Choosing a distributed social platform is not simple

Fiddling around with open source / free alternatives for social networking has reconfirmed the one major problem with open source : there are so many forks to choose from.

To help someone choose a linux distro to run will end op in a short questionnaire about the needs of the person asking for the advice. And then it still remains a shot in the dark. Just get the live CD and see if you like it.

The same seems to hold true for open social networking. There are plenty of tools around, all with their own focus, maturity and limitations. And choosing which one is right for you requires actual test-driving of the tool. Which for a social networking platform is not as easy as a Linux distro.

Does federation work as I want it? Can I consume other content? Will it integrate with platform X or Y? You can only find out by actually running it. And than you can either risk your real account / network to integrate with or spend more time setting up a sandboxing environment. Both are not really attractive options when you just try to spin the wheel to get a feel.

During the last couple of weeks it became clear to me that there are options that I could use if I tried. But the solutions I’ve seen are nowhere near something that my wife or kids would like to use. Or any other people in my network so it seems 😉

After a small experiment yesterday night with Hubzilla, I just switched my Pod back to Friendica, as the stuff broken/missing in Hubzilla is more annoying to me than the stuff broken/missing in Friendica.

There is work to be done.