If we fund only the technical layer, we shouldn’t be surprised when the social layer remains broken
The problem with #openweb funding isn't simply rejection, waiting for decisions, or whether one particular project gets funded. The problem is #KISS structural, after 30+ years working through grassroots projects, funded and unfunded, there is a repeated pattern that is easy to see - useful social and grassroots technology gets filtered through a narrow technical understanding of what counts as a "good" #openweb project. This is the #geekproblem, not moral judgement of individuals - it […]#fashernistas — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #fashernistas, aggregated by home.social.
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To compost the #dotcons, the #openweb needs more people with shovels
Yes, the #web02 revolution was a con, it always was. The problem is now most people have spent years pretending that the dominant technology companies were somehow neutral actors - clever companies making useful tools, occasionally getting a little too powerful, occasionally needing a bit of regulation. But now this comforting chattering class story is harder to maintain, as the long "invisible" problem has finally reached the #mainstream, the act of stepping over the smoke and mirrors can […]https://hamishcampbell.com/to-compost-the-dotcons-the-openweb-needs-to-shovel-harder/
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The old system is already compost, the question is what we grow from this mess
We need to stop talking about “climate change” as though we are discussing a slightly inconvenient change in the weather. Climate change is too soft, too neutral. Climate change makes it sound as though something simply happened to us. It didn't, we pushed this mess, we built an economic system that treats the living world as raw material, turns everything into property, pushes everything through markets and then calls the resulting destruction “growth”. The next twenty years will be […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-old-system-is-already-compost-the-question-is-what-we-grow-from-it/
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#IndymediaBack is a reboot of the original #Indymedia: decentralized, grassroots media built around open publishing and activist participation.
The point isn't nostalgia, it's learning from the old #fashernistas/#geekproblem split and avoiding another round of tribalism and control politics.
The reboot is about rebuilding the path toward decentralized structures and an #OMN that supports direct democracy, open publishing and anti-authoritarian organising.
This time we also have hashtags, metadata and the semantic #openweb to connect the media commons.
The challenge is simple: don't repeat the old mistakes. Build trust, keep it open, and don't let control become the culture.
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Four years ago I said:
"Hey #fashernistas and #chatteringclasses, stop obsessing over #Musk."
Since then, Musk has bought #Twitter, renamed it X, lurched through one controversy after another, to become a central path in the culture wars, and turned himself into the story. Millions have spent years reacting to him.
Meanwhile, the real issue hasn't changed. The problem was never one billionaire. In tech, it was always our dependence on centralised #dotcons and the #mainstreaming attention economy.
Don't let personalities distract you from building alternatives. #indymediaback #OMN and #OGB are all #KISS grassroots projects focused on growing the #openweb and the commons.
Get off your knees, step away from the #mainstreaming news cycle, and build a future instead.
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The #Fediverse is an accidental #openweb reboot, largely grown by #fashernistas. It's like herding cats to get anything done - neither good nor bad, just the reality of how it evolved.
One path beyond this mess is #OGB: grassroots, #DIY producer governance.
The other is simply to live (and die) with the mess while trying to stop people bowing to the #deathcult. Keeping the #openweb alive starts there.
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"In-group vs out-group" game many #fashernistas play to feel a sense of control and belonging. Sometimes it's useful. Too often it becomes #blocking instead of building.
On the #Fediverse, this tribalism creates more heat than light. The interesting question isn't how to pick a side - it's how to grow beyond the behaviour.
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The #fashernistas need to get off their knees and start calling out pointless things.
Pick up the #4opens as a shovel. There's a mountain of #techshit that needs composting before anything healthy can grow.
In the era of #climatechaos, too many people are still kneeling before the #deathcult. If this idea fills you with fear, ask yourself: who or what is your head bowed to?
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The anarchist stream has always had a problem with too many #fashernistas - focused on style, identity and performance, but missing the second half:
A + O = anarchism needs organisation.
Without the building, maintaining and connecting, “scene” anarchism becomes a loop of the same conversations, the same conflicts and the same dead ends.
The point is not just to look radical.
