Software identity guidelines to contrast predatory strategies in the fediverse

Hey all,

here is an Italian fediverse advocate and one of many Mobilizon translator. Thanks for the amazing softwares and place! :slight_smile:

If the message does not fit the topic of this section, feel free to move it wherever you find it more appropriate.

TL;DR: I wonder whether Framasoft has developed guidelines for software logos and identity (in this case for Mobilizon) and which steps you suggest to contrast predatory strategies.

Examples from the Italian-speaking fediverse (involving Mobilizon and Peertube too) will follow. I invite you all to share your context-specific experiences.

Brandjacking, content plagarism such as non-attributed translations, and other predatory behaviours have become the routine in the Italian-speaking fediverse since a web 2.0 company that has already brandjacked Digg came in play with its outpost instances, and started to adopt every free/libre federated software branding the instances « ${name-of-the-software} Italia », inducing people in Italy/speaking Italian to believe they are the Italian federated chapter of international organizations. That prevents the proliferation of instances and steers centralization, which is harmful for the fediverse as federation.

The ambiguity has even held for crowdfunding e.g. with FunkwhaleIt and PeertubeUno. (« it » is the Italian top-level domain; « uno » means « one, only »)

Again, we face with Mobilizon yet another brandjacking by these well-known actors. (n.b. I already linked this message above) Instead of the case with Peertube, Framasoft finally takes a public stance. When I translate Mobilizon landing pages and follow the reasons behind the development of Mobilizon and other federated softwares, I recognize that stance in line with Framasoft goals and as an important step for the future of the fediverse and the federated protocol. Without that public toot, I might have assumed Framasoft indifferent to the topic. (cf. again the PeertubeUno case)

It is possible to contrast with clear guidelines the impact of brandjacking and other predatory strategies in the fediverse, as Funkwhale demonstrated. Funkwhale adopted logo and identity guidelines preventing third parties to « suggest or imply that you are affiliated with Funkwhale in any way, or create confusion as to whether or not you are affiliated with Funkwhale in any way ». Of course that was not enough to stop FunkwhaleIt to use Funkwhale assets in the favicon, header, and other pictures, yet it was considered as a key document to support public awareness and action.

further note on FunkwhaleIt

Indeed, that made nervous FunkwhaleIt, starting to undermine the credibility of its inventor, misgendering her, talking about « abandonment » and « resignation », double-speaking to doubt health problems behind the step back, and mocking the « heartfelt call ».

(p.s., pre-edit, meta: I have a bunch of links to share but I am a new user so I am limited to two. How can I increased the limit?)
(post-edit: « I updated your profile, it should be ok now. » -> thanks! :partying_face: )

I updated your profile, it should be ok now.

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It works, merci! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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