It’s Saturday morning, and I’m sitting here at my desk, working on client projects and sipping my coffee. While taking a break, I was clicking around the web, as one does, and found a post titled “Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?” by Ploum (also featured on P&B).
I find this topic quite interesting, so I’m gonna take a moment to share my thoughts. I don’t have skin in the game, I’m not on any of these social media platforms, and I frankly don’t even care about the outcome of this situation. I’m just an external observer in this context.
Quick summary of the situation:
- Pixelfed is a decentralised Instagram alternative built on the [Activ…
It’s Saturday morning, and I’m sitting here at my desk, working on client projects and sipping my coffee. While taking a break, I was clicking around the web, as one does, and found a post titled “Is Pixelfed sawing off the branch that the Fediverse is sitting on?” by Ploum (also featured on P&B).
I find this topic quite interesting, so I’m gonna take a moment to share my thoughts. I don’t have skin in the game, I’m not on any of these social media platforms, and I frankly don’t even care about the outcome of this situation. I’m just an external observer in this context.
Quick summary of the situation:
- Pixelfed is a decentralised Instagram alternative built on the ActivityPub protocol and focused on images and videos
- In order to do that, the app is designed to silently drop content that doesn’t contain images or videos, and so text-only content is not displayed on people’s timelines
- In his post, Ploum is arguing that this is wrong because, in doing that, Pixelfeed is not behaving in a way that is in line with the rest of the Fediverse and can undermine the whole ActivityPub endeavor
I can’t stress enough that this is just a quick summary, and you should read the original post. There’s also a discussion happening on Mastodon, if you want to see what others are saying.
I can see where Ploum is coming from, his concerns are definitely valid, and he’s motivated by good intentions. At the same time, though, I find his position a bit perplexing. Isn’t the point of an open protocol, like ActivityPub, to provide a structure that can be used by others to build whatever they want?
If someone wants to build a service, on top of AP, that only displays content of a certain type, they should be able to do so. Granted, they should make it very clear to the people who sign up for it that some filtering is happening, but if those same people are cool with that, then I don’t see the issue.
If tomorrow I wake up and I want to make an AP-based service that only serves audio content and is designed to encourage people sending voice messages to each other, I should be able to do so, without being required to also implement everything else that’s available on the protocol.
In his post, Ploum uses the idea of a TextFed service “that will never display posts with pictures”. If you ask me, that would be a totally reasonable project, especially if you want to build something that is not very resource-intensive, since you’re only dealing with text, and you don’t want to mess with media content. Why shouldn’t you be able to build such a thing on top of AP? Why should you be forced to accept videos and images coming from the rest of the Fediverse if that’s not what you want?
Also, it’s hard for me to square this whole line of argument with the concept of moderation. If you can’t trust a user to figure out by themselves that by signing up to something like Pixelfed, they only get a subset of the content available on the fediverse, then I don’t see how you can’t trust them to understand that, depending on which server they join, some other servers might be blocked. Does that mean the Fediverse should not have moderation?
A protocol is either open or it is not. And if it’s open, we should accept that some people might use it in ways we do not agree with. And that’s ok. But again, I’m not a fediverse user, so maybe my intuition here is entirely wrong. So feel free to reach out to let me know why I’m wrong.
December’s Thoughts and Interviews
On open protocols 6th Come on John 5th Stephanie StimacInterview 5th
2025 November
Double opt-in PSA 30th On eating shit 28th KarenInterview 28th Dealgorithmed 27th A moment in yet another memorial 24th Alexandra WolfeInterview 21st Y’all are great 16th Nic ChanInterview 14th Following up on input diet 14th Input diet 12th Robb KnightInterview 7th A moment with a decidedly less gloomy church 4th
October
