Spyke

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How to Kill a Decentralised Network (such as the Fediverse)

Basically the sequence of events as claimed by the author is that:

  1. XMPP, niche, small circles
  2. Google launches Talk that was XMPP compatible
  3. Millions joined Talk that could coop XMPP in theory
  4. The coop worked only sparingly and was unidirectional, i.e. Talk to XMPP ✅ but XMPP to Talk ❌
  5. Talk sucked up existing XMPP users as it was obviously a better option (bandwagon effect + unidirectional "compatibility" with XMPP)
  6. Talk defederated

This demonstrated exactly the importance of reciprocity. If they play dirty, kick them out asap.

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How to Kill a Decentralised Network (such as the Fediverse)

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The case with XMPP is that Google Talk introduced addons and intricacies that were unique to them. So they could federate with you in full with additional bells and whistles while you were stuck in an eternal catch-up. They presented a better alternative regardless of the eventual defederation. Even if we have some viral clauses as in GPL in open-source software that ensures protocol compatible software to be compliant, we can only do that to a certain extent plus enforcement is always an issue. Who are going to spend the vast sum of money in court to defend the "federation"?

This aside, enforcing federation alone does not ensure decentralization. These zero-marginal-cost fixed-cost-intensive businesses of the internet has a tendency to centralize as serving one more seat costs no penny plus one more seat diluates the fixed cost altogether.

piracy

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Can I seed on torrents I have not downloaded but have the files to?

  1. You can try creating a torrent with the file(s) you have at hand and try to search with the info hash. You need to be sure the metadata (e.g. name, size, directory stucture, etc.) of the file(s) in question is identical to the original download.
  2. You can try adding the torrent into a client. Pause it and then copy the file(s) to the download destination. Rename the file(s) accordingly. Ask your client to recheck/rehash the file(s). If the file(s) is/are identical, it will work.