Societies, communities, and governments that can’t plot a course through the use of an open deliberative process descend into brittleness, and ultimately into collapse.
So, there's already Gab's Dissenter browser... or there was, I think they're replacing it with "Gab Trends"(which basically does the same thing but in a more centralized way) because maintaining a browser fork is way too much work. Dissenter used to be a browser plugin, but Firefox and Chrome plugin gatekeepers blocked it.
Anyway, overlays are not really a sustainable solution to this kind of thing. It's like slapping a coat of paint over rotten timbers. Happily, we have Rumble, Odysee, Bitchute, PeerTube, and plenty of other competitors in the video distribution space. Some healthy competition would be welcome after such a long era of monopolization.
PeerTube is... tbh, well, about as janky + stanky as can be reasonably expected for something so thoroughly decentralized. Unfortunately, these things are hard enough to bootstrap even without the first waves of early adopters being largely composed of trolls who are either purposefully trying to toxify your new thing or are just organically toxic people who've been kicked off everywhere else. Gab has the same problems. Did you know they began as a Mastodon fork? Long story.
YouTube succeeded not just on the basis of its early dominance (although by the time Google bought them out, it was no longer a fair fight) but by its monetization model. Any long-term viable successors will need to offer something equally attractive to content creators. This is well understood by now, and I expect to see market gradually shift to new players just like we already see happening to Twitter and Facebook. People will happily use new platforms, it just takes time to gain momentum.
Good to know about PeerTube. I agree it takes time for competitors to become viable and widely adopted, especially when they’re facing a mammoth (albeit a declining, soon-to-be-extinct one if it continues in the same direction) like YouTube.
Good thing neither YouTube nor its parent corporation nor their ownership (looking at you, Blackrock/Vanguard!) nor the old Mockingbird media nor even the government is "society". We have plenty of vigorous sprouts just waiting to poke through the cracks when all these idols come crashing down.
Not a big surprise considering everything about this administration and its Big Media/Big Tech accomplices is about obfuscation and deception.
Someone needs to create a parallel overlay system that permits people to view the downvotes …
So, there's already Gab's Dissenter browser... or there was, I think they're replacing it with "Gab Trends"(which basically does the same thing but in a more centralized way) because maintaining a browser fork is way too much work. Dissenter used to be a browser plugin, but Firefox and Chrome plugin gatekeepers blocked it.
Anyway, overlays are not really a sustainable solution to this kind of thing. It's like slapping a coat of paint over rotten timbers. Happily, we have Rumble, Odysee, Bitchute, PeerTube, and plenty of other competitors in the video distribution space. Some healthy competition would be welcome after such a long era of monopolization.
Thanks for the recs, ShyBoy! I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of PeerTube, but it is great to see all of these alternative platforms popping up.
I do remember Dissenter but never actually used it. I thoroughly agree with your metaphor about the rotten timbers!
PeerTube is... tbh, well, about as janky + stanky as can be reasonably expected for something so thoroughly decentralized. Unfortunately, these things are hard enough to bootstrap even without the first waves of early adopters being largely composed of trolls who are either purposefully trying to toxify your new thing or are just organically toxic people who've been kicked off everywhere else. Gab has the same problems. Did you know they began as a Mastodon fork? Long story.
YouTube succeeded not just on the basis of its early dominance (although by the time Google bought them out, it was no longer a fair fight) but by its monetization model. Any long-term viable successors will need to offer something equally attractive to content creators. This is well understood by now, and I expect to see market gradually shift to new players just like we already see happening to Twitter and Facebook. People will happily use new platforms, it just takes time to gain momentum.
Good to know about PeerTube. I agree it takes time for competitors to become viable and widely adopted, especially when they’re facing a mammoth (albeit a declining, soon-to-be-extinct one if it continues in the same direction) like YouTube.
Good thing neither YouTube nor its parent corporation nor their ownership (looking at you, Blackrock/Vanguard!) nor the old Mockingbird media nor even the government is "society". We have plenty of vigorous sprouts just waiting to poke through the cracks when all these idols come crashing down.