Frank ChimeroInterview 31st IndieWeb Carnival: On Ego 26th Romina MaltaInterview 24th Look, another AI browser 22nd 10 pointless facts about me 21st A newsletter-related PSA 20th Five least favourite tech topics 18th AliceInterview 17th From the Summit 2.0 17th On concrete examples 16th Linda MaInterview 10th My issue with the two sides 10th Safari and iOS 26: PSA and a rant 8th On public online behaviour 5th Blake WatsonInterview 3rd Making things obvious 1st
September
New site, kinda 30th Scoring books 27th Kris HowardInterview 26th Digital fatigue 25th Robert BirmingInterview 19th RIP my minimal phone setup 16th Two quick news items 12th Jack BatyInterview 12th On em dashes 10th Blogs don’t need to be so lonely 6th I guess they did not, in fact, make it 5th Louie MantiaInterview 5th On my August challenge 2nd
August
CourtneyInterview 29th You will not believe what I just wrote 25th Tom CritchlowInterview 22nd AI this, AI that 17th Loren StephensInterview 15th First update on the August challenge 10th AlexandraInterview 8th Sticking with it 7th Emma GotoInterview 1st
July
August Challenge 30th The July experiment: week four 28th On books and assumptions 26th Marisabel MunozInterview 25th Why this matters 25th The July experiment: week three 21st Alex SiracInterview 18th On using Apple products 17th RSS feeds 16th The July experiment: week two 14th BSAGInterview 11th The July experiment: week one 7th A gift to myself 6th Rewiring the brain 5th Nick SimsonInterview 4th Random mid-year update 2nd
June
IndieWeb Carnival: Take Two 30th Experimental June: week four 29th On complaining 28th David WertheimerInterview 27th Minimal New Page 25th Experimental June: week three 23rd Dave RupertInterview 20th Digital chains 19th On corpses, selfishness, and ownership 16th Experimental June: week two 15th James A. ReevesInterview 13th A moment on the fields 8th Experimental June: week one 8th Non-negotiables 7th BenjiInterview 6th A moment with climbers 6th
May
Sebastián MoníaInterview 30th On Browsers, AI, and the web 29th Experimental June 27th The web != the web 24th Seth WerkheiserInterview 23rd A moment with a pizza 19th Celebrating kindness 17th Watts MartinInterview 16th Web Accessibility. A follow-up. 15th Your license is a scam 14th Web Accessibility. Help needed. 13th Sharing, helping, connecting 11th AnhInterview 9th A moment with waves 6th Labeling the mind 5th A moment with concrete 4th A thought on AI and creativity 3rd Alexandra Deschamps-SonsinoInterview 2nd Tomorrow 1st
April
IndieWeb Carnival: Renewal 30th FrillsInterview 25th Fixing the mind 25th Jeremy KeithInterview 18th When a side project finds you 12th JeddaInterview 11th A moment with long shadows 6th Matt WebbInterview 4th Online counterculture 3rd
March
MayaInterview 28th Ko-Fi Wishlist 27th The cost of getting too big 26th Ben BorgersInterview 21st A moment with snow and trees 15th KeenanInterview 14th How personal should a personal site be? 7th JamesInterview 7th A moment with someone flying to the moon 5th
February
Marco GiancottiInterview 28th Audience of one 28th The cost of doing the right thing 27th Ben WerdmullerInterview 21st Ephemeral content 20th Confidently incorrect 18th Max KapurInterview 14th Context 8th Lou PlummerInterview 7th Identity 6th
January
Donny TruongInterview 31st A moment after the rain 28th Sharing “Unplatform” 27th A better list of blog platforms 26th Tiny corners 25th AvaInterview 24th Modern discourse 23rd Awful people are everywhere 22nd Ugh, I’ll have to make myself a portfolio again 22nd Photography 20th Shenanigans 19th Short Long Form 18th Annie MuellerInterview 17th The internet is now five websites 16th On Meta’s moderation changes 15th IndieWeb Carnival: On the importance of friction 14th Bloggers at the right time 13th Toscana 12th A moment of relaxation 11th Steven GarrityInterview 10th A moment amongst the trees 10th A moment in a back alley 9th A moment with the two towers 8th A moment with some leftover Christmas spirit 7th Blogging: you’re doing it right 6th Blog Questions Challenge 5th On Spotify 4th Pauline P. NarvasInterview 3rd Just because you can doesn’t mean you should 2nd Twenty Twenty-Five, codename “Output” 1st
2024 December
Was 2024 a good year? 31st A solved Bluesky conundrum 31st The Bluesky conundrum 30th Kindness in a transactional world 29th Jatan MehtaInterview 27th A moment on my favorite bench 27th On featured images in blog posts 26th Meta blog post 24th ZinzyInterview 20th On asking 16th Moonlight 15th Sunday update 15th Chris DeLucaInterview 13th Digital responsibilities 12th Topic blockers 9th Erica FusteroInterview 6th Life on pause 6th The correct amount of ads is zero 5th On blogging, substacking (?), and owning digital real estate 4th Personal philosophy 1st
November
Lucy BellwoodInterview 29th On Bluesky 22nd EmInterview 22nd Media diet 21st An appreciation of the “mark all as read” button 16th Small scale is the best scale 15th Sara JakšaInterview 15th Housekeeping 14th A moment of natural therapy 11th Dalton MaberyInterview 8th Regaining focus 7th An afternoon of early November 6th Westley WinksInterview 1st
