305 points

Now this is the kind of growth factor the Fediverse needs, not Threads.

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139 points
Removed by mod
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44 points

Probably because the need of moderation.

If you host an instance and let people in (even if it’s a limited circle, i.E. your students) you are responsible for moderation. I think that’s something institutions back off currently.

For an mail server that’s much easier.

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36 points
Removed by mod
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10 points
*

Universities used to have students involved in publishing magazines as journalists, editors etc. This is the evolution. I’m sure a decent sized uni could find or create a student group who can be responsible for moderation under an official administrator.

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4 points
*

Then don’t let people post on the server people can repost if they want to comment

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15 points

Universities have experimented with more private social networks. I remember YikYak back in my uni days. They either don’t have the resource to spin one up or they don’t know about it.

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9 points

Might not qualify as a social network, but university hosted IRC servers were a thing once.

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7 points
*

Because of the network effect and content aggregation. With emails you just want to reach a specific person, with public posts you want to reach as many people as possible. But I also think the whole ownership and control problem of centralized social networks wasn’t as apparent as it is now.

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4 points

Back in my uni days (1997-01) my uni ran its own Usenet server. Don’t think it carried the alt.binaries, but did have groups specifically for the uni. Sadly only a small handful of people used it.

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2 points

Same here, and I doubt their IT departments knows deeply about Fediverse. Also some times the department making communication is non technical and not close to IT so people making decisions just choose what they know (Instagram, Twitter, etc). At least that was the case in the University I studied

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1 point

It’s mostly the latter from what I’ve seen.

At least in my country IT departments have very little wiggle room as organizations have gotten more rigid with increased control from the top echelons. Some universities in my country used to host a lot of cool services for students to use. Nowdays it seems that the legacy stuff is kept online as long as the people maintaining them are around.

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199 points

I know I’m not the only one who has been saying that this type of move makes perfect sense for governments and news organizations, but I’m going to go ahead and take credit for this.

You’re welcome, guys!

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37 points
*

Thanks Garret.

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25 points
*
Deleted by creator
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10 points

OH MY GOD GARRET I AM YOUR BIGGEST FAN

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22 points
*

💀

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1 point

call us handsfree, safe, and legal

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9 points

Even Sam and Dave appreciate you, Garret.

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8 points

All my homies love garret

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98 points

This makes so much sense.

BBC wouldn’t make their news site under Google Blogger… so why depend on other corporations for your microblogging?

Spin up your own server, have your own verification, then use it on your site and share outs.

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90 points

I’m a fan of the BBC, they make a lot of terrific programmes and the breadth of the audience their radio stations cater to is pretty phenomenal.

They also have a history of experimenting with technology so it’s not a total surprise they’ve taken this step. Since most people on Mastodon are either sharing British news sources from the BBC or The Guardian anyway it will be interesting to see how they fare…

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5 points

Yeah me too. I’m Australian, but I really enjoy BBC tv shows, documentaries, and especially podcasts.

Our own ABC was pretty great in the past, but conservative governments have hollowed them out. They do still produce some good reporting and podcasts but they have fallen from their former glory.

Seriously, publicly funded broadcasting, which isn’t beholden to vested interests and advertisers, is an infinitely better model.

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3 points

Absolutely. And it’s easy to take a lack of adverts for granted when you watch public TV it has to be said.

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70 points

I may be misremembering but seem to recall them being early to Tw*tter too. Good sign

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51 points

my guy you don’t have to censor the word twitter

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28 points
*
Deleted by creator
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8 points

Well you gotta keep your posts ad friendly, you know?

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6 points

Aye. Like nerds using M$ for Microsoft.

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3 points

to be fair, the word Mastodon was being censored on Twitter at one point, but doesn’t mean the other way happens in the Fediverse.

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14 points
*

Maybe they were talking about twatter

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13 points

Are we supposed to call it X now? What a dumb name, in my opinion.

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15 points

‘The site formerly known as twitter’

The unpleasantly long name just makes it funnier imo

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7 points

I liked someone’s suggestion to pronounce it as “ten”

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6 points

I still call it Twitter and will continue to do so. :)

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2 points

Does that mean DMX is now running the show over there?

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7 points

It’s a funny thing people do. Look it up. Some more examples: Brtish, Frace

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17 points

You accidentally did a markdown there!

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6 points

I literally saw it everywhere on Mastodon, like, I honestly never saw anyone say it directly, just “birdsite” or a censored version. So I adapted to be polite. And sometimes forget which form of fediverse I’m posting on.

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6 points

Musk himself is censoring Twitter

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5 points

It’s spelled twatter

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25 points

It would be funny to censor X just with a single *

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