Simple Social Network

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social.platypush.tech

@tyil @humanetech @ArneBab or maybe Github and Gitlab are the default choice because they meet the UX patterns expected from a modern source forge (plus, everybody is there already).

IMHO we're not addressing the "average user" who doesn't know how to run a git clone. We're addressing somebody who can already browse and contribute to projects on Github, who may also be pissed with the business direction of Github/Gitlab, and would like to try some alternatives, but they are too intimidated by a UI that looks like a Craigslist for source code.

Besides the aesthetics (which may be a personal choice), I see an issue with accessibility and discoverability too. I found a lot of interesting projects under e.g. https://git.sr.ht/~erock, but it's hard to browse them and search the codebase from the UI without cloning each of them. If I found an issue, I'd have no way of reporting it other than emailing the developer (with the obvious lack of public visibility on the development flow, as well as duplication of reports). I feel like the whole user experience has many avoidable friction points. I mean, if one likes to use it for their personal projects and doesn't intend to share them with anybody else, it's fair enough. But I wouldn't use it for something that I expect at least 4-5 people to use - let alone contribute.

Arne Babenhauserheide

@blacklight I would think that Github is what most people know, so its patterns seem easiest to people because they are what they know already. @tyil @humanetech

tyil

@blacklight@social.platypush.tech @humanetech@mastodon.social @ArneBab@rollenspiel.social They're the default choice due to marketing and the average user of those platforms not giving a shit about freedom, free software, or well-maintained software. #Github and #Gitlab are aiming for the people who don't even know how to clone a git repo without handholding, #Sourcehut seems to be interested in people who aren't afraid to read a manpage (which I think any competent developer should be doing). Personally, if you're intimidated by having to read text, I don't think you should be allowed on the public Internet.

As for accessibility, I already explained elsewhere in this thread that I think it does a better job here than the bloated alternatives, by virtue of the simple layout using existing tools that one can customize greatly, if so desired.

Discoverability I wouldn't know, I don't really go around looking for solutions to problems I don't have. I could say that's a bad mindset to have for a competent developer, it is the same reasoning people had for creating #blockchain technology after all, but I think there could be something positive to have better discoverability, if it is indeed bad right now.

The development flow is one that has existed for decades, and has proven to work for exceptionally large scale codebases. You may not be used to it, due to having been catered to by a more child-like approach through Github and Gitlab, but that's nothing more than baby-duck-syndrome. You can grow past that, and doing so would make you a much better person than demanding things change for the worse, just because that's what you're used to.