his post on mastodon is here:
https://mastodon.social/@pixelfed/113849098386232034
Dear Mark, I hope this finds you well. I noticed something interesting today - it seems Instagram is blocking links to my little open-source project. You know, the one that lets people share photos without harvesting their personal data or forcing algorithmic feeds on them. I have to admit, I’m flattered. Who would’ve thought a small team of volunteers could build something that would catch your attention? We’re just trying to give people a choice in how they share their memories online. No VCs, no surveillance capitalism, just code and community. Remember when Facebook started? It was about connecting people, not maximizing engagement metrics. Our project might be tiny compared to Instagram, but we’re staying true to that original spirit of social media - giving people control over their online presence without turning them into products. You could’ve ignored us. Instead, by blocking our links, you’ve given us the best endorsement we could ask for. You’ve confirmed what we’ve been saying all along - that big tech is more interested in protecting their walled gardens than fostering genuine innovation. Every time you block a link to our platform, you remind people why we built it in the first place. Your action tells them there are alternatives worth exploring, ones that respect their privacy and agency. So thank you, Mark. You’ve turned our little project into a symbol of resistance against digital monopolies.
Remember when Facebook started? It was about connecting people
I remember that it was about abusing the private information of all the “dumb fucks” who created an account.
The letter is good though, but zucky will still be a billionaire whether he will read it or not.
Wasn’t it about ranking female students by attractiveness or something?
Apparently, that was some other Zuckerberg project: https://www.metro.us/everything-to-know-about-facemash-the-site-zuckerberg-created-in-college-to-rank-hot-women/
I dont think it was ranking, no.
But it was for getting their PII. Like photos, location, relationship status, and phone number. Helped a lot of college kids get laid, myself included.
Does pixelfed work for this too?
I deleted my account when that came out, so I’ve been Facebook free since something like 2006.
I didn’t even join until then. I thought that info came out way later?
It was first provided to college/edu addresses. It wasn’t what it is today at all.
As evil as it’s sounds, he’s not wrong.
Yeah also facebook started as an evolution of men rating women on his campus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Facebook#Facemash It should be no surprise that zuck has recently started proclaiming that he wants a more masculine corporate identity, it’s been that way from the beginning
“The Kirkland Facebook (referring to the Kirkland House intranet) is open on my computer desktop, and some of these people have pretty horrendous Facebook pictures. I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive.” - Zuck, 2003
The dream: releasing a scathingly cordial open letter to an oligarch that has a real chance of ruining their day.
It would probably work on Musk. I’ll bet you his ego is that fragile.
Nah, musks to much of a manly man to be bothered by it.
Adrian Dittman might lose his goddamn mind, however.
You should look up a picture of that dweeb sometime, or listen to any of the bitchly things he says. It’ll cure you of that notion in about a third of a second.
Reread his comment. It was pretty clever.
Adrian Dittman is Musk’s alt account on Twitter.
Doubt. He took away a basement dwellers check mark because the basement dweller said he’s bad at video games
Reread that comment. It went straight over your head.
You aren’t even wrong. I stopped reading when I read Elon musk is a manly man completely ignoring the Adrian line
Connecting Threads in a stupid way to the fediverse but blocking a fediverse website at the same time. I don’t need to understand that right?
But guise we should let them federate!
Never heard of them until this Streisand created issue.
for clarity he built Facebook to rate how hot women at his college were…
This letter reads like if Zuck was an ideologically driven tech-anarchist that wanted to connect people that became old and fell for the money but that’s not really true lol
deleted by creator
Having just joined pixelfed, struggling a bit to discover it, I find this letter greatly motivating 😎
“Oh hi Mark…”
They wrote that to the guy with People just submitted it. I don’t know why. They “trust me”. Dumb fucks.?
While I really wish for PixelFed to take off, like Mastodon and Lenmy did, the current situation, IMHO, is just confusing to say the least.
So, here are two pixelfed mobile apps, an older one which is just a wrapper of the web version, and a newer polished one.
I’ve the new “polished” one installed for a few months now, and it seemes as if it’s development has stalled. The app just feels unfinished at this point.
Now, I get it, it’s a volunteer project, and there are probably just a handful of people working on it. And this is totally fine, I’m not expecting them to deliver an Instagram clone anytime soon.
However, a few months ago, they announced “Loops”, with pre-signups and some marketing yada yada… All this, while there’s still an unfinished app for their core product. But, I went ahead and signed up, just to find out, it was just crickets for a few months.
Then, recently I logged in again (on the web), and saw an they have an App for Loops which seems to be in the works, and upon testing it, I came to the same conclusion, it’s just an unfinished barebones TikTok.
Again, I’m not ranting about PixelFed, but IMHO, if they want to get serious, they should focus on one thing, until time and resources allow them to explore other things.
I would love to see it succeed as an alternative.
Why are you trying to appeal to the better nature of a bad faith actor…
Because this is free advertising as well
That’s not how FaceBook started, if it were then Mark Zuckerberg would have been using it.
It started so he could creep on girls on their campus. Nerds had hard time to socialize, so they made a digital social network to help them with the cause. Dunno if it did. But his early interviews are creepy af, lol
I’m all for pixelfed. I have a pixelfed account. This is a fun way to talk about the project.
I was pretty surprised at how the app is essentially a complete clone of IG. like the styling and layout of every button is pixel for pixel the exact same as IG. Innovation is one thing but copying everything about a program and calling it your own I’m not so sure about.
well the the learning curve for new users is flat and adoption of the app will be more acceptable to more people.
I think it’s a smart idea - they can always make changes to the UI in time as the platform gets more people.
You believe that making the learning curve “flat” means that you have to copy the exact shape, size and style of the icons?
Yes I do.
If app A has an icon that when touched does a specific thing, and app B has the exact same icon that does the exact same thing there is nothing new to learn. The learning curve is flat.
If you are arguing about the ethical and legal aspect of one app using the exact same UI as another that is a different conversation and a good one to have.
The only Meta product I’m kinda forced to have is Whatsapp, as my work and my family use that to communicate, and I have tried to explain Signal to my mom, but to no avail.
The only benefit of living in America is I can just use iMessage most of the time.
Why would you
I’m sure he’ll read it.
Your underestimate the fragility of a lonely billionaires ego.
