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Re:Monthly Fediverse posts cross 1 billion for the first time by rahmeero on Monday April 17, 2023 @04:22AM (#35598082)
I consider myself somewhat plugged into social media (Twitter, Insta, Tiktok, etc). But I admit I didn't know what Fediverse was and though it was some kind of government project, maybe for contractors to share documents relating to grants.

Still don't understand the connection between "Fed" and "Mastodon". I think a Mastodon-based social network should be called "Tuskverse" or "Pachyverse" or "Stompverse"

Re:Monthly Fediverse posts cross 1 billion for the first time by pferde on Monday April 17, 2023 @04:38AM (#35598170)
The connection is that Mastodon is just one of the "applications" built on top of ActivityPub protocol. Others are Pixelfed, Pleroma, Peertube, Writefreely, and several more.

Being based on the same protocol, they are all to some extent interoperable - e.g. you can follow Pixelfed users from your Mastodon account.

"Fediverse" is the umbrella term for all of these applications working together. It is a portmanteau for "federated" and "universe". The "federal police" association is unfortunate, but it is something USA only - rest of the world doesn't really see this.

Re:Monthly Fediverse posts cross 1 billion for the first time by Barrin92 on Monday April 17, 2023 @04:58AM (#35598296)
>but it is something USA only

The US holds no monopoly on the concept of a federation. Germany (Föderale Bundesrepublik) is one too, so is India or Russia.

It's the first time I hear someone take offense with the name. I think it's nice honestly, captures the essence of the network well.

Re:Monthly Fediverse posts cross 1 billion for the first time by malermeister on Monday April 17, 2023 @08:40AM (#35599811)
It doesn't hold a monopoly on the concept of a federation, but it does (as far as I know) hold a monopoly on the association of "fed" = (federal) police in people's minds.
Re:Monthly Fediverse posts cross 1 billion for the first time by pmyteh on Monday April 17, 2023 @01:02PM (#35603510)
Intriguingly, "fed" is British youth slang for the police despite Britain not being a federal state and there being very few national police. A US cultural import, presumably.
Re:Monthly Fediverse posts cross 1 billion for the first time by ericlewis on Monday April 17, 2023 @04:38AM (#35598172)
The Fed is short for Federated. Fediverse is an ensemble of federated servers. It’s use more broadly than mastodon.