zakomo

Tracking stuff came as soon as you could communicate asynchronously with a server, really. It became widely known and a plague in the 10s but it started as soon as Ajax was available. Keep in mind that Google and most of the websites were free and ads driven almost from the start because that was the only way to create a critical mass of users.

Some time ago someone was suggesting bookwyrm as a federated alternative to Goodreads...

I had a kindle and now I have a Kobo, I still read oj my phone if I get stuck somewhere and I don't have my e-reader with me, but e-readers are so much better. Less eye strain, less distractions from notifications or random thoughts. IMO if you read more than a book a year you probably should have an e-reader. Just my 2 cents.

I buy books, most of the times I read them. ebooks have been my salvation space wise, project Gutenberg saved me money wise, at least for the classics.

Why limit yourself to seized data from the US only if hosted in the US if you can buy data from all over the world. In some respects that is a very smart move, in some other is deplorable and arrogant.

The Hyperion saga is very enjoyable. If you didn't read them already The Martian and Project Hail Mary by andy Weir are outstanding.

Carcinisation

The moment I realised that is the moment I quit both cigarettes and Meta products...

To be honest, the minimum you really need for a colourful website is just HTML and a dash of inline CSS, especially if you want to recreate that nostalgic early internet type of feeling. JavaScript is very much optional.

In my opinion you should start easy, understand how it all clicks together, especially HTML and then start building, and eventually rebuilding, on top of it after you have grasped the basics. Most people gets scared by HTML, CSS and JavaScript because they are usually presented together as if you couldn't use one without the others, but you most certainly can.

Just my 2 cents.

It might but when you get to critical mass (as in big enough to create or attract big names and their following) you wil still be stuck with a huge amount of data. Keep also in mind that big influencers make money out of the platforms they are in so they would not have any incentive to move to the Fediverse unless someone finds a way to monetize it. At that point you have the Meta Threads controversy.

To be perfectly honest an influencer, or a group of influencers, could run their own instance and charge a subscription to follow it or run ads but most people will join a free instance to see the same content; if they defederate to force users to join their instance then they are way less discoverable; if they run ads other admins would defederate for privacy (e.g. Meta Threads); etc.

In short, yes is feasible and someone will do it, on the other side it will need a creative approach to monetization to attract big names and build a consistent user base/fund raising strategy to justify the cost of the infrastructure especially if federated. I hope it will happen, though I am not bright enough to see how.

My major concern with the success of the Fediverse is that socials like Reddit are replaceable if you have enough people to create a stimulating community, socials like TikTok, Instagram and Twitter rely on having people you want to follow in their platform to lure you in and they are much more difficult to replace.

high costs server side, poor quality of the videos, poor-ish internet connections, not enough powerful cell phones, etc. They were ahead of time. They achieved a decent success in the US but not much outside of it because of much of the reasons listed above.

I didn't see it in the comments but I am very happy with Podcast Guru om android.