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Alexis writes:
> i really hope geminispace doesn't become hip.
solderpunk writes:
> At the start of the year [2020], Gemini was around six months old and still a fairly small and quiet project. But starting around May we hit Hacker News and other high profile social sites multiple times, resulting in an explosive growth of interest in and discussion about the protocol.
In the somewhat famous movie "Dances with Wolves" The Chief asks the soldier how many of the white folks will be coming. The answer goes along the lines of "There will be so many you cannot count them".
I too, hope that geminispace is not becoming hip.
I grew up in a scenic area, where others go for vacation. Growing up there and being mobile by bicycle and later by motorcycle means, I know plenty of interesting roads, nice litte villages and quiet spaces. I consciously resisted the idea to tell everyone, how nice it was, because I did not want endless parades of motorcyclists the whole weekend. Of course it did not help. Today with tour portals, automatic uploading of GPS trails and the like, you cannot keep a place little known.
The same happens via Instagram and the like. Hordes of tourists travel to the most remote places this planet has to offer --- which changes these very places to not be remote or little known or quiet any more. I'm probably a little guilty of this too, however at the time local audience enduring the slide show in the evening had not the same reach as nowadays Instagram et al..
The only thing that anyone can do, is to keep quiet about such whereabouts.
What has this to do with geminispace? Works the same way. I found geminispace by reading Alex Schröders posts, which were faithfully pulled to my eyes via
I have to accept the fact that every time I tell someone else, I might increase geminispace. Whether this is good or bad, remains to be seen. However, people are very different. Someone's feature is somebody elses bloat (was on the mailing list, I believe)[a]. With more people come more ideas, more content, more subjects, more expectation, more "how can we make this space more /social/" --- allthough exactly this /social/ thing is, what I am trying to get away from. And I'm not alone with this, it seems to me. More people surely increase the variation in several dimensions. This has happened to other communities before.
What now?
Do I give up and go back to my silence? Its definitely one option.
Do I speak up against newcomers? Not really an option.
Do I teach everyone and their cat, how to behave in geminispace? That's not even tempting, so no.
Do I scan some of the content and ignore the rest? This is another option imho.
Do we over time build smaller somewhat walled gardens within geminispace, where groups of like minded hang out, similar to the mastodon[b] fediverse? As long as anyone can find a likeable garden, why not? Many others will likely stay away due to its particular mix of subjects, jokes, weirdness, improbability, or even writing style. As long as there is choice, it is much better than one size does not fit it all.
Contraray to common desire, however, there will be no simple answers.
So maybe I have to rephrase: I too, hope that not all of geminispace is becoming hip fast!
Cheers,
~ew
[a] Also see the discussion on the mailing list about tables in gemini text.
[b] I used to scoff at /only partially federated/, but maybe I should allow for more options.
After writing this over the course of a few days, I'm still unsure, whether this is relevant to some extend. But here we go. Seems like Shufei has posted some opinion, too:
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