Slowly becoming the "actually it's GNU/Linux" guy of "actually Mastodon is just _part_ of the fediverse". (Jokes aside, we need a civilian-friendly name for "fediverse" that can perform the role that "podcast" does in "subscribe to us in your favorite podcast app".)
@anildash imho fediverse is fine, it's not weirder than any other neologism, and it's a nice contrast to metaverse
@anildash "to our Mastodon/Pleroma/Misskey/Gotosocial @/yottayottayotta@wherever.example.com through your ActivityPub service" not cutting it
@jcrabapple @leo was always sympathetic to Leo's argument, but also kind of knew that effort was quixotic.
@anildash “subscribe to us wherever you get your toots” or, more formally, “wherever you GET your toots”
@anildash I dunno. I vividly remember explaining what "podcast" meant to people. Hell, I remember explaining "world wide web". Words catch on.
That said, I do realize that the "fed" at the root of "fediverse" is harder to grasp and explain -- but I'm not sure a different name will change that.
@anildash @jcrabapple @leo I missed out on a lot of early podcasts because I assumed I needed an iPod to listen to them! 😅
@anildash I've been wondering about that too. Temporarily I've been using "Mastodon-compatible", which doesn't really address your point, but I can't tell if "fediverse" will ever not feel nerdy.
@paulroub i'm not objecting to having to explain things to folks; i probably told thousands of people what a blog or a podcast was. Rather, we need a name that is closer and makes more intuitive sense to the thing it's describing. People can understand "Spotify can listen to podcasts". They need to get that "Mastodon can follow [x]."
@dansinker @anildash unfortunately "federal" is one of the most confusing, self-contradictory terms in the English language, maybe second only to "sanction."
@PeoriaBummer @anildash on the flipside, "podcast" made immediate sense to anyone that heard it because the iPod was huge & new and shiny. "fediverse" involves a lot of "No, it's not the federal government" and "OK, so let's talk for 10 minutes about what 'federation' means"
@anildash We've been calling it "Open Social"
It's short and understandable, and gets some vital ideas across.
@anildash Eh. We’ll all just get used to “fediverse” eventually. “Podcast” sounded weird and dumb at first too — as did tweet, iPad, Linux, blog, Google, etc. etc. — and we no longer bat an eye at any of them. Fediverse will (hopefully) go the same way.
@anildash What's wrong with 'fediverse'? It's only three syllables; it is, I think, a neologism in every language, so it won't be confused with everything else; and, as its roots are Latin, it doesn't privilege English.
Seems an excellent word!
@manton I'm with the folks who say that fediverse will just sound normal--if it takes off. Now, it's all about Mastodon.
@anildash I’m partial to “social web” in the sense that the fediverse IS the internet. Then the phrasing is more like “follow us on your favorite social web app/service”
The “fedi” part has all the same pitfalls in explanation that “GNU” does… frankly no one wants to hear it lol
@anildash Fediverse, metaverse; I am not a fan of the verses. However, who knew what a podcast was before there were podcasts?
@anildash "Social web" not only solves the GNU/Mastodon problem, it solves the GNU/Fediverse problem and the GNU/ActivityPub problem.
"Follow us on the social web" doesn't need a decade of use to sound normal, and it explains both the how and *why* of fediversitization.
@anildash I've been kicking around things like "small tech" -- something that reflects the decentralized nature but not in a way that immediately scares people out of even considering using it.
@anildash Maybe we could go back to the original name, before we conflated service providers with infrastructure providers. "The Internet". Or "World Wide Web". Here's my URL - it can be my own server, or some 3rd-party server. All that matters is that I have the attention span to figure out how to follow a URL, or somebody makes an app "for free" to make that convenient for me on my phone, if that's what I prefer...
In order to be catchy it needs to be only two syllables and not overly clever.
Something like "BigNet" "AllNet" "OurNet" or "netverse" "talkverse" "TheVerse" etc
@anildash feed app? feels like we are getting to the point of media merge with consistent delivery and distribution mechanics
@gaberivera @anildash TIL that on the Greek Isles, those aren't little white houses after all, they're big blocks of feta cheese! All these years I had it all wrong!
Ok that does it, I must get to the Greek Isles stat.
@anildash Maybe just shorten it to "Fedi"?
"Mate, you gotta get on the Fedi, it's where everything's happening."
I'm fine with the fediverse. I often say fedi. But maybe social web is the smart choice. The term web now feels inherently open, and what we're doing here is just adding a social element to the internet.
Podcast should have been feedshow. And micro blogging makes it seem more about the posts than the true killer app...how collectively, the accounts direct attention. Make something go viral.
@anildash "follow us on your favorite tooter"
"Did you see that thing Anil posted on the tooter the other day"
Tooter. That's the toot.
@anildash I think #openweb is a good way of expressing this from both a tech and social view. It's #nothingnew as well which is always a breath of fresh air
@anildash homest question: what, in your eyes, makes „fediverse“ less civilian-friendly (or less catchy?) than „podcast“? Both seem equally made up to me.
Then again, „podcast“ itself isn’t a name for the sum of all podcasts, and, to pick a word for the equivalent concept, „activitypub stream“ definitely doesn’t have the same zippiness to it.
I personally like „microblog“, but I’m in no position to influence the use of either term 🤷
If you say "on social", most folk will assume you mean Facebook because that's the social media they're familiar with. If you mean fediverse, say "fediverse." It's simple, clear and unambiguous.
@anildash I think just “feed”. It’s broadly understandable and flexible bc it is more verb and less object.
“For more like this follow me on x.xyz or wherever you get your public feeds. I also maintain a private feed for subscribers learn more at….”
So we have public and private feeds, …the later of which some people monetize, and others limit to friends and fam.
You can, of course, have multiple public and private feeds. AND YOU WILL, Anil.
I will 👍 and subscribe.
“do you have a blog?”:2003::“where do I find your feed?”:2023
Ah, and more upside to “feed” — feed readers will be back, baby!
“Feed”…“Reader”.…🤤…”Feed Reader”😍Like the peanut butter and jelly of tech word pairs.