The point is to create useful commons, networks and alternatives.
Get out. Build something. While we still can.
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#fashernistas in a #deathcult are incompetent and thus nasty people.... how do we think we can compost this mess makeing?
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The value of the #Fediverse comes from its cultural roots in the #openweb
YOU can’t do social change or challenge without annoying people If you think you can, you’re probably play-acting - and part of the problem - does that annoy you? If it does… maybe sit with that. 🙂 Food for thought, #4opens is a shovel for composting. The value of the #Fediverse comes from its cultural roots in the #openweb. The tech - like ActivityPub - grew out of that culture. It wasn’t built by #mainstreaming interests. Now money is flowing in, and with it comes risk of […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-value-of-the-fediverse-comes-from-its-cultural-roots-in-the-openweb/
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A Note on “Security” for the #FOSS Crew
We need to have a clearer, more grounded conversation about “security” and what it actually means in the context of the #openweb. There is a long history of thinking in #FOSS spaces that security is something we can solve purely technically: better encryption, better protocols, better architectures. But in everyday life and practice, people need to work from a much simpler starting point - We do not trust client–server security. We only meaningfully trust what can be verified through […]https://hamishcampbell.com/a-note-on-security-to-the-foss-crew/
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Building, what comes next?
#mainstreaming people are wilfully blind and alt people tend to be pessimistic, it's a problem. Historically, real social change doesn’t arrive by waiting for collapse. It arrives because people are active, they build alternatives in advance, strong enough to bridge the mess when existing systems fail and lose legitimacy. This isn’t theory. It’s how change has always happened. If you are interested in a better outcome, we need to remember, build first, collapse later is the lesson that […] -
What do you think? Do we need more practical tools, or is it more about mindset shifts? How do we balance this? Why are our #fashernistas so poisonous? https://hamishcampbell.com/why-are-fashernistas-so-poisoning/
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The #openweb can be the seedbed of a new culture, if we accept that growth is messy, slow, and unpredictable. Why are our #fashernistas so poisonous? hamishcampbell.com/why-are-fash...
Why are our #fashernistas so p... -
The #openweb can be the seedbed of a new culture, if we accept that growth is messy, slow, and unpredictable. Why are our #fashernistas so poisonous? https://hamishcampbell.com/why-are-fashernistas-so-poisoning/
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We (re)build the #openweb one small, stubborn step at a time. The #fashernistas poisoned the well of alt-media hamishcampbell.com/the-fasherni...
The #fashernistas poisoned the... -
We (re)build the #openweb one small, stubborn step at a time. The #fashernistas poisoned the well of alt-media https://hamishcampbell.com/the-fashernistas-poisoned-the-well-of-alt-media/
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Who are the #nastyfew?
This should be obvious to anyone who as some knolage of left politics. They are the people who always rise to the top when #mainstreaming takes hold. You see them on TV, in parliament, running #NGOs, managing #dotcons tech projects. On the surface, they don’t always look bad - in fact, they often present as competent, articulate, even charming. But scratch that surface and the pattern is clear: their drive is not shared flourishing, it’s possession and control. This minority #nastyfew, […] -
Theory and Practice in Activism
There’s a common confusion, often pushed by well-meaning #fashernistas, about how change actually happens. They love theory. They love to talk about change. But when it comes to doing, things go sideways. Why? Because good horizontalists know: theory must emerge from practice, not the other way around.
At the root of radical practice is #DIY culture. We don’t wait for perfect theory or academic approval. We get our hands dirty. We try things, we fail, we try again. Through this, we […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/theory-and-practice-in-activism-2/
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How the world gets into a nasty mess
One vile prat sells weapons to another vile prat so he can flatten a hospital being used by another vile prat, who then returns the favour by bombing the vile prat’s power grid. Then they both turn to the cameras and declare it’s all the other’s fault, while pointing fingers and shouting: “You’re the real vile prat here!”
Meanwhile, the rest of us, watching from behind #dotcons screens, trapped in algorithmic echo chambers, suffer the fallout, literally and figuratively, as […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/how-the-world-gets-into-a-nasty-mess/
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@baslow its the #fashernistas they are very #block pushing.
