I know Mastodon is only for super-nerds right now and probably won't become big. But if it does it'll be SUPER interesting, since it can't be bought. Sorta misleading to mention Mastodon without noting that.
This is not precisely true. Read some of this description in the FAQ [1]:
> What is mastodon.social? The "flagship" instance of Mastodon, aka the server I run myself with the latest code. It's not supposed to be the only instance in the end.
> What else is part of the federated network? Let's call it the "fediverse". It has existed for a longer while, populated by GNU social servers, Friendica, Hubzilla, Diaspora etc. Not every one of those servers is fully compatible with every other. Mastodon strives to be fully standards-compliant and compatibility with GNU social is higher in priority than the others.
> I tried logging into a GNU social client app with Mastodon and it didn't work, why?
While Mastodon is compatible with GNU social in terms of server to server communication, the client to server API (aka how you access Mastodon) is different. Therefore, client apps that were made for specifically GNU social will not work with Mastodon. The reason for this is half technical, half ideological.
While I applaud the ideals espoused in these paragraphs - and completely understand the technical reasons why it's not compatible with some older protocols, why there is a flagship instance, and so on - imagine for a minute that the current developers were supplemented/replaced with a group of people who wanted to "own Mastodon". They could give the flagship instance at mastodon.social proprietary add-ons, not available to other instances. They could develop "Mastodon Pro" mobile apps that don't prioritize standards compatibility, but are compatible with the flagship instance. They could get on the standards committees so that they're difficult to implement, and not followed precisely by their clients. And while they do claim to be disinterested in VC funding, monetizing, advertising, and anything of that sort, well, money can be very persuasive.
If people are bothered by that, they'll set up their own instances and fork the repo. In theory, the health of the network doesn't depend on the flagship instance.
