[iDC] Ello--Alternative to Facebook

Fri Sep 26 16:49:01 UTC 2014

In theory is an alternative possible, within current constraints?
Was the fate of Diaspora inevitable? - or is a wikipedia style social
network achievable?
Not rhetorical questions.

Josh

On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 8:30 AM, Austin Walker <awalk4 at uwo.ca> wrote:

>  I second many of Christians concerns, especially as more comes to light
> about Ello's current operation and its potential aspirations.
>
> Andy Baio, Ello user @waxpancake, posted this
> <https://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFAhttps://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFA>breakdown
> into Ello’s current funding situation. The long and short of it is that
> Ello is currently operating with $435,000 of VC.
>
> Baio writes: “But VCs don't give money out of goodwill, and taking VC
> funding — even seed funding — creates outside pressures that shape the
> inevitable direction of a company.
>
> Before they opened their doors, Ello became hooked on an unsustainable
> funding model — taking cash from VCs — and will almost certainly take a
> much larger Series A round once that $435,000 dries up. (Which, at their
> current burn rate, should be in a couple months.)”
>
> Worth a read.  (Relinking here, in case the link above doesn’t work:
> *https://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFA)*
> <https://ello.co/waxpancake/post/oy73kFfDdhOPh8Jv9z9pFA>.
>
> -Austin Walker
>
> *From:* idc-request at mailman.thing.net
> *Sent:* ‎Friday‎, ‎September‎ ‎26‎, ‎2014 ‎8‎:‎00‎ ‎AM
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>    1. Re: Ello--Alternative to Facebook (Christian Fuchs)
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>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 10:23:21 +0100
> From: Christian Fuchs <christian.fuchs at uti.at>
> To: "idc at mailman.thing.net >> idc" <idc at mailman.thing.net>
> Subject: Re: [iDC] Ello--Alternative to Facebook
> Message-ID: <54253089.2040501 at uti.at>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>
>
> Alternative to Facebook?
>
> The important question is if Ello is a for-profit company or not and if
> not, if it attempts to become one or not. The important point is how the
> founders and those operating it relate to capitalism.
>
> It says it does not commodify data for advertising purposes - good!
>
> It however also says https://ello.co/wtf/post/privacy:
> "We may share your personal information with third parties under several
> circumstances, including [...] if we contract with a third party service
> provider to offer services for you ? for example, with a credit card
> processing company if you decide to buy something through Ello. Ello
> does not have any affiliated companies right now. But if we do in the
> future, we may share information with them, too."
> https://ello.co/wtf/post/privacy
>
> "offer services for you" can mean anything - the crucial thing is if
> Ello or the service-provider make monetary profit by providing this
> service or ever in the future intend to do so. This is not clarified.
>
> Ello further says https://ello.co/wtf/post/about-ello:
>
> "We occasionally offer special features to our users. If we create a
> special feature that you really like, you may choose to support Ello by
> paying a very small amount of money to add that feature to your Ello
> account.
> You never have to pay anything, and you can keep using Ello forever, for
> free. By choosing to buy a feature now and then for a very small amount
> of money you support our work and help us make Ello better and better."
>
> It is unclear here if Ello if these features are offered in order to get
> donations that fund a non-profit organisation or if the intention is to
> accumulate capital.
>
>
> Being ad-free is not enough - the point is that you have to be
> non-capitalist in order to be an alternative to Facebook.
>
> Ello says nowhere if it is a for-profit company, a hobby project of a
> bunch of artists, a co-operative, or whatever. It seems to conceal its
> legal status and that's a problem.
>
> Ello says: "Ello is a Public Network" https://ello.co/wtf/post/privacy.
> You are only truly public if you are public service or commonly owned.
>
> It is unclear what Ello is - and that it is not communicating its legal
> status and what its relationship to capitalism is, is troubling. A
> privacy policy and terms of use that do not rule out that a platform is
> or ever becomes capitalist are just as bad as Facebook's.
>
> Best, Christian
>
>
>
>
>
>
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