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Over the last few days, I updated the current entries on this wikipage about blockchain-related social media projects;
https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Blockchain_Social_Media_Apps
About 1/3 of the projects in the list are still active in some form. None of them seem to have achieved a critical mass of use outside the bubble universe of crypto. Only one has now implemented ActivityPub (and previously Matrix for their in-house chat), and that one never pitched itself as decentralised.
I'm not as cynical. I'm open to the idea that many of these people set out with lofty aspirations. The Peepeth and NumaVerse folks seem like they did. See also the Token Engineering Commons folks, and the interviews @theblockchainsocialist does.
But I agree this is often the goal from day 1 (BitConneeeeeect!), and sometimes ends up as the outcome regardless of good intentions.
there are numerous former idealists who have become sceptics and have made very public criticisms to this effect.
It's a shame, because there are probably a handful of edge cases where blockchains are exactly the right tool for the job. But the hype bubble and the financial grifting has produced so much antipathy, that it's hard to make an argument for using them. Even where they are demonstrably the right engineering choice.
A bit like the way chronic overuse of JavaScript has poisoned some people against any use of it, however situationally appropriate.
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
