To emulate the style of @timbray, what happened was I was watching the @nova Twitch stream with my daughter last fall and she was hacking on the @hachyderm infrastructure with @quintessence and it was just awesome and inspiring. I called @WMitchellBaker with an idea. Fast forward to today, and we're launching @mammoth, a "mastodon for the rest of us" app with the gracious support of Mozilla (and many others!).
TL;DR: I'm all in on the Fediverse.
https://medium.com/@mmayo/why-im-all-in-on-the-fediverse-ca5b22ec230d
@mmayo@hachyderm.io All in on the fediverse but your "fully featured" app can't do basics like show posts from servers other than Mastodon? Sure bro. @timbray@hachyderm.io @nova@hachyderm.io @hachyderm@hachyderm.io @quintessence@hachyderm.io @WMitchellBaker@moth.social @mammoth@moth.social
@mmayo@hachyderm.io Every other app & #ActivityPub platform can do this out of the box, with none of the spin @mammoth@moth.social has been promoting. This is more than a gap. I interact all the time with folks who have accounts running on Pleroma, Akkoma, Misskey, Calckey, Friendica & Hubzilla -based instances.
I think from what I've seen from @atomicpoet@mastodon.social 's posts today, your days are numbered anyway. Folks aren't fans of VC around here, and I think you've already provided many folk with enough reasons to support a fediblock.
@jo @atomicpoet @mammoth the lead "investor" is Mozilla, but I doubt that will change your mind about our intentions on its own, even though the folks involved have spent their entire lives in open source and advancing public good missions. We'll work to earn some trust as we improve. We do believe strongly in making Mastodon more accessible to newcomers, that's our mission, and the product experience will reflect that.Don't think there's much more to say, but thanks for the feedback. Cheers.
@mmayo @jo @mammoth A lot of people hear “VC”, and immediately think of people like Peter Thiel or Marc Andreesen. Hence why they jump to conclusions.
That said, this is the first I’ve heard about Mozilla being the lead investor, and this makes me genuinely happy.
What I suggest is more transparency about funding and monetization so people can assess your motivations more clearly.
I, for one, want @mammoth to be successful.
@atomicpoet @mmayo @jo @mammoth One of the investors in #mammoth is also Marc Benioff, so people's assumption of VC equalling Big Tech billionaires was somewhat correct. Also a VC company (Long Journey Ventures) that has invested in things like Uber and SpaceX.
Im all about more transparency for funding and monetization, but I'm not really sure telling the fediverse community that your app is funded in part by Marc Benioff is really going to improve public perception, to say the least.
@fediversereport @jo Okay, but how much money has Marc Benioff invested? How much of a share in @mammoth does he own?
@mmayo says Mozilla is the lead investor, so we at least know that Mozilla has greater say in how funding is allocated.
So there is that.
What concerns me isn’t necessarily that @mammoth got some VC funding, but more the potential terms of the funding.
@atomicpoet @fediversereport @jo @mammoth @mmayo If there’s funding, it means there must be a business model that intends to make a return on that investment. How do they plan to monetize Mastodon/Fediverse to get that return?
@ramsey @fediversereport @jo @mammoth @mmayo Based on blog posts, it looks like they’re planning on a subscription model.
@atomicpoet @fediversereport @jo @mammoth @mmayo They’re backing a subscription-based app that has users who don’t “belong” to them and that can talk to a network they don’t control with VC money? I don’t understand how the VCs will get a return on that investment. I think it’s cool they’re “all in” on the Fediverse, but I’m dubious.
@ramsey @fediversereport @jo @mammoth @mmayo You’re caution is warranted. It’s always good to be skeptical.
@atomicpoet @jo @mammoth I get it. I don't blame anyone who reacts negatively to VC or questions the monetization. That's reasonable. We did list Mozilla as a supporter on the site, and I named them for my blog - specifically the financial support even - but I agree we can live up to a higher standard and be even more transparent. /cc @bart who's the CEO and will be able to followup on this. :)
@mmayo @atomicpoet @jo @mammoth hey! We were awaiting signoff, pleased to confirm that Mozilla is our principal investor. Cheers.