Loomio
Sun 2 Jun 2019 6:35AM

[IT] Migrate away from Tootsuite Mastodon to Glitch-soc

I Ilja Public Seen by 36

TL;DR We are planning to move away from Mastodon to Glitch-soc. This thread is to discuss and get consensus on how to move forward with this.

As y'all probably know, we have a fediverse instance at https://mastodon.pirateparty.be/ This instance is running Mastodon from the Tootsuite repository[1]. We've installed this software because we believed in the values it stood for. A community driven decentralised social networking platform by-and-for it's users. Sadly enough we started to realise that the Mastodon project doesn't embody the values it claimed to stand for.

The problems are:
* The way the tootsuite Mastodon project is run with a Benevolent Dictator For Live
* The way it is run brings a lot of frustrations within the community
* We see that a lot off things are not happening that should be happening (features that are not implemented, safety-stuff that is covered up instead of being fixed)

A personal statement I already made about this can be found at https://mastodon.pirateparty.be/web/statuses/101979613239571810

The concept of the fediverse is a good one of course, and something we still want to support. The fediverse didn't start with Mastodon, nor do I believe will it end with it. There are other options besides tootsuite Mastodon, so the obvious choice would be to migrate to a different platform.

Assuming we don't want to change the goal of the platform, there are three possible choices that come to mind:
* Glitch-soc[2]
* There's a "main" developer, but no BDFL
* They have showed that they do implement features that people want
* Florence[3]
* The aim is to be community oriented/controlled
* The project is too young to really have proven themselves
* Very small community, not sure if it will remain active (because the project is too young)
* pleroma[4]
* Too different from Mastodon, doesn't have reliable migration-script

From these choices, only Glitch-soc and Florence have an easy way to migrate to. Seeing how Glitch-soc has already proved itself, migrating to this seems the best choice.

The question then is: How do we proceed?
Question one: Are there any objections to this? Or things that we should keep in mind?

Question two: How do we involve the people on the instance?

For the second question, I propose a statement be made from the ppbe account where we explain what we want to do (migrate to glitch-soc), why we want to do it (see reasons mentioned here) and what the impact will be for them (more features ). A reminder of this statement should be posted to make sure everyone who is active on the instance will see it. I think we should at least wait a month between the first statement and the actual migration, reminders should be done weekly during this month or until all active members have responded. If anyone objects, this objection needs to be sorted out first.

[1] https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon
[2] https://github.com/glitch-soc/mastodon/
[3] https://github.com/florence-social/mastodon-fork
[4] https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/pleroma

H

HgO Sun 2 Jun 2019 9:37AM

Thank you @iljabaert !! You just forgot to mention that we came up with this proposal at the Pirate Lab of May :)

I totally agree with the idea of making a statement on the ppbe account, with a link to this thread. I think the best would be to let them discuss the proposal on Mastodon. They can as well register to Loomio, but I really think that would be overkill just for this proposal :p

H

HgO Mon 10 Jun 2019 8:33AM

I made the statement :
* in English : https://mastodon.pirateparty.be/web/statuses/102246300004990128
* and in French : https://mastodon.pirateparty.be/web/statuses/102246340377861901

Feel free to do the same in Dutch ;)

LM

Lander Meeusen Sun 2 Jun 2019 4:50PM

I'm still not sure what Mastodon and Fediverse are. Social networks? Chat platforms? Cloud storage? If it applies we could take this into the bigger discussion of our internal platform (Loomio or ...?) I just want to make sure we're not using too many different tools of communication, when it's possible to simplify. (For instance, there has to be a platform where you can chat, discuss proposals and vote? That would reduce the need for Loomio and Riot/Matrix.) Just a thougt.

RVE

Renaud Van Eeckhout Sun 2 Jun 2019 4:57PM

Fediverse is, more or less, the whole networks of social networks that use a common protocol to communicate to each other. Mastodon is one of them (others are Pleroma, PeerTube, PixelFed, etc).

There was an article about Mastodon here : https://nl.pirateparty.be/de-belgische-piratenpartij-heeft-uit-sociale-overweging-een-olifant-op-het-internet-geinstalleerd/
and in French here : https://fr.pirateparty.be/reseaux-sociaux-le-parti-pirate-installe-un-elephant-sur-internet/

H

HgO Sun 2 Jun 2019 6:04PM

There is a more complete article here (available in English and French) : https://pirateparty.be/pirates-celebrate-the-birthday-of-their-mastodon-instance/

I

Ilja Sun 2 Jun 2019 8:06PM

It's not an alternative to loomio or chat. It's possible that it will integrate a federated chat in the future, but that won't happen soon I think.

It's just a social network, so more like twitter or facebook and all those others. As far as the communication purposes go, I think it's

  1. Outreach (to both pirates and non-pirates)
  2. a way to connect with people, not just pirates, in an informal way.

These purposes can be done both as the party (using the ppbe account) as well as just as people (using your personal account)

Feel free to make an account and try it out :)

FD

Florence D. Wed 5 Jun 2019 2:18PM

Je n'y connais rien et je n en utilise aucun. Mais si nous montrons l exemple autant bien choisir nos outils donc merci pour cette discussion ici

H

HgO Wed 3 Jul 2019 6:30PM

Before starting the migration, I would prefer to set up backups for the server. As I wrote on the wiki, currently we don't have any backups for Mastodon. Well, I just do a backup of the database before every upgrade, but that's all…

Fortunately, I ordered some storage disk for my home server, so I'll be able to set up backups. Meanwhile, @tierce told me he could also set up backups on his side. That'd be more reliable, because the backups would be at two different places :)

Ideally, I would also like to plan a meeting for the ITSquad, so I'm not alone when I do the migration. But then, the question is: when and where ?

I

Ilja Thu 4 Jul 2019 4:26AM

Do you have an idea for where? We need too
* be able to charge our laptops,
* have decent internet connection for everyone and
* be able to work/talk with each other.

Venues I can think of:
* Expression
* ViaVia Café (where we did the meeting guidelines)

The hackerspace in Brussels that neutrinet uses is too small I think. Taverne de la gare (Tubize) didn't have internet connection, Taverne Georges (Braine-l'Alleud) didn't allow us to charge laptops. Rue the monde was very nice, but I don't think we can easily get it any more.

I guess we could also try via webcam, but AFK would prob be better, especially for something like this.

Is there an idea who would be there? (I would)

H

HgO Thu 4 Jul 2019 6:42PM

It wasn't the ViaVia, but L'Espérance ;)

Another solution would be to squat @zefredz 's home if he is ok with that ^

Rue the monde was very nice, but I don't think we can easily get it any more.

I don't see which place you are talking about ?

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