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This is a story of power, plain and simple
The state of the world, over the last few years, we’ve been watching a familiar story unfold, we’ve seen repeat itself in radical spaces, tech movements, and grassroots networks for decades. It starts in the grassroots with "progressive" #fashernistas (yes, them) pushing themselves into the front to speak for “us.” They talk the talk of decentralisation, care, community, and #FOSS ethics. They wear all the right hashtags: #opensocialmedia, #Fediverse, #commons, #techforgood. But when […]https://hamishcampbell.com/this-is-a-story-of-power-plain-and-simple/
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Enclosure of the open web was a crime
This spirit of the early internet and #WWW - sharing, remixing, collectively creating - is the heart of what we call the #openweb. It wasn't perfect, but it was a space of possibilities, commons, where you could take what you needed and leave something behind, hyperlink by hyperlink. The tools were open - #RSS feeds, #XMPP and #indymedia were built to bridge between ideas and movements, not the walls of monetized algorithmic sludge we have today. But the #dotcons came. They fenced in the […] -
Review: Who Broke the Internet? – CBC Podcast with Cory Doctorow
🎧 Listen on CBC The dominant narrative around power tends to centre on institutions - on policy boards, corporate elitists, and those privileged enough to claw their way up the slippery sides of crumbling hierarchies. But that's not where most of us live, and more importantly, it’s not where real change and challenge take root. Too often, we miss this essential balance. We forget that we have direct power and influence over the grassroots, because we are the grassroots. We are […]https://hamishcampbell.com/review-who-broke-the-internet-cbc-podcast-with-cory-doctorow/
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In tech, the last 20 years have been a mess of #fashernista trends and the ongoing #geekproblem, a compost heap of broken promises and abandoned projects. It's obvious if you lift the lid and really look. The glossy hype fades fast, the rot underneath remains.
Much of what we call "innovation" ended up as #techshit - rushed, bloated, short-sighted code that needs serious composting if we’re going to grow anything real. #Openweb dreams have been buried under a #dotcons landfill.
The real challenge now isn’t just pointing at the pile (fun as that can be), it's handing the next generation proper shovels - real tools, real critical thinking, real spaces for building rooted, resilient, open tech.
A hopeful note: some #fashernistas are starting to apologize and acknowledge the mess. That's good compost material too. Let's keep composting. Let's keep planting.
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Not to punish the individuals, but to highlight the groups to compost
One of the most corrosive problems on the path to rebooting the #openweb is the nasty, unconscious blocking that seeps through all #mainstreaming and careerist #NGO spaces. It’s not usually overt, it doesn’t come with a clear “no.” It comes with silence, with being ignored. With polite nods and a quick pivot back to safe, fundable, middle-of-the-road ideas that don’t rock the boat. This is how real change is smothered, how compost we need becomes concrete we are trying to break […]https://hamishcampbell.com/not-to-punish-the-individuals-but-to-highlight-the-groups-to-compost/
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The #openweb can be the seedbed of a new culture, if we accept that growth is messy, slow, and unpredictable. Why are our #fashernistas so poisonous? hamishcampbell.com/why-are-fash...
Why are our #fashernistas so p... -
The #openweb can be the seedbed of a new culture, if we accept that growth is messy, slow, and unpredictable. Why are our #fashernistas so poisonous? https://hamishcampbell.com/why-are-fashernistas-so-poisoning/
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The defeatism is loud, but it’s not unbeatable. We’ve been here before. We know the way out. The #fashernistas poisoned the well of alt-media hamishcampbell.com/the-fasherni...
