Re: Introductions (was Re: First 2023 SWICG meeting call on Fri May 19)

Not on the list so please copy this to the list if it doesn’t come
through.

My timeline from memory is roughly this:

- April 2009 Libre.fm is started via a post on identica

- Later in 2009 the idea of social networking features are being added
to GNU FM (by now we’d started calling the project under a different
name) and I’m uncomfortable with it as I don’t want to be a silo.

- various prototypes are made at the FSF, internally at first and later
looping in interns (Sean, Ian) and friends who hung around the FSF. At
this point the FSF staff have a fairly active darts league and we were
making GNU Social to keep track of it.

- One of these people was Craig Andrews who suggested we should make
plug-ins for StatusNet instead. Our goal was to replace Facebook, not
Twitter.

- Craig assigned his copyright over to the FSF and makes a commit. Now
StatusNet is partly FSF owned and GNU Social is now a set of plugins for
StatusNet.

- Rhea Myers and I have our company, FooCorp and we’re looking at making
a version of GNU Social like we have Libre.fm. It’s called daisycha.in
but it never goes anywhere. At this point I start using the name GNU
social (lowercase) to describe the new project, which is basically
StatusNet plus plugins but at some point we distributed a copy of
StatusNet with the project. I also don’t remember how well the plug-ins
work.

- We have a mailing list called social-discuss@gnu.org — Diaspora
project is also using it in early stages.

- At this point it’s 2010 we have new interns at the FSF. We have an
event at the FSF with Evan, Blaine Cook and the various FSF
staff/interns/friends. We get a logo and some mock-ups based on Always
Sunny in Philadelphia. Evan/StatusNet Inc kindly funds my travel to
OSCON. This becomes the first IndieWeb event.

- In 2012 I leave the FSF and there is some attempt by another GNU
developer to take over the name. Stallman okayed it but didn’t know
there was paperwork for GNU social copyright assignments so this is
quickly reverted and the developer makes something else.

- In 2013 the merger has happened with FreeSocial (aka Free&Social),
StatusNet (the project) and GNU Social under the name GNU social
happens. I know this because
<https://www.gnu.org/software/social/merge.html> talks about it. Wow the
last decade has gone fast. 

After around 2012 I have no more involvement in GNU social and little
involvement in GNU aside from occasional moments. Nowadays I have no
contact with the FSF or GNU. 

So I’d say GNU social has arguably six founders. Myself, the GNU FM
developers, Deborah Nicholson(ex FSF), Donald Robertson (Ex FSF), Evan,
Mikael (Free Social). 

Of all these people, Evan wrote most of the code. Stevie DuBois did the
logo. I changed the case of the project name. I might have done other
stuff ;-) A bunch of very talented people gave up a lot of their time
and energy at a time when none of this stuff was seen as especially cool
to the wider world. Everyone should be commended for that. 

All of this was a long time ago now and this is all from memory so
please let me know just how much I got wrong. 

As I say elsewhere I helped start the Fediverse now my interests are
painting toy soldiers and making monkey movies. 

Best,
matt


On May 17, 2023, Evan Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name> wrote:
> You're correct! The GNU Social project used a different codebase
> originally.
>
> Sometime around 2010, I believe, Matt and the team switched over to
> using StatusNet as a base, plus some dedicated extensions.
>
> And in 2013, we united StatusNet, GNU Social, and another fork called
> Free Social. We called the resulting project GNU Social.
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/social/merge.html
>
> I feel pretty confident saying I am "the creator of GNU Social",
> although it may be slightly more accurate but also more confusing to
> say that I am "the creator of the software that is now known as GNU
> Social".
>
> Wikipedia credits me as "the original author" of this software.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_social?wprov=sfla1
>
> Matt, what are your thoughts?
>
> Evan
> On May 17, 2023 18:16, Melvin Carvalho <melvincarvalho@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > st 17. 5. 2023 v 22:44 odesílatel Evan Prodromou
> > <evan@prodromou.name <mailto:evan@prodromou.name>> napsal:
> > > Hey, Melvin! I can see where you’d be confused, especially if
> > > you’re unaware of the history of the project.
> > >
> > > I created the software originally called Laconica, then later
> > > StatusNet, which is the codebase that GNU Social is based on. I
> > > was not the sole developer, but I was the first one.
> > >
> > > Matt Lee started the GNU Social project, but used the code I had
> > > made. Free Software ftw!
> > >
> > > Because GNU Social is the most prominent currently active project
> > > using the original Laconica codebase, I usually refer to it when
> > > talking about my work. The Laconica Wikipedia page was renamed to
> > > GNU Social several years ago!
> > >
> > > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_social>
> > >
> > > I hope that helps!
> >
> > I appreciate your many contributions, Evan. I believe it's also
> > important to remember Matt Lee's role in establishing GNU Social. I
> > still recall his enlightening talk to the W3C Social Web Incubator
> > Group in 2009, which possibly predated your involvement, if I'm not
> > mistaken.
> >
> > The gropu might find this link of interest:
> > <https://www.w3.org/2009/10/14-swxg-minutes.html#MattLee>.
> >
> > The discourse from that period, especially around seeking
> > alternatives to Facebook, remains highly relevant and engaging to
> > this day, in my opinion.  Perhaps this is still important work to be
> > done.
> >
> >  
> > >
> >
>