> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://werd.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Some feels about my non-involvement in the fediverse
- URL: https://werd.io/some-feels-about-my-non-involvement-in-the-fediverse/
- Published: 2024-03-02T22:20:46.000Z
- Updated: 2024-03-02T22:20:46.000Z
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: #Import 2025-06-13 09:20

I feel more than a twinge of regret that I’m not more involved in the current decentralized social web movement. This is where I came from, after all: I built [one of the first open source social networking platforms](https://www.zdnet.com/article/run-your-own-myspace-with-elgg-spaces/) (and one of the first social networks overall). Decentralized social networking was the ultimately vision and exactly where we wanted to take it.

So, here we are, decentralized social networking has been realized thanks to the hard work of many teams, and I’m several degrees removed from it. There are open source social networking summits that I’m not invited to — quite reasonably, but I care so much about the space and wish I could be there.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t have regrets about my current direction. I’m focused on journalism in the public interest right now, which feels like an important thing to be doing in America in 2024\. There are lots of technical challenges that go far beyond keeping a website online (consider what it took to obtain and analyze [The IRS Files](https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax), for example).

But, also, oof, it feels weird to not be in the room and helping to push this movement forwards.

I do have a strong project idea for the space — something that would expand the fediverse and bring on a bunch of organizations who haven’t been able to join yet. So, maybe I’ll try and get that moving.