Post #4057749
2026-07-24 08:09 UTC
@steve@social.technoetic.com
You might be interested to check out my posts around the concept "Community has no boundary" I talked about 5 years ago, e.g. in this topic: https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/standardizing-on-a-common-community-domain-as-ap-extension/1353
When I was still facilitator of #SocialHub I claimed that it wasn't a community in any really sense, with mostly people driving by on self-interested motives. It was just a discussion forum, where a poor commons janitor (me) had to do the unthankful volunteer upkeep.
"Expectation mismatch" plays an important role when anyone mentions "community". A "community-driven #FOSS project" is partly the formal governance that is in place, but mostly implicit cultural aspects. Knowing what you can expect is important, to not get disappointed.
A #fediverse instance to me isn't community. I only use the Home timeline.
As we navigate fedi we 'weave' in and out of community seamlessly, without realizing it. A rich concept of inter-community social networking is possible, I think, but it should be carefully designed.
Replies (1)
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@steve@social.technoetic.com 2026-07-24 08:49
@smallcircles@social.coop Yes, those are interesting posts. Thanks. A question I have is if instances are not typically "communities" (other than admin/moderation-bound groups of accounts), what are the other options for community in the mainstream (Mastodon-style) Fediverse? For me, some hashtags serve that purpose. However, the "community" in this case is unstructured (no organization other than a common tag) and the "governance" is highly decentralized (both at the instance and individual level).