October
A moment in yet another Airbnb 31st Denny HenkeInterview 25th Constraints in video games 18th Steyn ViljoenInterview 18th Creation and Curation 14th Chris O’DonnellInterview 11th A Ko-Fi PSA 5th Xanthe TynehorneInterview 4th A moment with morning light in the kitchen 3rd IndieWeb Carnival: multilingualism in a global Web 2nd On personal websites and social web 1st
September
Justin DukeInterview 27th Internet commentary 26th It should be easy to say “My bad, I was wrong” 24th Giles TurnbullInterview 20th Thoughts on the new iOS control centre 19th Discovering new blogs is stupid hard 16th Naz HamidInterview 13th The EU vs US iPhone debate 9th Steve LedlowInterview 6th IndieWeb Carnival: Power Underneath Despair 5th On People and Blogs and courtesy 5th The internet used to be great 3rd The social web 1st
August
Marty DayInterview 30th On email addresses (again) 29th My software stack is old 28th Yelling at the web clouds 27th Thoughts on symbols 24th Robert KingettInterview 24th On the value of context 20th On hobbies, side projects, and money 17th PloumInterview 16th IndieWeb Carnival: Rituals 13th Fifty shades of people and their blogs 11th Georgie CookeInterview 9th Digital nudges 7th The “blowing smoke up your ass” theory of AI 3rd Anne SturdivantInterview 2nd
July
Thoughts on politics and communities 29th A moment among the trees 26th Daniel MillerInterview 26th On goals, online projects, and the usefulness of money 24th Mismatch 22nd Thoughts on digital communities 21st Luke HarrisInterview 19th Should you give up social media? 18th One hundred 14th Andrew StephensInterview 12th A moment walking towards the sunset 9th Some more thoughts on TBC 9th A moment with my 35th bday 6th Anton PodviaznikovInterview 5th A moment of morning light 5th Shared reality 2nd On being humble and accepting success 1st
June
The Mimo Diaries: Feedback and Directory 30th Everything is freeware 29th Alison WilderInterview 28th Ads hypocrisy 27th Fighting bots 23rd A moment of blissful relaxation 22nd Jennifer Devastatia del GatoInterview 21st On “What Money Can’t Buy” 19th Blocking bots 16th Jessica NickelsenInterview 14th Celebrating failure 12th The money conundrum 11th JF MartinInterview 7th How to converse online 6th They might not make it 3rd Slashes 1st
May
Matthew GrayboschInterview 31st AI and the English language 30th Bearblog is fun 29th Consumption-to-creation ratio 28th Rebecca TohInterview 24th A moment with a birthday good boy 23rd My blogging workflow 21st A moment of daily practice 20th A moment with a choice 19th A moment from a misty morning 18th Om MalikInterview 17th Curation, search, and the future of the web 15th It’s fun to do silly things 14th A comment on the Apple iPad ad controversy 12th Sharing too much about too little 11th Riccardo MoriInterview 10th The webs 9th On guestbooks 8th The kitchen s(l)ink post 5th Cory DransfeldtInterview 3rd IndieWeb Carnival: Natural creativity 2nd
April
The web is not dying 27th VeroniqueInterview 26th Too little, and too much, self-promotion 25th Re: Growth is a mind cancer 24th Simone SilvestroniInterview 19th A comment on comments 16th Tracy DurnellInterview 12th On video podcasts 10th Matt SteinInterview 5th IndieWeb Carnival: Good enough and the search for perfection 2nd Pay per scroll 1st
March
Why I write 31st Adrianna TanInterview 29th Writing about writing 25th Growth is a mind cancer 23rd Taylor TroeshInterview 22nd Why I don’t write dev posts 21st A moment with a bunch of fun sheep 20th From ink to pixel to ink 19th Sara JoyInterview 15th A moment with a sunset 14th Housekeeping 12th Digital walled gardens 9th Brad BarrishInterview 8th Guestbooks are cool 7th It’s Time to Give Up on Everything but Email 5th IndieWeb Carnival: Accessibility in the Small Web 4th IndieWeb Carnival: Roundup 3rd Cassidy WilliamsInterview 1st
February
Chris Coyier smells like donkeys 29th On POSSE 27th IndieWeb Carnival: February is almost at the end 26th I have a new* website 25th Society and technology 24th Herman MartinusInterview 23rd On dreams and goals 18th Peter RukavinaInterview 16th Ai and Robots 14th On climbing and design 13th Housekeeping 12th Phil GyfordInterview 9th The great list of all the blog platforms 8th A rant on ARC Search 7th Routines 5th The Mimo Diaries: Streams and Menus 3rd Winnie LimInterview 2nd On digital relationships 1st
January
