<![CDATA[Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next]]>Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next

https://privacy.thenexus.today/reasons-for-optimism-at-the-turn-of-the-year/

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/topic/ecdc6ecf-cc70-481d-b703-6b24f43b8c5d/reasons-for-optimism-at-the-turn-of-the-year-reflections-on-the-fediverses-the-atmosphere-and-whatever-comes-nextRSS for NodeFri, 17 Jul 2026 17:42:42 GMTThu, 01 Jan 2026 07:31:16 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:00:33 GMT]]>@webhat yeah, and pro-LGBTQIA2S+ at 78% similarly sticks out. it's certianly possible people are getting confused -- it's happened before, and I now say in each post that people can vote for as many as they want, but it's still easy to miss.

Then again it's also certainly possible that 9% of the people here don't care either way about whether or not it's an anti-racist environment -- or would even prefer an environment that isn't anti-racist. The number in society as a whole is a lot higher!

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115862433500915392https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115862433500915392Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:00:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:53:21 GMT]]>Wow, today I learned that if you edit the text of a poll after it closes, it reopens it. Who knew? (Quite possibly everybody but me, but still.). My apologies to everybody who voted for the unencessary notification about the poll closing, and to everybody who boosted about the notification that I edited it, and to everybody who voted and boosted for two unnecessary notifications.

In any case, all the polls in the thread starting here are now open again -- and the pol.is conversation is still open as well.

The results so far are certainly interesting. Currently the top 10 responses are:

96%: Accurate, weird information about things I didn't know I would care about

91%: An anti-racist environment

90%: A place where I don't have to deal with AI slop

89%: A social network that's not run by a corporation making money from my data

86%: An ad-free environment

86%: interacting with people from different countries

78%: A pro-LGBTQIA2S+ environment

78%: Amusement and whimsy

78%: A place where I'm in control of what I do and don't see

77%: A place with safety team to handle anti-Blackness, racism, etc when it happens.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115862405195270678https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115862405195270678Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:53:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:32:05 GMT]]>@thenexusofprivacy I don't understand why anti-racist environment isn't 100%, if people can choose as many opinions as they wanted… Are people just getting confused about polls?

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/webhat/statuses/115862321571187378https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/webhat/statuses/115862321571187378Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:32:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Tue, 06 Jan 2026 01:06:36 GMT]]>@thenexusofprivacy

Oh, I've no doubt...

Not criticizing, not complaining, just clarifying my personal view on that option.

I'm sure I don't need/want "unlimited", just a bit more would be nice in some infrequent instances.

🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤔

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.world/users/lupus_blackfur/statuses/115845470373804551https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.world/users/lupus_blackfur/statuses/115845470373804551Tue, 06 Jan 2026 01:06:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:58:17 GMT]]>@lupus_blackfur fair enough. "no character limits" was the way the suggestion that came in was worded.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115845437672122070https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115845437672122070Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:58:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:11:08 GMT]]>@mildlyunreasonable I included this in one of the new polls at https://infosec.exchange/@thenexusofprivacy/115843662200325736 and so far it's getting 100% agreement!

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843836696235151https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843836696235151Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:11:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:03:10 GMT]]>Bonfire has groups on their roadmap but doesn't currently implement them (although Circles let you do some group-like things). A broadly-available approximation to private Facebook groups would be a huge plus for fedi. Here's a distillation of some requirements-gathering work I did early last year.

Anyhow I included a couple of questions relevant to this in one of the new polls at https://infosec.exchange/@thenexusofprivacy/115843753929752441

  • Something to replace "buy nothing" Facebook groups

  • Discussions with people in my neighborhood (without Nextdoor's racism)

  • Discussions that aren't public for the whole world to see

@hollie @ansate @Matt_Noyes @CaitlinWaddick @edumerco @dphiffer @django @sam @ktoddbrown @MarieVC

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843805350178211https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843805350178211Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:03:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:51:52 GMT]]>Great suggestion. I had to split it into two responses because of the maximum length -- it's the first two in https://infosec.exchange/@thenexusofprivacy/115843753929752441

@ErickaSimone

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843760951068702https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843760951068702Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:51:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:50:44 GMT]]>What are you looking for in social media? (12/12, for now)

Whew, that's a lot of polls. But I'm sure there are options I didn't include, feel free to make suggestions in the responses! And if you're looking for another way to respond, check out the pol.is conversation in the post here

The polls are still open for a few days ... after that, I'll write up the results -- along with (in at least some cases) suggestions about where to find what you're looking for -- and publish them on https://thenexusofprivacy.net

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843756519568255https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843756519568255Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:50:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:50:05 GMT]]>What are you looking for in social media? (11/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can choose more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843753929752441https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843753929752441Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:50:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:30:08 GMT]]>What are you looking for in social media? (10/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can choose more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843675466135614https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843675466135614Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:30:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:26:45 GMT]]>What are you looking for in social media? (9/N)

