Fediverse

According to public statistics from FediDB, there are over 19,000 different servers in the Fediverse. This includes a medley of over 61 different platforms in various states of development. In addition to general-purpose community servers, there are also servers dedicated to specific themes, like Linux, Climate Change, Urbanism, or Game Development. But perhaps you’ve come to the conclusion that starting your own instance on the network is the best choice for you. What do you need to think about, and how do you do it?

Funding a non-profit organization is hard to begin with, but the challenges feel that much bigger in a niche space such as decentralized social networking. IFTAS, the Fediverse’s standout Trust & Safety organization, put out an update earlier this month concerning their 2025 budget, and the struggle to keep the lights on,

This post is for posterity sake. Since the initial publishing of this post, loops app has updated. Idk if the source code would compile into the loops by pixelfed app release on the loops website. If it does that's awesome and more people can contribute and integrate it into the rest of the fediverse.

TL;DR: Loops is doomed because Daniel Supernault doesn’t actually want to develop it or release the source code properly. I’ll try to provide evidence where I can, but a lot of evidence was destroyed via bans from the Discord, so I can’t retrieve my messages, and All I have are files I saved on my hard drive and mastodon links.

How I Got Involved I got into Loops because of the TikTok ban scare and wanted to help develop a non-corporate fediverse alternative to TikTok and YouTube Shorts. I signed up, made two accounts (wasn’t sure why I couldn’t log in), and got approved after two days. Once I had an account, I downloaded the Android APK and joined the Discord. I introduced myself as someone who wanted to help and mentioned that I had tried (and failed) to make a Fediverse app before. I was interested in seeing where Loops would go. For about 12 days, I made videos for Loops, making sure there was consistent content so the platform didn’t go 10 minutes without something new. I also helped in Discord, answering questions about account activations and discussing how Loops could become a major part of the Fediverse (which, as of 2/16/2025, it still isn’t). I thought if Loops could launch before the next TikTok scare, it had a real shot.

I Start Asking Questions After 12 days of making content and being active in Discord, I was getting bored. I wanted to figure out why there weren’t any real developments. I knew Daniel had promised on Discord that Loops would be open-source “by the weekend” (this was 12 days ago). To me, that meant publishing the source code. So, I made a video calling him out (archived here: dalek.zone/w/jUUYe11xDvjz15ZRAxQuy7) and posted it on Discord. A few minutes later, Daniel deleted the link and removed the video from Loops. His only response was, “Misinformation is not appreciated”—with no further context. To me, this reaction was suspicious. He didn’t explain why he hadn’t released the source code. He didn’t ignore it either, which I interpreted him as being guarded.

Getting Banned from the Discord After Daniel’s reaction, I started wondering if Loops was a waste of my time. Was anything actually happening? I tried decompiling the Android APK to see what was inside but couldn’t get it to recompile. I thought about forking the Loops GitHub with the decompiled source and posting it in GitHub as a fork—but I didn’t even need to. Instead, I asked why Loops wasn’t just a PeerTube instance, since PeerTube already worked on short formed video content with a tik Tok like interface. I even made another video about it: dalek.zone/w/fVW4GbW79bBpiyLrDGJBBa. The last thing that happened before my ban was me asking if anyone was actually doing work on Loops. Instead of answering, they flipped the question back on me. I replied, “Yes, I am decompiling the source code so we can do work.” after, Discord glitched, the Loops server disappeared, and I was locked out. My Loops account was also deleted. This made it clear: Daniel didn’t want me questioning loops or suggesting that PeerTube could do the job better.

Calling Him Out on Mastodon After my ban on discord, I did more research on Daniel and kept calling him out on Mastodon as a warning to others. Eventually, he did publish a “source code” for Loops. Just to spite him, I thanked Michael Downey (mastodon.social/@Cattail/113932221184535082) for pushing him to release it by asking him a question. But two hours later, I pointed out that the APK and the published source code didn’t match: (mastodon.social/@Cattail/113932308245134257).

Conclusion I’m glad I did what I did because it saved me from wasting more time on Loops. Instead, I built a bot that announces when Fediverse streamers go live on Mastodon, which actually helps the community. Daniel is asking for money that would be better spent on PeerTube development or maintaining existing Fediverse instances. Daniel is deceiving people, pretending Loops is making progress when it’s really just a rehash of Pixelfed. His Kickstarter has no deadline and only vague updates. If you still want to support him, that’s on you. I’ve seen enough.

Links & Receipts Official “source code”: github.com/joinloops/loops-app Loops development mention from 2020: mastodon.social/@pixelfed/104618452882003745?utm_source=perplexity Kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/pixelfed/pixelfed-foundation-2024-real-ethical-social-networks/comments

Links & Receipts Official “source code”: GitHub Loops development mention from 2020: Mastodon Kickstarter: Pixelfed Foundation 2024

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/17712350

Got a two-day-old reply just now.

This week I'm zooming in on the culture of the fediverse, prompted by the Superbowl halftime show. IFTAS announces they'll run out of funding soon, indicating the challenges with funding Trust & Safety in the network.

Since 2022, blogging site Tumblr has been teasing its plans to integrate with the fediverse — the open social web powered by the protocol ActivityPub also used by Mastodon, Threads, Flipboard, and others. Now, the Automattic-owned blogging platform is sharing more information about when and how that integration could actually happen.

!mbinreleases@gehirneimer.de

Link to the post: !home@lemmy.zip

From there:

Just a couple of quick answers to potential questions.

• Will this affect federation? No - even sites in the UK will still be able to federate with Lemmy.zip both ways. This just affects users trying to access the lemmy.zip website

• Does this affect apps? Possibly - the front ends will definitely be affected (i.e. m.lemmy.zip). Apps like voyager etc remains to be seen, as I haven't done any testing on these yet.

Large interest for the fediverse at FOSDEM, more conversations about data usage and consent, and multi-platform client Openvibe gets 800k in funding.

For the past two years, Radio Free Fedi has held a special place in my heart. The community operation started as a small experiment, but quickly grew into a Fediverse institution. In the time that it was operational, the station served as the place for discovering awesome music throughout the network. Unfortunately, this beloved project has run out of time.

Community hostility shuts down hobby project.

Openvibe’s clever app that integrates multiple open social networks including Bluesky, Mastodon, Nostr, and Threads, just got a boost toward its future development. The company on Tuesday announced that it has received outside investment of $800,000 in a round led by Czech Founders VC, which includes backing from WordPress.com and Tumblr parent company, Automattic, as well as Tensor Ventures.

After years of hardcore development, the Pixelfed project is taking a big next step by seeking crowdfunding dollars on Kickstarter.

Before there was social media, there were internet forums. Millions of forum sites continue to operate, which is why it’s notable that one top forum software provider, NodeBB, is now joining the fediverse, also known as the open social web.

Will Instagram Threads truly integrate with the fediverse, also known as the open social web, to allow its users to interact with people on other services like Mastodon and to move their account elsewhere if they decide that Meta’s policies are no longer to their liking? Today that answer remains murky. Meta cannot yet confirm if or when account portability features will be added to its roadmap and federation plans for the newer social network.

Today on Equity, Mastodon's CEO joins us to discuss what Meta's policy changes mean for users and how decentralized social media platforms could offer a viable alternative to mainstream giants.

Pixelfed, a decentralized alternative to Instagram, has launched its official mobile apps. The service today runs on the same ActivityPub protocol that powers open source X alternative Mastodon, YouTube competitor PeerTube, and other decentralized social apps, now including Meta’s Threads and Flipboard (plus its newer app, Surf), that are part of a growing push toward a more open social web known as the fediverse.