Participating on me.dm costs @medium community members $5/month (or $50/year).
This development requires context.
The Founder of @medium is Twitter Co-Founder @ev. Another Twitter Co-Founder, @biz, also has an account there.
@medium is now competing with Twitter. More importantly, @medium is undercutting Twitter in terms of subscription price.
Remember, Twitter Blue is $8/month with ads!
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/7/23628642/medium-opens-mastodon-subscription-membership-twitter
I don’t think Twitter Co-Founders @ev and @biz would ever say, “@medium is competing with Twitter.”
But that’s what this is: me.dm is a microblogging site built on Twitter’s biggest competitor, Mastodon.
And they’re providing services that not only Twitter won’t provide (ad-free experience) but can’t provide (federation).
At a substantially lower price too!
A year ago, many people said this would never happen.
“The Fediverse can’t be monetized,” they said.
Now @medium has come along and monetized their Mastodon server.
Not only can the Fediverse be monetized, it’s being done by Twitter Co-Founder @ev (though @coachtony, amongst others, probably drove this initiative).
That’s symbolism for you!
Pay close attention to @medium because their subscription model is a taste of things to come.
Like it or not, they provide the social validation for other folks to come in and try to monetize the Fediverse.
This is happening.
It’s important to look at other ways to fund the Fediverse beyond what @medium is doing.
I like what ActivityPub Co-Founder @evan is doing with CoSocial.
And mastodon.social is run by @Gargron’s non-profit.
I imagine crowdfunding will be a big deal.
I’m all for people making a living on the Fediverse—so long as it’s thoughtful, ethical, and not driven by surveillance capitalism.
@atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony
How long before each news network has their own employees only fedirated servers? How long before microsoft, Sony, etc etc have their own servers?
At least this way when I see a 'nintendo of america' account sharing pictures of mario telling me t ogo fuck myself I can just look to see what server it is and lament it isn't real.
@singletona @atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony corps having their own instances is fine. What I really want to see is government agencies and offices having their own instances.
Why should the White House be •tweeting•? Why have them support / lend their weight to a private company run by a crazy person? Have @potus@whitehouse.gov instead.
Why have government agencies posting alerts to the public via •Twitter•? Seems pretty undemocratic.
@carlrj @atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony
That is a good fucking point.
@atomicpoet Do you like it... or not?
@rasterweb I’m taking a “wait and see” perspective.
I do think this is better than Twitter Blue.
@atomicpoet it'll be curious if a unified payment system might be implemented in the same way they are trying for with Flathub but for all federated networks.
@Sh4d0w_H34rt Actually, @reiver and I are looking at crowdfunding options.
@atomicpoet i'm sure the people who don't like it will just defederate.
@atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron Hachyderm's @nivenly is very much worth watching if you're interested in fediverse governance, and how it relates to monitization. https://nivenly.org/blog/2023/03/01/nivenly.helloworld/
@atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron #SurveillanceCapitalism thrives wherever #Identity is overlooked as a fundamental aspect of solution architecture.
User-controlled Self-Sovereign Identity (#SSI) is the way forward, but this important manner is generally cloaked in confusion that ultimately retains the status quo.
You have no control over your data without full control of your identity and its authenticity.
@Mastodon offers a step-forward via use of "rel=me" .
@atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron @Mastodon Beyond "rel=me" @Mastodon could incorporate an additional option via the use of #NetIDTLS which simply boils down to a #TLS based authentication challenge to prove possession of credentials notarized in an #X509 cert.
Implementation wise, it means adding a credentials lookup to the end of a conventional TLS-handshake.
@atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron @Mastodon Existing #Github repos that implement the original #WebIDTLS variant of this protocol.
