The reality of trying to build real alternatives, without deep-rooted community support, even the best projects wither. The liberal/progressive crowd shouts into the void, but when it comes to actual action, they tend to retreat into safe, performative bubbles rather than engaging with real, messy change.

Offering a real alternative to the dotcons world

The Mastodon codebase is key here, it was designed by copying the #dotcons, so the fundamental social architecture reinforces #stupidindividualism rather than community building. Instead of nurturing federated, collective spaces, it encourages a kind of fragmented, isolated posting, which is why it struggles to grow meaningful movements.

Why do we still find it hard to compost the mess? Lack of Shared Vision, too many people still mentally operate within the #dotcons framework, even when they try to leave it. Tech that doesn’t align with community of activists needs. Mastodon (and similar platforms) weren’t built for real social cohesion; they just repackage old models with a federated twist. No real commitment from “Allies”, This move was ignored by the #maisnstreamimg left who stay on the #dotcosons even though they are evil. The liberal crowd loves theory, but often won’t do the hard, unglamorous work of actually shifting paradigms. Structural hostility to #DIY Culture, people are so trained to consume rather than create and maintain that even the “alternative” spaces get stuck replicating the same individualist consumption patterns.

So, what’s next? If the #OMN couldn’t compost this, we need to look at:

• Building with different codebases that don’t replicate the #dotcons model.
• Focusing on non-liberal, real-world community building—finding people willing to work, not just talk.
• Reframing “failure” as learning and redirecting energy to something that actually fits the needs of a federated, people-driven network.

The current #fediverse model is only a first step, not itself the answer, but the idea behind the #OMN still is. Maybe it’s time to stop trying to fix broken tools and instead build with a truly native approach?