But control of the protocol - the definition and development - is still controlled by the for-profit company, right? It hasn't been handed over to a nonprofit governance committee, has it?

Federation or not, if Bluesky dominates the protocol, they can decide to stop federating and essentially kill the independent servers. Much like what Signal did. Sure, you can run your own Signal server, but without access to the dominant player's market, and using a protocol that's controlled monopolistically, it's practically useless to do so - which is why almost nobody does it anymore.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Much like what Signal did. Sure, you can run your own Signal server

Wait what? Are we talking about the chat app?

[–] Blaze@feddit.org -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Indeed

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You can't run your own server. Never have been able to...

You can create your own federated chat app or whatever that uses the Signal protocol? You can also fork the Signal chat application? But all Signal messages run through Signal servers.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Seems to be similar here, you can run PDS (personal instances), but they still rely on a central Bluesky server

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Right, the point is there was never a time you could use Signal on another server.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes, that's what the first comment you replied to said

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

No, you said there were "independent servers" and that Signal "killed" them...?

You also said you could run your own Signal server. You cant.

You also said nobody runs their own anymore, when they never did.

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 0 points 3 months ago

Not me, it was @sxan@midwest.social

I reread their whole paragraph, and I agree, but anyway

[–] BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml 20 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Is running a pds really equivalent to running your own instance? As I understand it, 2 friends running their own pds cannot federate without the centralized relay which still can't be self hosted.

[–] AutoPastry@sopuli.xyz 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You're right, while there are advantages to hosting a pds, it doesn't seem you can run a fully fledged instance at this time

[–] Blaze@feddit.org 4 points 3 months ago

Thanks for clarifying

[–] ericjmorey@discuss.online 6 points 3 months ago

Bluesky has no documentation for running a relay (indexing node). It doesn't seem like they intend to have any documentation on it any time soon. But it is possible to set one up yourself. I don't know anyone that has done so.

[–] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 months ago

And you'd still have federation issues, so doesn't solve OP's problem.