It feels like more Lemmy apps are going to make their way on to the app stores. With more apps, comes more people. More people, more API calls. How do we scale this server and hopefully all of the others to come, financially?
There are some REALLY interesting Podcast 2.0 features in the works. Especially using “value4value” and “boosting” as a way for listeners to tip their favorite podcasts and fund them directly. I wonder if somehow we can learn from it?
For those who do not know, hopefully these Podcasting 2.0 features will help podcasters continue to thrive in world where companies like Spotify and Amazon have decided to destroy our incredible open and free podcast networks by making “exclusives” and putting them behind paywalls that don’t follow the open standards.
I’d really love to integrate Podcasting 2.0 RSS and the fediverse. How cool would it be if every podcast episode just had its own place in the fediverse with a place to chat and it all worked together somehow automatically.
I dunno. Just a thought.
Here’s some info:
I just look to the microblogging side of the network (which has about 10 million total users) as a case study.
The ideal situation? More nodes are added to the network to spread the load and control away from a few very large and very expensive instances. The realistic situation? Some instances manage to secure external funding (such as mastodon.social) and grow extremely large at the expense of smaller instances that shut down from a lack of users and funding. Decentralized protocols like the fediverse and email are not immune to centralization thanks to lazy users who join the biggest instance. My pessimistic outlook is that the Fediverse will eventually become like email, with a few very big instances and a lot of spam making it difficult for smaller instances to enter the network. Enjoy the fresh new internet feeling while it lasts and move on when the platform starts to decay.
This is the realistic take I’ve been at for the two weeks since I learned all this existed.
Mastodon users are shocked and dismayed at the news of Meta using ActivityPub for their Twitterclone. And while it is sad, it’s the inevitable outcome hurtling forward.