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@ophiocephalic@kolektiva.socialA Free Fediverse beyond surveillance capitalism should prioritize deepening its commitment to decentralization by keeping the maximum user count of its instances small.
This addresses practical needs. Smaller communities are easier to moderate, on a human scale which doesn't involve algorithms or invasive third-party data collection. Smaller communities disperse targets for threat models like spambots, and enhance network resilience. And smaller communities are better at scaling democracy, so that we can avoid being pulled back into the circumstance now plaguing the fediverse of mega-server admins unilaterally imposing their will on everyone else.
However, keeping things small can result in problems of its own. Smaller communities means more people grappling with the complexities of trying to set up, administer, moderate, and - not to mention - *fund* operations. A system of mutual aid, beyond the current haphazard status quo, is required.
As an approach to solving these problems, and to instilling a ethos of solidarity devoid of the for-profit "monetization" impulse, consider the concept of the fedifam. 
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The fedifam would be a family or alliance of instances. Communities could align into fedifams based on whatever conditions of identity, philosophy or interest are relevant to them. Instances allied into fedifams could share resources and mutually support each other in many ways, such as:
A common charter of moderation principles Hosting infrastructure and setup support A crowdfunding mechanism An open-source administration platform A commonwealth of blocklists or allow-lists A framework for new instance initiatives from within the fedifam to spin up
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Consider also the prospect of a Free Fediverse comprised of numerous fedifams, which could provide answers to the questions we face now in regards to moderation and safety.
Fedifams could form treaties of trust with each other, easing the introduction of new instances into the broader network. This would become especially important if, as some are suggesting, a complete block of Facebook and its collaborator instances requires a switch from blocklists to allow-lists.
A community of fedifams would also enable reform of the development of these lists. Today, a few hardy souls take matters into their own hands through informal projects, bearing the cost and effort without any guaranteed support from the rest of the network. Others observe the state of play and, rightly or wrongly, perceive a concentration of influence.
Alternatively, instance admins within a fedifam could deliberate together on blocklist/allow-list decisions; then, periodically, a broader moderation council could convene with a representative from each fedifam, reproducing the democratic process to insure the safety of the entire network.
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It's urgently important to think creatively on the moderation issues. At this moment, Meta collaborators are in firm control of major fediverse development projects, and are proposing schemes to enable third-party data collection, algorithmic moderation processing, and other backend telemetry hooks which could eventually facilitate surveillance, advertising and "AI" harvesting.
These proposals hinge entirely on the assumptions of the continued growth of a small number of mega-servers, too large to moderate without algorithmic governance, and under requirements to conform to the moderation dictates of the Zuckerberg entity. The recent manufactured moral panic served to coerce the discourse further along in this direction.
These developments raise the stakes for all of us who affirm our right to nurture and maintain community beyond surveillance capitalism and the growth-at-all-costs pathology. Whatever Meta does next, we simply have no choice now but to develop an alternative paradigm which centers human-scaled communities and the culture and tech which facilitates them. It's not sufficient to simply sign off on the FediPact and wait to see what happens next.
A fedifam type of concept could provide a way forward; and there are lots of smart people on the fediverse who could help to build out and co-create an idea like this together. Let's collaborate, stretch our imaginations and build a Free Fediverse!
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