I don't think y'all understand how much I don't want to be the one out here creating new Internet infrastructure to replace what the corporations are fucking us over with. I love software development, but this is such a huge task and requires coordinating so many different skillsets without any upfront investment. But there's not enough people doing it in a way that is sustainable at the community level, so as a result we have a lack of viable options.
Mastodon may exist but it still requires technical skill and infrastructure to set up, and its user interface could still use work. These are not trivial tasks. This is why so many people bounced off Mastodon whether they realize it or not. All that chaos of finding an instance that works and it not collapsing due to some bad moderation situation--that's a community issue. We need software built at the community level to mitigate that problem.
I think a lot of people who say they're ditching social media are kidding themselves. I see most of them on LinkedIn these days. Even the most low tech person is forced to rely on the cell network for communications. That's not social media in the traditional sense, but it's still social technology. This isn't a problem that we can just stick our heads in the sand about and wait for the AI bubble to burst.
Donating to a think tank or a nonprofit is not going to solve this problem either. They're by and large way too focused on the commercial scale than the community level. They're not ready to take a hit. We've talked to CEOs whose plan for their company not getting affected by anti-trans legislation is "over my dead body". That sounds noble but that's not a plan.
I know we're all falling into the same economic hole, so I'm not pretending like we have so much money to spare but for those who are not literally struggling with eviction, you have some funds going to community--there's no way you don't. Maybe it's board game night or movie night or chill at home and potluck night. I'm not saying to stop those things, but consider how you're prioritizing your expenses in that area. 100 people contributing 50 cents a month to a community communications fund is $50 a month to do something about this.
Published: 2025-11-19_213000
