Via this Lemmy post I just bumped into this: An Open Letter Calling for the Resignation of Eugen Rochko (Gargron) from Mastodon Development.
Posting here because the broader discussion on the topic is very relevant and this is a brainstorming area where we can think them over. I hope we can - in a very constructive way - find ways to improve on some of the pain points that are brought up, and possible others that are as yet unnamed.
Also: Note that I do not endorse the open letter.
Slight word of caution here… one of the grand-daddies of federated communication, the Jabber / XMPP federation has developed over its 20 years existence such governance structures in the form of an officially recognized standards body and so on, yet many of the issues you describe for the ActivityPub Fediverse remain today. Sometimes even causing people to unnecessarily break off and create a new protocol all together, but in the end replicating most of the mistakes (and making some new ones) that XMPP already tried to learn from years ago with varying success.
Yes, important observation. I am very wary of funded efforts, as it is somehow controversial and leads to a lot of complexities to organize it well in any grassroots movement where “herding cats” is the reality and infighting and power plays, conflicting interests and strong opinions are the talk of the day.
Your mention of XMPP led me to write about, what I see as: The Fediverse Challenge. And it rises well beyond this mastodon discussion.