We had them, still have them as valid protocols, and to some extent they still exist and get used today: NNTP/USENET, IRC, Archie, Gophernet...
Seriously, all were decentralized (especially USENET), didn't rely on any one vendor or network (any routable protocol could use it), and nobody owned it. Slap a web interface on any of those, and * poof *, there's yer decentralized social tech.
We had them, still have them as valid protocols, and to some extent they still exist and get used today: NNTP/USENET, IRC, Archie, Gophernet...
Seriously, all were decentralized (especially USENET), didn't rely on any one vendor or network (any routable protocol could use it), and nobody owned it. Slap a web interface on any of those, and * poof *, there's yer decentralized social tech.
Everyone chases the new shiny, after all.
Didn't Discord just basically offer voice on top of IRC?
Yep. Though Usenet and IRC are semi-decentralized and usenet could really use a version 2.0. It's a shame that Diaspora never made a dent.
We need to move solutions more akin to Bittorrent and Cryptocurrencies. Permissionless is the way to go.