[1] https://github.com/linkeddata/node-webid -- node.js implementation
[2] https://github.com/bennomadic/django-webid-auth -- #Python
[3] https://github.com/OpenLinkSoftware/NetIDTLS/tree/main/demos/virtuoso -- Github repo of our #VirtuosoRDBMS implementation using VSP (our #PHP equivalent that's #DBMS hosted)
#NetIDTLS extends #WebIDTLS via support for mailto:, acct:, and ldap: identifiers; and looking SHA-1 hashes of Public Keys.
@atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron
I'm a Medium member (& Partner Program writer), and I don't see the $5/month fee as a charge for posting on me.dm. I see it as a fee for accessing members-only stories on Medium, as it has been since they started charging for these. The Mastodon access is an added membership perk.
Yes, people can use other popular Mastodon instances for free. But operating them costs money, regardless, whether that comes from donations or is footed solely by the admin(s).
@funcrunch @atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron
It will also be nice if comment sections of #Medium articles are part of the fediverse and allow others to also interact and comment if it is a free article, of course.
I feel there are many use-cases and features we are yet to discover.
You know, like what #Discourse should have been after joining the #Fediverse
@atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron
> It’s important to look at other ways to fund the Fediverse beyond what @medium is doing.
Take a look at what @hachyderm is doing with @nivenly - @nova and crew are setting up so members will fund the operation and have a voice in how it evolves (it’s entirely possible I’m not phrasing this quite the right way).
@atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron I think unions and membership organizations should in many cases consider hosting an instance for only members as a benefit of membership. Especially valuable for orgs where the members validation of their association with that organization has value (so imagine the Writers Guild or Screen Actors Guild offering this for their members - with the additional value of offering validation that in those cases a celebrity’s account it really them)
@Rycaut @atomicpoet @medium @evan @Gargron same thing for government agencies.
@atomicpoet @medium everything comes at a cost. And money will bring compromises and we will lose hope I am afraid
@jupiter_rowland @fediversenews Medium, the blogging platform, is not part of the Fediverse.
Also, Plume is no longer actively developed.
@atomicpoet @jupiter_rowland @fediversenews I use Plume personally and I'm in the matrix chat for it. It looks like the dev is coming back as much as he can so that could change soon.
Although not super developed it is pretty solid software
@atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony I'm very much unconvinced that's actually good news long-term. Monetization, at least the classic fashion of the centralized social networks, will very likely lead to the same situation we see with email, an ostensibly open network where it is now effectively impossible for small independent / individual email "instances" to "federate" with the big players.
@DaleHagglund @medium @ev @coachtony I’m for people being fairly compensated for work. I’m not for certain vultures busting in to demand their 10x ROI.
We can build this thing thoughtfully and with intention.
@atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony I agree fully with compensation for work, and to be fair, I didn't read Medium's actual statements on this topic.
As far as building "thoughtfully and with intention", I certainly hope so.
@DaleHagglund @atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony
I just hope they federate with the rest community and join relays.
They could possibly keep some content local, thus continuing the business model @medium already uses. Which I would be okay with, but not participating in the network would basically just be like creating a new network.
It would also be interesting how strict their #moderation rules are, but this could also be good. Larger companies like this will have large and fast growing instances, requiring the moderation tools we all have been waiting for. So this is also an opportunity for the #opensource community.
@Stark9837 @DaleHagglund @atomicpoet @medium @ev @fediversenews We already have a relay with universeodon. Who else would you recommend? Is there a place where people who want to relay gather?
@Stark9837 @DaleHagglund @atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony @fediversenews I could also see them having an “announce on Mastodon” checkbox next to whatever the mechanism is for publishing articles, where Medium automatically publishes the title, link, and abstract or first paragraph or similar to Mastodon, under the user’s name, which will serve as a sort of promo.pmfor the article.
Could be good or bad.
@atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony honestly the fact that so many iOS apps monetized client side says enough. I don't understand why people didn't think that media companies wouldn't do the same for the server side. Its free as in freedom, not free as in beer, as they say.
