2mo ago

Has anyone joined Gander Social?

gandersocial.ca

Gander: The Social Media You Want, Built for Canada

Not quite up and running yet.

25 comments

- Looks like it's federated with blue sky, but I don't really see the utility. Their moderation plan seems to be vibes.
  
  Well, that's nice, art least.
I've signed up, and would be happy to see it succeed. Canada desperately needs a popular off-ramp from US-owned social media. They have a long way to go to become that, and a lot to prove along the way in trying to offer Canadians something better than what's out there, but there has never been a better time to try.
Yes but it feels performative. Taking a wait and see approach.
I'd like to see public institutions stop posting announcements on facebook and insta and X. Is Gander a viable alternative for algorithm-free public announcements? I hope so.
- Can’t they all just make their own RSS feeds I can subscribe to? Why should we be forced to have social media accounts to learn about water outages or advisories?
  
  Yeah RSS is even better for me. But the larger public might need a more familiar experience
Geese are assholes though.
- They're our assholes.
  Seriously, they're just animals doing their thing in a world they weren't really made for, like us. Here we are, a bunch of predators, coming at their offspring all aggressively, and we're surprised they tell us to get the fuck out of their house? Where I work we have piles of Canada geese raising families and I don't have a problem with them, even if I walk within 10 feet of them. Just behave like a lion that isn't hunting. Don't look in their direction, keep a steady pace, don't bare your teeth. They get a little skittish, but they don't hiss, raise their wings, or attack. I've walked through a flock of geese with fledglings like this multiple times with no panic or aggression on their part.
  
  I'm going to venture, same story with wasps.
  We kill and fuck with animals constantly, and then we're all offended when they kinda-sorta fight back.
  
  Where I live (Saskatoon) and you are walking down by the river and you see geese make sure you do not look at them, most of the time if you even look at them they will go off.
No, because I don't need facebook-style social media.
Lots of corporate names on it. The problem with social media isn't merely where it's made and where thr data is stored. This looks like another corpo attempt to redirect users from going to the Fediverse.
No thank you, resetting the enshitiffication clock by choosing a brand new corporate social media isn't enough.
I'd rather stick to a Canadian-hosted federated platform with lower switching costs / lock-in.
- It’s using ATProto, it’s a part of an open network.
  
  I don’t consider Bluesky/ATProto open enough
I've been monitoring it. I like to have options and if I can convince older family members to get off Facebook I'll take it.
We can do better than just copy social media as-is.
- Would people actually use the better version, though? Bluesky has definitively beat out Mastodon as a Twitter replacement at this point. Doing things in walled gardens sadly has a lot of momentum.

25 comments