I am one of the admins of Beehaw and I’m trying to get some feedback on our potential move.
Let’s start out with a little Beehaw history before judgements are passed, please.
A handful of us were beta testing Tildes when we decided to have discussions on a Discord server.
We decided that our ‘Northern Star’ or guiding principle would culminate as ‘Be Nice’ with purposefully vague/flexible interpretations. Our overall goal is to provide a safe space to disenfranchised persons.
We talked for a little over a year and some of our members became impatient. Then someone stepped in to suggest a couple of platforms that we could consider getting started with.
One of those platforms was Lemmy. None of us knew, at that time, anything about ActivityPub.
During the Reddit exodus (surrounding the API outcry and blackout), our instance exploded. We were, initially, crippled by the mass amounts of users seeking refuge.
Thankfully, someone stepped in and volunteered hundreds of hours of work to stabilize our instance and refine it further.
After many hours of talks, it became clear to us that our overall goal could be achieved outside of Lemmy/ActivityPub.
Right now, we feel that Lemmy and ActivityPub have downsides that are limiting us from achieving that goal.
I just want to echo this. Highlight it. Paint it on the wall in giant block letters in red paint. Light it up in neon.
The only way for Beehaw to provide a safe space is to exist in a place that needs a safe space.
*edit:
Interesting attempt at astroturfing here from a hexbear user:
Weak and transparent, but interesting.
Does the hexbear community have beef with Beehaw, or just this one person?
That has a nice ring to it, but honestly it doesn’t make any sense. You make it sound like if beehaw
leaves the fediverse nobody can browse them wherever they go or somehow the fediverse is barred from them. It is not an either/or situation.
HN exists and many here bounce between fediverse and HN without issue.
By that logic the Internet shouldn’t have safe spaces, and i agree with that statement thanks. If you can’t handle something, go somewhere else. I don’t like nazi posting so I’m not on…parlor? Is that a thing or am i thinking of something else?
Beehaw making itself invisible to those who need a safe space is good news for people who need a safe space. Fewer people lying to them that way