In recent weeks, people unhappy with Mastodon project talked about forking the project in a different direction. It's harder than it looks.

A lot of people have talked about the possibility of forking Mastodon to get the many improvements their communities need. Making such an effort successful is another discussion entirely.

  • caos@metalhead.club
    71·
    7 months ago

    @deadsuperhero There are several forks of Mastodon that have been around for years and work well (not only #Hometown) like #Ecko, #Glitchsoc, etc. for years.

    https://joinfediverse.wiki/What_is_Mastodon%3F#What_are_Mastodon_forks_and_why_use_them?

    They have many more functions such as editable character limit,
    editable poll options, local posts, changeable favicon, markdown formatting - and if that’s not enough, there is plenty of other software in the Fediverse for micro- and macroblogging

    • Sean Tilley@lemmy.mlOPMEnglish
      71·
      7 months ago

      Yeah, if you read the article, Hometown and Glitch actually get mentioned. The criticism is not about making a fork to do your own thing… but, instead, about trying to compete with Mastodon directly.

      Doing that kind of fork (which is what people are calling for) requires a tremendous amount of coordination, effort, and commitment that cannot be done casually.