Thanks everybody for the responses so far, here's a couple of new polls including some excellent suggestions that came in. If you've got other ideas, share them in the comments here -- or in the pol.is conversation (which also lets you disagree with stuff you don't want)

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843662200325736https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115843662200325736Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:26:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Sun, 04 Jan 2026 19:27:34 GMT]]>@risottobias on https://thenexusofprivacy.net , and I'll shere them here as well

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115838474957193491https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115838474957193491Sun, 04 Jan 2026 19:27:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:57:45 GMT]]>@sam @hollie @Matt_Noyes @CaitlinWaddick @edumerco @dphiffer @django @ktoddbrown @MarieVC Thanks Sam! I forgot about federation making you miss hashtags. And i should look into alerting rules

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/ansate/statuses/115828212720670908https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/ansate/statuses/115828212720670908Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:57:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:41:30 GMT]]>@hollie @ansate @Matt_Noyes @CaitlinWaddick @dphiffer @django @sam @ktoddbrown @MarieVC
I think that is, using circles.

But don't we have already zulip for this? 🙂

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/edumerco/statuses/115828148833784639https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/edumerco/statuses/115828148833784639Fri, 02 Jan 2026 23:41:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 22:30:17 GMT]]>@ansate @Matt_Noyes @CaitlinWaddick @edumerco @dphiffer @django @sam @ktoddbrown @MarieVC My understanding is the same, I don't think there's a way to make it private. Can Bonfire do that?

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/hollie/statuses/115827868774173350https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/hollie/statuses/115827868774173350Fri, 02 Jan 2026 22:30:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 22:11:10 GMT]]>@mildlyunreasonable great phrasing!

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115827793625411106https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/thenexusofprivacy/statuses/115827793625411106Fri, 02 Jan 2026 22:11:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 21:51:45 GMT]]>@thenexusofprivacy Accurate, weird information about things I didn't know I would care about.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://me.dm/users/mildlyunreasonable/statuses/115827717245887312https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://me.dm/users/mildlyunreasonable/statuses/115827717245887312Fri, 02 Jan 2026 21:51:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 18:30:15 GMT]]>@Matt_Noyes @CaitlinWaddick @hollie @edumerco @dphiffer @django @sam @ktoddbrown @MarieVC Fwiw, my understanding is that fedi groups basically boost things that mention them, not an alert. You would get the same effect (non privately) from following a hashtag. Also since they work by boosting, i don’t think you can have private groups

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/ansate/statuses/115826924948991632https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/ansate/statuses/115826924948991632Fri, 02 Jan 2026 18:30:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 18:03:46 GMT]]>@CaitlinWaddick @ansate @hollie @edumerco @dphiffer @django @sam @ktoddbrown @MarieVC Fedigroups, I guess. Seems like you can create a group there, accept members, who follow it, then posts to that address notify followers. Maybe I will set one up for fun and see how it works.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/Matt_Noyes/statuses/115826820823802128https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/Matt_Noyes/statuses/115826820823802128Fri, 02 Jan 2026 18:03:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:27:09 GMT]]>@thenexusofprivacy no algorithms.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/PersephoneFive/statuses/115826676798615011https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/PersephoneFive/statuses/115826676798615011Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:27:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:24:36 GMT]]>@thenexusofprivacy I come here mostly to listen to experts talk truthfully about current affairs, without the pressure of 'bling'.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cyberplace.social/users/khleedril/statuses/115826666796233575https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cyberplace.social/users/khleedril/statuses/115826666796233575Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:24:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 16:45:15 GMT]]>@Matt_Noyes @ansate @hollie @edumerco @dphiffer @django @sam @ktoddbrown @MarieVC Matt. Are you referring to a “groups” feature in a particular app? Where is it?
We migrated to Zulip for private conversations last summer. Are you on Zulip?

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/CaitlinWaddick/statuses/115826512101074315https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/CaitlinWaddick/statuses/115826512101074315Fri, 02 Jan 2026 16:45:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Reasons for optimism at the turn of the year: reflections on the fediverses, the ATmosphere, and whatever comes next on Fri, 02 Jan 2026 16:38:48 GMT]]>@ansate @hollie @edumerco @CaitlinWaddick @dphiffer @django @sam @ktoddbrown @MarieVC
Could we use groups to: a) communicate privately and or publicly within working groups? b) create an opt-in social.coop members only group?
Do we already use this, and I just didn't know ;-)? Do you already use this feature elsewhere?

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/Matt_Noyes/statuses/115826486716562099https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.coop/users/Matt_Noyes/statuses/115826486716562099Fri, 02 Jan 2026 16:38:48 GMT