element of the ATProto stack.

I just don't, and that's in part not being too familiar with that community, but also, I'm getting strong "former NFT/web3 and/or former/current AI booster" vibes from some of the people.

Worth adding that there's a client that skips some of Bluesky's own infrastructure and connects directly to people's PDSes.

whey.party/red-dwarf

The next-generation social coding platform.

Tangled (tangled.org)

(But relies on some community tools, so back to the question of trust.)

@everton137

@django @liaizon yes precisely this, so thank you django. Plus the fact that on ATProto everything is public - including block lists

@_elena@mastodon.social @jaredwhite@indieweb.social

If you self host your pds and use https://reddwarf.app you don't depend on any of bluesky's servers.

There's also wafrn, which has atproto support and activitypub support.

@_elena@mastodon.social

Well if this means I finally stop seeing posts from discount twitter
(which is basically what it is I mean why do people even use it?)
on my feed
That would be nice

@jaredwhite
I actually disagree, I think it'd be neat if ActivityPub had some form of PDS-like structure

move all of your emails & personal contacts off of Google hosting...yet still use Gmail

What if you take all your emails and contacts and move to something not dependent on Gmail? You no longer have the costs of leaving a Google service, because all your data is controlled by you.

Not a great comparison to the current AtProto ecosystem which is very dependent on Bluesky. But, I think the PDS itself is not to blame there.

@stefan @everton137

Yes, there are lots of different web and mobile clients. I use blacksky.community, which also has its own appview, so am almost completely independent of Bluesky infrastructure. @stefan mentioned Red Dwarf, and I think there are a handful of others that also allow you to select an appview (very analagous to how phanpy lets you choose an instance) so also allow almost complete independence.

In terms of your initial question, I think that many people (including me!) find a multiple-identity approach very valuable for a variety of reasons. That said, today's ActivityPub-based software doesn't handle multiple identities any better than ATProto-based software. So like so many other things with fedi, it's a potential strength that hasn't been leveraged.

@_elena @jaredwhite

@_elena@mastodon.social thanks for bringing this up! It was an elephant in the room also when I read the initial specs of ATProto: a cryptographically signed identity that you carry with you across systems may sound like the perfect engineering solution compared to AP, but it's also like leaving your fingerprints wherever you go and having very little control over who can see them.

@_elena

Same with matrix and xmpp.... Xmpp seems less attractive to this kind of enshitification, while matrix already have a lot of interest by companies, gov and other funds. Xmpp keeps community backed and driven for 27 years 🥳

@jaredwhite

You can run some of the ATProto infrastructure on a Raspberry Pi as well, with some of the same trade-offs we have here, like not having the full network view.

Stefan Bohacek (@stefan@stefanbohacek.online)

Arguing whether Bluesky is "really" decentralized is increasingly becoming a moot point. "full-network atproto relay on a $4.20/mo VPS" https://bsky.app/profile/bad-example.com/post/3mfkrfvy3ok2u Running a PDS on a Raspberry Pi. https://justingarrison.com/blog/2024-12-02-run-a-bluesky-pds-from-home/ "A Bluesky appview focused on low resource consumption" https://github.com/alnkesq/AppViewLite "full-scale indie atproto relay [...] $30 CAD/mo" https://bsky.app/profile/bad-example.com/post/3lne2wvr5hc2b #bluesky #fediverse

Stefan's Personal Mastodon Server (stefanbohacek.online)

Not really trying to advocate for the Atmosphere here, mind you, but there is quite a lot of momentum over there.

And there is definitely progress, even if it's slow. A bit like here.

@_elena

@stefan @jaredwhite @_elena I've lost perspective on how open the ATProto ecosystem is (and can be) but people I respect are involved and have positive things to say about it. And it seems to have good momentum right now. In my view, having two good ecosystem options (ATProto and ActivityPub) benefits everyone. Better two than zero.

@coreysnipes I do like that there is interest in implementing some of the better ideas here, things like portable identity, or at least better migration.

But we all know here there is just not enough funding for all the work that's needed.

Yes, Bluesky/Atmosphere is heavily subsidized right, but still, there is a ton of momentum and excitement around it.

There are people putting in the effort to make the ecosystem more decentralized, many don't like how much control Bluesky the company has.

And they might just very well succeed.

@jaredwhite @_elena

@stefan
I still believe at some point in the future both protocols will converge. I imagine adding ActivityPub directly on top of a PDS would be one way (there's been a few experiments with that). I know there's a few AtProto apps that would like to add ActivityPub at the Application level. And it's probably only a matter of time before someone sets up an ActivityPub server that lets you sign in with your PDS, there's a lot of options out there, just have to figure out what works best for people (and figure out how to fund it all)

@coreysnipes @jaredwhite @_elena

@coreysnipes @stefan @_elena I'm far more bearish to be honest. I don't respect the people working at bsky, I think they have a pattern of gaslighting critics and obfuscating aspects of their enterprise they know won't fit the cozy narrative of their marketing.

@tom

Yes, this is what I brought believe myself as well.

And you some/all of you might know that wafrn comes with a built-in PDS already.

Wafrn!

(wafrn.net)

If I was starting with the fediverse today, I might just be looking into running my server with it instead of Mastodon, honestly.

@coreysnipes @jaredwhite @_elena

@stefan @tom @coreysnipes @_elena that UI…uh, leaves much to be desired.

@jaredwhite

Well there are the people working at Bluesky the company (doesn't seem to be my crowd either) and then there's the development community trying to make the Atmosphere independent from them.

Not super familiar with the second group, other than folks I already know from here, but I do give them some benefit of doubt.

I mean, some of them are doing some interesting stuff, and again, trying to create independence from Bluesky the company. And that's quite commendable.

Yeah, I'd prefer to see them put in the effort here, but fediverse development is arguably more challenging, and with a smaller and less diverse userbase, probably less rewarding.

@coreysnipes @_elena

@jaredwhite

Yes, well, given the likely budget/time constraints, probably better than anything I'd be able to make.

@tom @coreysnipes @_elena

@stefan @coreysnipes @_elena Sure, there's a distinction between the corp and the folks working on the side on indie flavorings.

But it feels way too much like another Swift story to me (all attempts by non-Apple players to make Swift a great language ecosystem apart from Apple have largely fallen by the wayside… a shame really, because Swift is a pretty cool language).

@jaredwhite Yes, I think that's the big question, whether the larger Atmosphere will survive Bluesky's inevitable enshittification. A year ago, I would've said, probably not.

Today, I don't know. Maybe?

@coreysnipes @_elena