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Personally I am welcoming anybody to join the Fediverse. But I am unsure how to feel about e.g. services that make transition easier, but treat the Fediverse like a second Twitter.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not out to bash services like "Fedified" linked earlier. It looks useful, the author surely means well, I appreciate the creative DIY-spirit, and if it makes it easier for people to join the Fediverse, then that's great. If impersonation is a worry, then such a website might help.

(2/7)

But I'm not 100% happy with the fact that in general some services, meant to make it easier to join the Fediverse, are centralised and under the control of somebody else but the person who wants to use it and may depend on it.

Such websites often need curation. What happens if the people behind it cannot maintain it anymore? Or their views don't align with the people who want to use the service? Not to mention fraud.

Control over data and identity must remain with the people concerned.

(3/7)

"Trust me to verify you" is the Twitter model. But when web services offer to display a connection between Twitter and federated account, "verification" gets slightly more complicated due to the nature of bridging two networks. This in turn makes joining the Fediverse to appear more complicated than necessary.

It's Twitter-think shoved onto to the Fediverse, which seems like a reasonable approach for people new here, but eventually is impractical and a little unjust, I think.

(4/7)

And I think that leads me to a concern I have been brooding over in the last few weeks:

The #Fediverse is not a drop-in replacement for #Twitter.

And it shouldn't be, because that would undermine the added value that comes

1) from local communities, connected by shared values, that also federate,

2) from empowering individuals to be in control of their identity and data, and

3) from the open standards that allow extending the "language" of the network.

(5/7)

You got more freedom on the #Fediverse than on #Twitter. Please allow yourself to learn about and use it!

You don't have to depend on some central authority to verify your identity. And you shouldn't. Really. Online identity came to be a thing, and it will surely be even more of a thing in the future. In control of your identity should only be you, and people you have opted-in to trust.

(6/7)

YMMV, but for me this federated, decentralised network means more independence and agency. Putting control of my matterns back into my hands or people I trust. I decide who I trust, because I have a choice.

The modalities of interaction are not controlled by a central authority and not confined to a walled garden like for most Big Tech social media, so the way instances of the network interact (and hence how people can interact) can evolve naturally and organically, like language.

(7/7)

Technical excursion as bonus thoughts. If centralised solutions to verify are not the way, what is?

In my opinion: To verify, get a domain or free subdomain. A little more below.

(8/7)

Personally I would suggest to new people: If you want to get verified on the Fediverse, make use of the freedom you have here. Get a domain (or free subdomain), put up a single page with the rel="me" link and link from Fedi. Done.

Added benefits: A standard domain costs less per year than two months of Twitter verification. You actually own your domain and can publish "content" there completely under your control, even if some guy carrying sinks decides to not like you anymore.

(9/7)