Bit of a side note for my fellow protocol enjoyers: this site is WhiteWind which is another app on the atproto network. Bluesky is a microblogging app on atproto while WhiteWind is a long form blogging app on the same network. It's pretty neat.
I'm sorry, but there's just a qualitative difference between a company setting up some API endpoints and what Bluesky PBC is doing with building atproto, releasing PDS software, encouraging self-hosters and treating them as first class, etc.
You may be interested in this thread from a core dev which examines this exact play by Reddit (and how nobody could do anything about it), how it would have been different on atproto, and how a robust ecosystem keeps incumbent players honest: https://bsky.app/profile/dholms.xyz/post/3la636r666c2p
I'll refer to Cory Doctorow's excellently-written takedown[1] of this idea. Bluesky has plans to make it technically shit-proof, but haven't executed those plans "yet". Until that's the case, they're just as susceptible as any other content platform. After all, they haven't even revealed how they will make a profit yet. And they will have to do that. Profit motive always wins, exponentially so when something is venture-backed. To quote Public Enemy: "can't truss it"
For the "I want to use different emails for different repos" issue, I've seen the `includeIf` technique but it felt fiddly. What I've done is set `user.useConfigOnly = true` and commented out `user.email` in ~/.gitconfig.
Now the first time I commit in a new repo, it errors out with "Author identity unknown" and I punch in "git config user.email ADDR" for the email I want to use and re-run the commit.
I also don't like the `includeIf`, but I ended up with a completely different way of doing things.
I just use different accounts depending on the context, usually by either SSH or by starting a Docker container with all the environment already configured.
At least for me, using different identities[1] when I want to use different identities[2], seems less brittle and less likely for my future self to accidentally forget to do something (e.g. change a config when I reinstall an OS).
[1]: OS user, directly (SSH) or indirectly (container).
I occasionally clone repos into /tmp for some small tweaks without switching branches or whatever, and that’s usually when I commit with the wrong email. Neither includeIf nor useConfigOnly are ideal in this scenario because a) it’s cloned in a generic location that can’t be differentiated using path-based includeIf, or b) manually setting it multiple times for the same repo is even more annoying.
I’ve tried conditionally setting email based on the remote [1], but for some reason I did not manage to make it work. I didn’t try too hard, and I might try again with more patience.
Sometimes, from my personal machine, I need to check something work-related ; then on my personal machine, I checkout in `~/dev/myorganization/`.
Inversely, it happens sometimes that at work I need something I wrote for myself ; then on my work machine, I checkout in `~/dev/myusername/`.
This allows me to use `gitdir:` rules that handle anything `~/dev`, and I have fallbacks for everything else (who never checkouts in `tmp`?).
#
# Superman vs Clark Kent
#
# Debug Includes with: git config --list --show-origin
# the default identity, for checkouts outside of `~/dev`
[include]
path = ~/.config/git/gitconfig-default
# on my work machine, this defines Clark Kent ; on my personal machine, this defines Superman (or is it the reverse?)
# this one is not commited in my dotfiles
[include]
path = ~/.config/git/gitconfig-local
# work-related repos on personal machine
[includeIf "gitdir:/home/myusername/dev/myorganization/"]
path = ~/.config/git/gitconfig-myorganization
[includeIf "gitdir:/home/myusername/dev/gitlab.com/myorganization/"]
path = ~/.config/git/gitconfig-myorganization
# personal repos on my work machine
[includeIf "gitdir:/home/myusername/dev/myusername/"]
path = ~/.config/git/gitconfig-myusername
[includeIf "gitdir:/home/myusername/dev/gitlab.com/myusername-namespace/"]
path = ~/.config/git/gitconfig-myusername
This works nicely since years^W `includeIf` was a thing.
However, there are situations at work where I'm on a server where I didn't created `~/.config/git/gitconfig-local` (which is a manual step I always forget) and any commit from `/usr/local/src/something/` will end up configured with Superman identity.
I found out about `hasconfig:` some time ago, and took note of it for when the option would hit `git` from Debian Stable ; your comment comes the day after I accidentaly commited as Superman on some work repo checked outside of `~/dev/`. Time to add more rules!
I don't know... the whole Threads + ActivityPub thing just seems like Meta trying to keep the regulators at bay rather than them actually embracing the ethos of becoming a major federated social media player.
So launch in July 2023, handful of accounts have AP support in November-ish 2023, full AP support end of 2024? I guess it's not nothing, they did have to bolt something entirely new on top of IG's infrastructure. But for a team that big, feels like we'd be seeing more if it was a true priority for them. Plus Threads leaning towards opt-in AP support which will only inhibit uptake (that was the last I heard, anyway).
I'd be shocked if Instagram ever went with ActivityPub, though.
It wasn't hard for me because I grokked what I was doing, but for a lot of people they've never had to make a decision like that before. Especially so early in an onboarding process. And they get caught up trying to decide if they should join the instance for web developers or the one for cat lovers, because both interests are important to them. It turns people off to the idea of federated social media.
I'm going to push back on the migrating being a challenge even for Bluesky if an instance vanishes. If nothing else, you do not need your old host ("PDS" in atproto parlance) to cooperate — or even be online — if you wish to migrate in Bluesky. With a local copy of your data, you can send your social graph to a new host with ease and be right back in business.
What do I think? I think it turns them off because people (possibly yourself included) say that they should intimidated and confused by this, rather than encouraging them to make what is actually, for almost everyone, a rather simple and inconsequential choice.
But I wouldn't say it's a fully inconsequential choice, either. Your instance and how it's situated in the wider fediverse does matter to some degree. Not having a full view of the network, missing meaningful replies, at the mercy of some admin #fediblock drama, etc.
Or maybe you finally find a good instance but your admin dislikes Meta so you're defederated from threads.net now. That's a bummer.
> Or maybe you finally find a good instance but your admin dislikes Meta so you're defederated from threads.net now. That's a bummer.
If you don't agree with your admin's choices on such important matters, your instance is not a good one for you.
The differentiation between instances, the way each can have their own community with its own morals is a strength, not a weakness. As the fediverse gets bigger, the bigger platforms will diversify more and have more of their own identity. For example beehaw, it's not really a Lemmy instance with some policies configured, it's beehaw. As the fediverse gets bigger, instances will develop their own identities more and it will be easier to choose.
And gab, for the cesspool it is, you can't deny it's got its own identity. Of course it's one that almost nobody wants to federate with but that's their right too. Freedom of speech doesn't mean everyone has to listen to you. The system works as intended.
The thing is, if you're aligned with your platform you probably agree with most of the choices your admin made. If not you can just pick another one.
> It wasn't hard for me because I grokked what I was doing, but for a lot of people they've never had to make a decision like that before.
They've picked an email provider. They've picked a mobile phone provider. They've picked their car insurance. They pick what bars to socialise at. Yes people have no issues making choices like this at all.
In the US maybe? Here there's still a lot of diversity. People using their provider's email service. People using local ones like gmx in Germany. Hotmail, live and outlook.com. Even some non techies using their own domain (and of course all the techies do). Most people with their own business use that domain. Proton seems to be a rising star too.
Gmail is the biggest but not the only one by far. The privacy movement getting more traction here than in the US might be playing into that too.
Hugo is getting a lot of love in here (with good reason). If you do end up trying Hugo and feel it's like 90% what you want but never quite perfect, do check out Zola (https://www.getzola.org/). It feels the most like Hugo of anything I've tried but I found the docs and the template system better.