IndieWeb Carnival: Digital Relationships 31st Best laptop of 2024 30th A People and Blogs PSA 27th Ran PrieurInterview 26th Positive Internalization 25th Private conversations in public 22nd Tom MacWrightInterview 19th Indieweb Carnival 18th If a human does it 16th On enjoying the process 14th Rachel SmithInterview 12th The Mimo Diaries 10th A moment with a great book 6th Arun VenkatesanInterview 5th Answers to my analytics inquiry 3rd Create more. Consume less. 2nd Yet another year of living without 1st
2023 December
Analytics inquiry 30th Derek SiversInterview 29th Reflecting on learned things 27th A moment up high on a lake 26th Chris ButlerInterview 22nd Pirating social media 16th Jamie ThingelstadInterview 15th I’m taking over Minimalissimo…for real this time 14th Eli MellenInterview 8th The personality of a personal website 7th One a Month 6th More new mindsets, fewer new technologies 2nd Nicolas MagandInterview 1st
November
Housekeeping 28th Human connection 27th Robin RendleInterview 24th On creating beautiful things 22nd On Ad Blockers 20th Chris CoyierInterview 17th Conversation enders 15th App Defaults 11th Piper HaywoodInterview 10th The beauty of broken things 5th Jamie CrismanInterview 3rd On subscriptions 1st
October
Why I’ll never do podcasts 28th Ray ThomasInterview 27th A moment with a hardware bug 25th Jim NielsenInterview 20th Shoes dilemma 15th Ana RodriguesInterview 13th How to make a blog 12th Internet culture outsider 7th Andrea ContinoInterview 6th My issue with the modern NBA 4th
September
Toby ShorinInterview 29th Bots, Spiders, and Crawlers: The Results 27th Brian KoberleinInterview 22nd Bots, Spiders, and Crawlers 20th Housekeeping 19th I don’t want your data 18th Kev QuirkInterview 15th A moment up on the mountains 11th Rachel J. KwonInterview 8th Use a custom domain name 7th Website flexibility 6th Places on the web 2nd Manton ReeceInterview 1st
August
Housekeeping 25th People and Blogs 17th A moment on the 2nd biggest lake 15th Self-promotion 5th Who is to blame? 2nd Unscalable businesses 1st
July
My three rules for online interactions 31st The web I want 25th Carl has a new blog 23rd Who are you writing for? 19th Links 14th I am not a writer 9th A moment with some proper mountains 8th On the state of the web 2nd
June
A moment with things not going as planned 30th Clients and budgets 28th AI will not replace you 16th A moment with a cloudy sky 13th Small communities are the best communities 1st
May
A moment thinking about decisions 28th Answering machines 26th I’m taking over Minimalissimo… 22nd Spotify and the bullshit podcast ads situation 18th Focus 14th Poking around my server logs 10th Financial transparency 9th Digital simplicity 6th My verified online presence 5th
April
A moment with my crazy dog 28th Usernames roulette 26th Criticising is the easy part 21st I hate internal linking 19th Incentives and motivations 13th A note on Substack 12th Writing about writing 10th 10000 URLs 9th Let people contact you 6th RSS excerpts 5th
March
Sysadmin 28th Verified human 24th Writing voice and beginner’s mind 22nd Bandwidth consumption 20th Thoughts on an unpolished note 18th A personal blog doesn’t need a homepage 17th A rant on web font licenses 10th Minimum viable blog 9th Monetising online content 7th I’ll read it 4th Website complexities 2nd A moment on yet another lake 1st
February
Human curation 16th How much is a friendship worth? 14th A moment with a not-so-distant past 13th Good enough 9th Consumismo ed integrità morale 8th Great software is timeless 5th
January
A moment with sand and waves 30th A less artificial future 27th Shared understanding 23rd Unsolicited blogging advice 17th A moment in Italy’s green heart 14th Quitting 7th RSS feeds for everyone 6th Money is one of the reasons why today’s internet fucking sucks 5th A moment of sleepiness 2nd
2022 December
How to start a successful blog in 2023 26th End of year book review 21st Free speech absolutism vs the real world 19th Quirky search engine 18th On the current decentralisation movement 16th To the moon 13th Another year of living without 11th On public email addresses 7th How to consume the news 4th A quick word on scrolljacking and new tab fuckery 1st
November
A moment with real and fake birds 21st On internet silos 8th A moment of clouds and light 4th Letting go 1st
October
On the struggles of the mind 30th My attempt to answer the question "What is too minimal?" 21st A moment of sunlight after the rain 3rd
September
Who owns a conversation? 30th Selfishness 14th The web is failing us 12th A moment of urban patience 11th #Shorts 9th UHX 8th
August
Passionless Web 16th A moment contemplating the mountains 13th Selflessness 9th On becoming a better designer 8th Loneliness 7th
July
A few thoughts on RSS 28th A moment of glowing light 27th Algorithmic nonsense 26th Production Values 24th
June
What is worth filling your mind with? 29th
May
Portfolio, Projects and Posts 11th Links and webrings 5th A moment reflecting on the past 2nd