You might be wondering, "What's going on with this new instance (mastodon.thedecentalists.com)?"
Well, I'll tell you. My company, Peer Social, is building a decentralized peer-to-peer social network, both protocol and client. We intend to open source a good portion of it soon. For two years, we've been banging the drums on Twitter.
Well, last August, Twitter banned all our accounts. For what reason? We still don't know. Tried contacting Twitter, they didn't get back. Lesson learned.
After this happened, I realized that we need to eat our own dog food. If we're going to talk about decentralization, we need to be as active as possible with the community.
Thus we decided to migrate to decentralized social networks. We got our own servers, installed some software. Now we got a Matrix and Mastodon instance up and running. After a month of testing, I'm loving it. The freedom is spectacular.
Last week, I attented the ActivityPub Conference (#apconf). I learned a lot -- just how deep and boisterous this community is. Truth be told, I'm excited. I've long know that the decentralized web is the future. Now I know it's the present. There's some beautiful projects being done on the Fediverse.
So what makes this Mastodon instance different? Great question! First, The Decentralists is about decentralization. We have an established podcast all about it. We explore critical issues about social media, journalism, geo-politics. Have a listen! https://www.buzzsprout.com/995260
Secondly, the lesson we learned from our Twitter ban is that it's absolutely CRITICAL that everyone should own their own data. If you have the know-how to start a Mastodon instance, you should do so. If you don't but want to, I'm happy to offer advice. If administration is a barrier -- I don't blame you if it is! -- we're more than happy to offer this instance as your home provided you abide by our Terms of Service.
We also realized that though the Fediverse is growing by leaps and bounds, there's a lot of folks that may be hesitant to join. Twitter and Facebook, for all their faults, are a known quantity. We want to offer a space for those who want to make the leap but don't know if they should.
Specifically, if you're running a company and worried about data integrity -- and you should! -- we want to show the world that the #Fediverse can be done. The proof is in the pudding!
Now should you join Mastodon? What about the greater Fediverse? Yes and yes. Over the past 10 years, the Internet is gradually been eroded by the Evil Empire of surveillance capitalism. But we're fighting back! And we're doing it with style.
Join us!