I don't think I'm the only one here who thinks the fediverse is a great technology that connects people all over the world via a robust decentralised network. This network encompasses the widest range of interest groups and the most diverse ways of interacting with each other. Whether forum, video or image platform, whether books or music network, everything is part of one big whole.

Despite this diversity of possibilities, I personally still miss some services that I would like to share with you.

dating apps - A decentralised, open source dating platform on which you can join instances according to interest groups or sexual preferences.
git hosting - A platform where you can host your git repos and collaborate on software projects across instances. (Forgejo is already working on it)
networking and personal profilation platform - A LinkedIn-like platform with instances by industry, interest or region where you can network, present yourself or exchange know-how.
crowdfunding and membership platform - A mixture of Patreon and Kickstarter where you can share your own content according to different support levels and crowdfund projects.
event, group organisation and community participation - A platform on which you can join groups like on Meetup and organise meetings but also internal group interactions like on slack or launch and support civic initiatives like on Decidim.

What do you think of this? What services do you still miss on the Fediverse?

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The only one here I think might not be appropriate (at least in the way that other fediverse platforms are structured) is dating apps. There's a much greater need for moderation, privacy, and safety when it comes to dating apps.

We do need something different, especially because all the big dating apps are controlled by a single company (and the rest form the rest of the oligopoly), but the Fediverse may not be the right way to do it. Open Source but centralized might be the way to go

[–] PropaGandalf 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I am convinced that decentralisation and publicity and secure private chats are not mutually exclusive if you use the appropriate protocols: On the one hand you can have ActivityPub, which is suitable for communication and discoverability between instances, and on the other hand you could use a secure messaging protocol such as Matrix, which could then be used for private chats.

I mean in the end you want to be discovered by other people so you need to provide some info about you. The good thing is that you decide what personal information you want to share with everyone and what details you only want to talk about with certain people.

For your information: We already have a centralized, open source dating app. It's called Alovoa.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For your information: We already have a centralized, open source dating app. It’s called Alovoa.

The dev is also open to activitypub support

Problems with problematic users can be solved by explicit whitelisting, or having credit card verification.

[–] some_guy 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes if there’s one thing I want out of a dating app, it’s being able to give my CC info over to any schlub who wants to spin up an instance

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does not have to be a random instance but a reputable one like mastodon social, and it can be optional, people give cc to random shops online and you could do a charge back or even use paypal and patreon (as long as they respect warrants), reportedly 1 in 6 women gets raped or experience an attempt at rape so making women safer is good.

[–] some_guy 1 points 1 year ago

have fun with that

[–] some_guy 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well if you’re convinced I’m sure everyone will jump on board then!

[–] PropaGandalf -1 points 1 year ago

Dude what are you talking about? Have I ever mentioned that I want to convince anyone? Stop hallucinating things.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Especially the safety aspect. The big platforms have extensive moderation tools to keep the creepers out. And most dating apps are still widely unappealing to women because most men on them are creepy as fuck. That's also why you can't send pictures or even links on Tinder: guys just won't stop sending dick pics as if that's appealing.

I can't imagine if you can basically make a fully anonymous profile on an instance like exploding-heads and hexbear how fucking awful the experience would be, especially for women and minorities. And who do you trust to moderate your personal conversations going toxic, especially if the report propagates to the original also toxic enabling instance?

Or the sheer amount of spam, OnlyFans baits and escort services that would dominate such a platform.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You've gotta remember, just because the norm is one way - there's an audience out there for which this would be a safety improvement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As for dating apps, do you think gender disparity would be a problem? Largely queer communities like [email protected] would rejoice but straight men don't stand much of a chance.

[–] PropaGandalf 1 points 1 year ago

Also different fetish and kink communities.