The #fashernistas poisoned the... -
The defeatism is loud, but it’s not unbeatable. We’ve been here before. We know the way out. The #fashernistas poisoned the well of alt-media https://hamishcampbell.com/the-fashernistas-poisoned-the-well-of-alt-media/
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Composting the #TechShit
The value of the #Fediverse isn’t in the tech specs. It’s not in the #ActivityPub protocol or the code itself, those are tools. The value lies in the culture that birthed it. The #Fediverse is the living embodiment of the #openweb, not some #VC Silicon Valley plaything. But as money floods in, as #mainstreaming forces try to turn it into another hollow platform, we risk losing the very thing that makes it powerful, its strong decentralized, trust-based roots.The looming battle is […] -
This generation is a complete mess—no surprise after 20 years of bowing to the #deathcult:
#Neoliberalism reducing everything to profit, stripping away community and solidarity.
#Post-modernism turning identity into endless division, eroding collective action.#Dotcons centralizing power, controlling narratives, and trapping us in walled gardens.
How Do We Step Away from This Mess?
The #fashernistas chasing trends and surface-level activism are still not addressing this. Instead of building real alternatives, they play within the system, ensuring nothing truly changes.
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@ricmac Yes, this generation is a complete mess, this should not come as any surprise after 20 years of bowing down to the #deathcult of neoliberalism (economics), post-modernism (identity politics) and the #dotcons (#geekproblem).
What do we need to do to step away from this mess, is something our #fashernistas are still not really talking about, and need to #OMN
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Who Broke the #OpenWeb?
30 years ago, the #openweb held the promise of a decentralized, people-driven internet where communities thrived free from corporate control, built on openness, collaboration, and trust. However, over time, #mainstreaming overlapping forces contributed to its fragmentation and decay. I will outline each of these groups that played a role in hollowing out the one's strong native path. Till ten years ago, we just had a shell of its former self. A brief look at who undermined the […] -
A path we need for the #openweb
The #NGO crew can be poison, not because they’re bad people, but because of how social structures and agendas shape behaviour. For the social health of the #openweb, we need to be mindful of what we take in. Just like in nature, some things are toxic in large doses. “Nice” doesn’t always mean “good.” There’s no contradiction here. "Don’t drink from the #mainstreaming." But remember, shit makes good compost! Instead of just being cynical, let’s grow something better from […] -
This was a post from 7 years ago: We do live in interesting times — again — for the #openweb. Let’s try to do better than last time 🙂. The truth is, we completely messed up the last decade of tech development. And yes, we lost a critical battle around 2008. What followed was a lost decade where #openweb tech devolved into a steaming pile of #techshit. Maybe it’s time to start composting? Do you need a shovel? #OMN
Q: What exactly is being proposed here? Can you explain the vision in more detail?A: The vision is pretty straightforward: use the #4opens as a foundation to replace Google’s gatekeeping of search. The idea is to build #openweb projects that can initially supplement, and eventually replace, the #dotcons in this space. Whether or not the #fashernistas push this mainstream is secondary — the work is worth doing either way.
On the #OMN side, the current focus is rebooting #Indymedia as a decentralized, trust-based publishing network, and launching the #ResistanceExhibition for public archiving of grassroots struggles. These are tangible, practical projects built with a #KISS approach to keep things simple and functional, rather than getting lost in the usual cycle of over-complication.
We’re also seeing a wave of #fashernistas flooding into #openweb development. Expect to see plenty of replays of the #geekproblem as people chase trends rather than build sustainable solutions. Hopefully, this will be balanced out by a continued focus on healthy #4opens development — the kind that centers community needs over tech fetishism.
At least for now, the #encryptionists have been pushed into the background by the spectacular failures of #crypto fantasies. But if we don’t actively build alternatives, these bad ideas will keep coming back. The key is to stay grounded, keep shoveling the compost, and grow something real.
The future of the #openweb isn’t going to build itself — but the roots are still alive. Let’s dig in. 🌱
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To avoid losing our #fashernistas (those drawn to trends but lacking deep roots), we need strategies that balance openness with resilience: build safe spaces for exploration, where people can explore ideas without fear of "cancelling." These spaces should be guided by openness and trust (#KISS), ensuring that conversations remain productive. Breaking the circling of #mainstreaming and liberal trolling https://hamishcampbell.com/breaking-the-cycle-of-mainstreaming-and-liberal-trolling/
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We (re)build the #openweb one small, stubborn step at a time. Deep breath. Take a step. The #fashernistas poisoned the well of alt-media hamishcampbell.com/the-fasherni...
