Food for thought: Maybe the Fediverse should actually split.

Leave Mastodon to its own devices. Leave them the term "Fediverse". Let Mastodon "be the Fediverse". Let "the Fediverse" and "the Mastodon network" be all the same. Just what absolutely every last newbie who came over from the Birdsite thought is the case. Just what many Mastodon users still think is the case. And exactly what not exactly few Mastodon users want the Fediverse to be.

Let Mastodon's many proprietary, non-standard, Mastodon-only solutions work perfectly with no interference from outside.

And leave Mastodon to be EEE'd by Threads.

Everything else could throw out all Mastodon-specific kluges and hacks and finally concentrate on pure standard ActivityPub plus FEPs. It could make full use of object types, regardless of how Mastodon renders them. It could introduce nomadic identity via ActivityPub without constantly having to check how well it works with Mastodon. It could implement a standard permissions system with no regard for how it'll work with Mastodon. For Mastodon will never implement anything they can't claim having invented themselves.

It could assume the name "Social Web" in the place of "Fediverse".

Its users could finally live the cultures of wherever they are and make use of the features available to them. They would longer have to deal with Mastodon users who try hard to force them to adopt the Mastodon culture and throw away the culture and most of the features of their home.

It could become acceptable for Social Web projects to introduce by-server-type filters and use them to block Mastodon as a whole. This could keep out the invaders who try to enforce their own foreign culture.

Such a step would also show which Fediverse projects are actually independent and which ones are nothing but add-ons bolted onto Mastodon. Because they will have to choose a side.

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