On the Fediverse we effectively have what I call “ad-hoc interoperability”: apps creating extensions on-the-fly and mostly only represented as code, and introducing incompatibilities when ‘reverse-engineering’ interop mechanisms from other codebases. This makes interoperability harder and harder, also increasing the complexity of deeper, more seamless inter-app integrations that may exist on the Fediverse. Interop mostly happens on the lowest common denominator where it is still relatively easy to add federation support (in practice this means mostly adding microblogging features). Ad-hoc interoperability comes with the big risk that Fediverse innovation / evolution grinds to a halt, and we’ll never tapp into its full potential of “Reinventing Social Networking”. Sean’s great article, highlights many things that need good processes and people involved that coordinate beyond the scope of building individual stand-alone apps, i.e. at the “substrate” level.

We lack substrate

“Any decentralized [ecosystem] requires a centralized substrate, and the more decentralized the approach is the more important it is that you can count on the underlying system.”

<span style=“font-size:60%”>— Byrne Hobart. The Promise and Paradox of Decentralization</span>

PS. I started a Matrix chatroom Solidground yesterday to discuss some of these issues.