The #fashernistas poisoned the... -
The question, how do we bring more people into this space of stepping away and creating something better? https://hamishcampbell.com/the-question-how-do-we-bring-more-people-into-this-space-of-stepping-away-and-creating-something-better/ The question, how do we bring more people into this space of stepping away and creating something better? Currently, it is not very attractive to the #fashernistas
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@rooftopjaxx just trying that one, in context, not as spiky as normal flow #OMN
what d you think, it's a part of the "native" non-native metaphor to help in #4opens
Would it help with the #fashernistas? Now that is back to #spiky ;)
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The problem with most fashernistas is that they are completely untrustworthy. Mediating the damage from #fashernistas https://hamishcampbell.com/mediating-the-damage-of-fashernistas/
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Let’s try and make this work, and not squandered it by letting the voices of the few block the work we need to do. The #fashernistas and #geekproblem interact to work in unintentional tandem https://hamishcampbell.com/the-fahernistas-and-geekproblem-interact-to-work-in-unintentional-tandem/
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The issue with #fashernistas isn’t just their untrustworthiness—it’s that their appeal distracts from meaningful work Mediating the damage from #fashernistas https://hamishcampbell.com/mediating-the-damage-of-fashernistas/
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Let’s try and make this potential work, and not squandered it by letting the voices of the few block the work we need to do. The #fashernistas and #geekproblem interact to work in unintentional tandem https://hamishcampbell.com/the-fahernistas-and-geekproblem-interact-to-work-in-unintentional-tandem/
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In part, the current challenges faced by the #openweb and grassroots reboot movements can be traced back to two cultural and structural problems: the influence of #fashernistas and the deeply ingrained #geekproblem. The #fashernistas and #geekproblem interact to work in unintentional tandem https://hamishcampbell.com/the-fahernistas-and-geekproblem-interact-to-work-in-unintentional-tandem/
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Change and challenge group dynamics https://hamishcampbell.com/the-change-and-challenge-we-so-obviously-need/ In the #fediverse, the “in and out group” dynamics constantly need to be mediate so our “common sense” #fashernistas behaver is not blindly pushed over the real diversity of healthy spaces.
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@aral https://hamishcampbell.com/in-part-the-usa-shift-is-due-to-the-geekproblem-in-tech/ yep we do need to compost this mess and funding the #openweb #smallweb and the social side of the #Fediverse is a path to mediate this. BUT only if we can mediate the sucking of this funding up by the #fashernistas and the #geekproblem otherwise its more resources poured down the drain.
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In the online spaces I navigate, there’s no shortage of #fashernistas crowding the conversation, diverting focus from the native #openweb paths we urgently need to explore. They take up space but ultimately block more than they build. Then there’s the #geekproblem: while geeks get things done within narrow boundaries, they're rigidly resistant to veering beyond their lanes, dogmatically shutting down alternatives to the world they’re fixated on controlling. This produces a lot of #techshit, occasionally yielding innovations, but with much that needs composting and limited value.
Then there are the workers, many of whom default to the #NGO path. Their motivations lean toward self-interest rather than collective good, masking this in liberal #mainstreaming dressed up as activism. At worst, they’re serving the #deathcult of neoliberalism; at best, they’re upholding the status quo. This chaotic mix dominates alternative culture, as it always has, and the challenge is one of balance. Right now, we have more to compost than we have to plant and build with. So, do you have a shovel? #OMN
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The problem of fashionistas in activism
The hashtag #fashionistas" describes individuals and groups who adopt trends or mainstreaming ideologies in activism, for the sake of appearance to align themselves with what is currently popular or socially acceptable. In the realm of activism, this to often pushes the behaviour of #NGOs and advocacy organizations that prioritize "chasing the buzzword" over any meaningful action. The problem with "fashionistas" in activism, particularly among NGOs, is the mess they push: Superficial: NGOs […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-problem-of-fashionistas-in-activism/