The concentration of power in Silicon Valley happened partly because we let it.
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The concentration of power in Silicon Valley happened partly because we let it. We accepted a few platforms as inevitable. We built our communities there because that’s where everyone was. It wasn’t because their technology is better. It was a choice—made again and again by the people on those platforms, by investors, and by policymakers.
A different choice is possible, but it requires that those of us building alternatives actually believe what we say about cooperation. It means assuming good faith from people building different projects. It means investing in infrastructure that doesn’t benefit us alone.
We, the builders of the open social web, are the only ones who can make that choice.
It starts with deciding that our mission matters more than winning alone.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/06/why-the-social-web-must-work-together/
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The concentration of power in Silicon Valley happened partly because we let it. We accepted a few platforms as inevitable. We built our communities there because that’s where everyone was. It wasn’t because their technology is better. It was a choice—made again and again by the people on those platforms, by investors, and by policymakers.
A different choice is possible, but it requires that those of us building alternatives actually believe what we say about cooperation. It means assuming good faith from people building different projects. It means investing in infrastructure that doesn’t benefit us alone.
We, the builders of the open social web, are the only ones who can make that choice.
It starts with deciding that our mission matters more than winning alone.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/06/why-the-social-web-must-work-together/
@haubles [em dash detected!]
(Yes, the Internet has broken me.)
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@haubles [em dash detected!]
(Yes, the Internet has broken me.)
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Using em dashes was part of the official writing style at a previous company where I worked and I've never lost the habit.
I think sentence interjections flow better with em dashes than commas or parentheses, and I like using them to embphasize clauses at the end of sentences — like this.In other words, AI can pry em dashes from my cold dead typist's fingers!
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Using em dashes was part of the official writing style at a previous company where I worked and I've never lost the habit.
I think sentence interjections flow better with em dashes than commas or parentheses, and I like using them to embphasize clauses at the end of sentences — like this.In other words, AI can pry em dashes from my cold dead typist's fingers!
️ -
The concentration of power in Silicon Valley happened partly because we let it. We accepted a few platforms as inevitable. We built our communities there because that’s where everyone was. It wasn’t because their technology is better. It was a choice—made again and again by the people on those platforms, by investors, and by policymakers.
A different choice is possible, but it requires that those of us building alternatives actually believe what we say about cooperation. It means assuming good faith from people building different projects. It means investing in infrastructure that doesn’t benefit us alone.
We, the builders of the open social web, are the only ones who can make that choice.
It starts with deciding that our mission matters more than winning alone.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/06/why-the-social-web-must-work-together/
@haubles I mean their technology was better and often still is but given the consequences of their business model my priorities have shifted a bit.
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The concentration of power in Silicon Valley happened partly because we let it. We accepted a few platforms as inevitable. We built our communities there because that’s where everyone was. It wasn’t because their technology is better. It was a choice—made again and again by the people on those platforms, by investors, and by policymakers.
A different choice is possible, but it requires that those of us building alternatives actually believe what we say about cooperation. It means assuming good faith from people building different projects. It means investing in infrastructure that doesn’t benefit us alone.
We, the builders of the open social web, are the only ones who can make that choice.
It starts with deciding that our mission matters more than winning alone.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/06/why-the-social-web-must-work-together/
@haubles People went to corporate algorithmic — and thus toxic — social media because of the network effect and because early adopters didn’t see what was coming. They are victims of Zuck and those of his ilk. I’m not exactly saying you are victim-blaming here, but there’s a whiff of it.
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Using em dashes was part of the official writing style at a previous company where I worked and I've never lost the habit.
I think sentence interjections flow better with em dashes than commas or parentheses, and I like using them to embphasize clauses at the end of sentences — like this.In other words, AI can pry em dashes from my cold dead typist's fingers!
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S simonjust@mstdn.dk shared this topic
