Diaspora

[darkemeralds]

In my Anything-But-Facebook frenzy, I've now joined Diaspora, known to its users as D*.

What is it? I don't know. It's a social network. It says it plans to be to Google+ and Facebook what the world-wide web was to AOL and Prodigy back in the day. It allows pseuds and doesn't enforce a gender binary. It's in Alpha. It lets you crosspost to other places (Twitter, Tumblr, FB so far).

Like DW, LJ and lately G+, it lets you make groups of contacts and limit your readership to particular people or groups. It has a kind of message-y interface on the border between chat and email (not unlike Gmail). I don't really get it.

Why on earth do I want another one of these things? I'm not actually sure I do. But after the G+ no-pseud flap, I found that I really wanted a new name, a good made up one, one which, when googled, results in only me. At least for the moment.

So, Callifexis I am on Diaspora. If I get invites, I will happily share.

Comments

[writerscramp]

The message-y thing was an additional feature I just happened to notice when I used it to contact you. The posting interface is actually just like G+. (As I said on G+, it's really clear how much G+ copied from Diaspora's work.)

Also, if you go to your main feed page (click the little house icon), you'll see an invites thing in the right sidebar, where you can invite people by email. There doesn't seem to be a limit as far as I can tell.

[darkemeralds]

So G+ really did just totally rip off D*? Wow.

I just finished In The Plex by Steven Levy, a complete history of Google. I'm left with the impression that Google still doesn't intend to be evil, but rather that it is becoming a victim of its own bigness. The book closes with the beginnings of Google+, and though Levy's enthusiasm for the Page and Brin idealism is clear at the beginning, as he traces the triumphs and missteps (with a long section on the China debacle), that enthusiasm becomes more temperate at the end.

All of which is to say that, like Levy, I haven't given up on Google yet, but I'm watching to see what it's becoming. And meanwhile, thank you for the D* invite and information.

[llaras]

I hope it turns out to be cool!

[darkemeralds]

Me too!

[alexseanchai]

I'm Ellie Murasaki, quelle surprise, and I cannot find you.

[darkemeralds]

That's odd--but I can't make D* work all the time yet myself. I found you and I think I added you to my "aspects".

[kis]

Oh lord, not another one! /o\ I feel like going back to LJ fully and being done with it. Too much internet, dammit!

[darkemeralds]

Yeah. I'm feeling that too. Hell, I'm actually thinking about taking up gardening again. See>? I imported my old forgotten Gardening icon from LJ.

[kis]

When *I* take up gardening, it'll be a portent of the Apocalypse.

[darkemeralds]

Well, it might be a portent of a decision to sell your house, which was the trigger in my case.

The decision didn't outlast a day's real estate shopping online; however, it did give rise to a fresh decision that I could actually re-do my front garden with an eye to minimum maintenance, and just stay in the house till they carry me out.

[kis]

Oh, I'm glad you're not moving! Your house is lovely and I have very fond (and envy-laden) memories of it. A porch! That you can dry clothes on! Blue magpies! Imaginary raccoons!

And the neighbourhood is nice too.

[darkemeralds]

LOLOLOL!

You've exoticized my life! Blue magpies and imaginary raccoons. I love it.

I must admit that my porch and its clothesline were a significant factor in my decision to stay. As much as I would enjoy apartment-style life in a high-rise with a view (something I've always dreamed of), I've become accustomed to the freedom and relative privacy of a house.

Besides, my sister the realtor said that I'd have to fix things up in order to sell, and if I'm gonna do that, I might as well stay and enjoy the results!

[kis]

**nods** I have the occasional fantasy of getting a flat in the Merchant City (near the Italian centre), but knowing several people who have flats and the trouble they've had with disputes about who pays for what, and fires started in other flats affecting theirs, the reality of it doesn't really appeal.

[darkemeralds]

Yes! Sharing space with unrelated others is a big issue. The whole matter of homeowners' associations, covenants, maintenance dues, etc., is disturbing to me, even though the costs of maintaining a private house are just as high.

I hadn't actually thought about fire, but now that you mention it, I do have a friend who lost her home for two years to a fire in an adjacent flat. It took that long for insurance to settle and work to be done that would mitigate smoke damage in her place, and electrical problems in the adjoining wall.

None of those considerations would be a deal-breaker if I could really afford the overall lifestyle of city apartment living, but it seems I can't. So I guess I'm staying put for now.

[tehomet]

I have yet to take up with Diaspora but I look forward to scrutinising it.

With Delicious and G+ and Diaspora and so forth, I'm trying to see it all as new toys to play with rather than new things to be baffled by. :)

[darkemeralds]

That's a good approach. And it reminds me that at the moment, I don't have a lot of playtime, so I'd be wise to limit the number of toys I take on board.

Delicious just stripped all my tags (as far as I can tell) so I can't find my own bookmarks except by scrolling through, and I'm in no mood to re-tag them all. I don't even know what's going on over there!

[tehomet]

I don't even know what's going on over there!

You probably already know this, being more net-savvy than I, but I gather most people are heading to either Diigo or Pinboard.

[darkemeralds]

Those two names have crossed my field of vision lately. Thanks for pinning them down. I'll check them out.

[tehomet]

You might want to run your eye over this post, too.

[darkemeralds]

Thanks! That's excellent.