Today we're sharing the first in a series of three posts from our leadership team, starting with @mellifluousbox discussing our mission, and priorities for 2026. Stay tuned this week for more.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/02/connecting-the-world-through-thriving-online-communities/
@Mastodon @mellifluousbox Mastodon could aspire to replace X in Europe (given the current situation in the U.S. and the state of X). It is urgent that it include translation capabilities for this multilingual region
@pablomuyo @Mastodon @mellifluousbox what do you mean? Libretranslate works well on my instance for translating posts
@chewie @Mastodon @mellifluousbox Thank you, I didn’t know how to use it. ChatGPT already explained it to me. It doesn’t appear as directly as in X, where the translated text shows right below the original and helps you learn the language.
Ah! I see, great!
Yes, it's not as intuitive, but a lot of servers run libretranslate locally, so I think it puts extra load on the server to translate everything (rather than just doing it as and when you need it).
@Mastodon @mellifluousbox fym "age verification working group"?
@Mastodon @mellifluousbox "We are also forming an interdisciplinary age-verification working group, to help us navigate the complex nature of these international laws."
um go fuck yourselves??? what the fuck is this bullshit?????
@Mastodon @mellifluousbox Thanks! Having in-app donations for the official #Mastodon app is long overdue! Also extenstions will be a nice addition, & hopefully the #Fediverse platforms overall will embrace it (it helped make #WordPress popular).
The Age Verification should should also be an extension as well (one better left up to a reputable third party). Not all sites will need it yet—but with 𝕏 causing controversy (with kids & AI) I am not surprised governments are pushing for this.
@Mastodon @mellifluousbox If Mastodon implements age verification, we leave.
@ariarhythmic My guess is that this will depend on your admin to enable? Probably won't affect smaller servers, but I am not a lawyer.
Either way, I think it's good that the Mastodon team is looking into all the legal requirements around this, and other relevant laws, rather than leaving each individual server admin to figure this out on their own.
@stefan @ariarhythmic "Every instance for themselves" would be really bad for a set of services which heavily promote decentralization, yeah. It shifts the goalposts to fewer organizations who have the resources to navigate legal (and other) requirements.
@tehstu Absolutely!
On that note, I really like the approach fediverse has taken when it comes to decentralization. It started with that, and now we can explore ways we can pool resources and share responsibilities, and everything is optional.
The Atmosphere on the other hand pretty much started off fully centralized, and seeing some of the conversations around the ongoing efforts to increase the decentralization, things are already looking a bit rough in terms of how the user experience is impacted.
This is going to be very interesting to watch develop more in the upcoming months.
Wow! We can't wait to be working with you through 2026 and helping Mastodon achieve its mission 🧡