@atomicpoet@mastodon.social I don't think anyone believed the Fediverse *can't* be monetizied. I think people believe that it won't work very well considering it's the Fediverse---there is nothing exclusive or special about the technology. The domain in question is simply running a Mastodon instance. What's there to offer vs. any other Fediverse instance? Why should anyone pay $5/mo for an account on a Fediverse instance? Or, this Mastodon instance, specifically? Why pay for that which you can have for free? Or pay for an experience markedly worse than an experience you could get for free elsewhere? Or pay for content and engagement that other users will get for free anyway (unless me.dm defederates). It's not impossible to monetize the Fediverse, it's just silly unless you can somehow provide something others cannot provide (for free). @medium@me.dm @ev@me.dm @coachtony@me.dm
@adiz @ev @medium @coachtony I’m just telling you what certain people have opined to me.
Another good offer could be integration with their own services for example.
More points: security? trust? support?
In the case of the fediverse, good moderation?
Yes, many will use a free option but some will want to use a better or more secure server.
If my server gets compromised my user's data will too. So offering better security / better infrastructure then it can be monetized that way
It's harder because it's not unique, but you can always offer the "better" experience instead of the "only one" experience
@feinzer@akko.airis.dev Sure, but we see data breaches on large, corporate services all the time. In fact, I'd argue they're more as risk being so prominent and such attractive targets. And if Meta and Twitter are anything to go by moderation-wise, I don't see huge benefits therein either. To each their own, though, I suppose. I'm certain they will get buyers. @atomicpoet@mastodon.social
@adiz @atomicpoet @ev @medium @coachtony
People pay for packaging + ease of use, communicated by marketing.
.
In many countries water from the tap is at least the same quality and 1.000 times cheaper than water in a bottle, yet many people prefer bottles.
Buildings in a city can be seen for free, yet many pay for a tour: easier.
If people have the impression that Medium helps them to get on this 'mysterious, promising but difficult to master' Mastodon, then many will be happy to pay for that.
@adiz @atomicpoet @ev @medium @coachtony You could, however, create a paid-only server that’s part of the Fediverse but hosted at a bullet-proof hoster to prevent DDoS downtime, that won’t suddenly disappear when the admin loses interest, that has paid moderators and money to pay lawyers if they receive nasty letters. And because all users have paid it would have less local trolls, hopefully.
If based in the EU, I’d happily pay for that.
@lennardvanotterloo@mastodon.social If you want to pay for a corporate Mastodon-based Fediverse instance, be my guest. I'd just assume host my own, at that point. @atomicpoet@mastodon.social @ev@me.dm @medium@me.dm @coachtony@me.dm
@adiz @atomicpoet @ev @medium @coachtony
Many of us are making a small donation to server admins and are happy to do so. So if this "fee" can be packaged up with some added value and extras, there is a business there. The question is, what are those extras?
Additional security, better moderation, more storage, backups, verification, faster servers, identity hijacking...?
@adiz @atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony why pay for an account? Because servers, and bandwidth, and electricity, and maintenance, and skilled admins, all cost money, one way or another. I’m happy to contribute to keep the instance I’m on up & running.
The birdsite wasn’t free, it costs you ads and some of your privacy. Same with Facebook. I’m happier paying upfront for/to a site that has a valid funding model. The money has to come from somewhere, and I’d rather be a customer than a product.
@atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony
I know I’ve said it a few times since I switched over to fediverse full time-ish back in November, but I’ll repeat it.
If the fediverse/masto takes off, I think there will be “vanity” instances.
Harley-Davidson.social
Gucci.social
Kardashian.me
Whatever brand thinks it can charge for people to have their name associated with their brand.
Hell, I know @gruber already said he’s tempted by the “me.dm” name 
@Wraithe @atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony @gruber That seems fine to me, but might be a moderation nightmare for brands.
@michaelgemar @atomicpoet @medium @ev @coachtony @gruber oh absolutely could be, but OTOH maybe “taylorswift.us” will have really good security 