I have been a part of federated social networks since the early days of StatusNet, now GNU Social. I self-hosted it quite a few times in the past with not much success. The majority were just bots pulling in RSS feeds. Even though I eventually gave up on that, I didn't give up on the cause.
Ever since Elon threw a wrench into Twitter, something I never thought I'd see happen: people moved to Mastodon and Bluesky. I never thought I'd see the day. At a time when people like him are attempting to chip away at Democracy, this unexpected turn of events is exactly what we need in this time of crisis.
Without a single authority to monopolize the conversation, like Elon is attempting to do, these two networks are free to thrive and be free. It gives us a chance to be informed, and we are free to speak our minds. We can discuss things like Project 2025 and much more without censorship. Information can spread like wildfire.
