Can we use the actual fediverse symbol instead of that asterism?
issue raised on the wp_activitypub github:
What the title says.
Or just don’t drop symbols inline. That wishy-washy asterism BS is such a pearl clutching gentrification of the witchy, nonconformist roots of the fediverse.
Fuck yeah rainbow pentagrams 🤘
I can see how a unicode symbol could be nice - the asterism is just convenient. It’s nice enough, and it fits the metaphor. The pentagram is good for other uses.
I personally prefer ⛧ as the Unicode symbol, but I can kinda see why it hasn’t taken off.
Does it though? If the stars are nodes, how are you going to illustrate a (federated) network with less than four points? The pentagram does that more clearly.
Just riffing off your username — sorry if that’s uncalled for — isn’t there a good Runic character that fits the same purpose? AFAIK those have a Unicode subset?
I guess there are multiple metaphors possible, but I think it works to think of the fediverse as a constellation of multiple stars, each with their own set of celestial objects spinning around them. The pentagram kinda exaggerates how interconnected the fediverse is - sometimes instances will not be interconnected, by design.
As for my username (as well as my profile picture!), I am Scandinavian and pretty tired of nazis stealing my cultural heritage for their bullshit propaganda, so I figured if I’m gonna be an anonymous antifascist online I might as well reclaim some of my culture in the process.
Sadly that’s not quite enough to remove the association between runes and nazism. ᛟ (family/bloodline) has been completely overtaken by nazis, but I think there’s a risk using any set of runes as a symbol would attract the wrong audiences.
In either case I don’t think any of the symbols would have been well suited. They reflect priorities in Nordic society back then - like bull (ᛏ), moose (ᛉ), and horse (ᛖ). ᚷ can represent a gift, but that too has sadly been appropriated by other people we do not like to associate ourselves with.
I guess ᚹ (joy) and ᚱ (travel) would not be so bad, but they don’t immediately strike me as great symbols for a social media protocol either. Maybe they could be fused with the <> ActivityPub logo to some interesting effect.
TFW to skandinaver sidder og skriver engelsk med hinanden online. Dansker bosat i Sverige her 🤝
But to continue in the lingua franca, yes — Runes are unfortunately appropriated by Nazis. I asked without thinking about that connotation, because I generally try not to give those troglodytes too much thought.
On the other hand, are we absolutely sure there isn’t some kind of occult baggage to the asterism as well? I’m fairly certain Aleister Crowley used one constellation of asterisks or other in his writings… Just putting it out here in case the potentially satanic implications of a pentagram logo really did motivate the asterism campaign 😄
Nordmann bosatt i Danmark! 🤝
Speaking of occult meanings, in meteorology, an asterism in a station model indicates moderate snowfall. It all points back to Scandinavia!