this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024

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A symbol for the fediverse ⁂ (symbol.fediverse.info)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

134 comments fedilink hide all child comments

We propose the symbol ⁂ to represent the fediverse.

...

⁂ is called an asterism. In astronomy, it refers to groups of stars in the sky, akin to constellations. We suggest that it’s a very fitting symbol for the fediverse, a galaxy of interconnected spaces which is decentralised and has an astronomically-themed name. It represents several stars coming together, connecting but each their own, without a centre.

...

@ is the symbol for e-mail. # is the symbol for hashtags. ☮ is the symbol for peace. ♻ is the symbol for recycling. ⁂ can be the symbol for the fediverse. ⁂ is standardised as Unicode U+2042, making it ready to copy and insert anywhere.

Git Repository: fediverse-symbol/fediverse-symbol

(page 3) 36 comments

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[–] [email protected] 179 points 4 months ago (16 children)

I'd rather see the current Fediverse logo added to Unicode than reuse an existing symbol. It's not impossible, considering that the Bitcoin symbol (₿) ended up making it.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

So we’re Bloods now?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

⁂

[–] [email protected] 76 points 4 months ago (23 children)

What I'm hearing here is

Proposal to add current Fediverse symbol to Unicode

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Edit: Or this lookalike 🝆

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Holy shit we are bloods

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Aren't we all crips?

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Am I misunderstanding this - you want to replace a recognised symbol with a symbol that's already being used by another group? That seems counterproductive at best.

I'm also wondering, have you spoken to anyone with poor eyesight? This is my reply to a comment below suggesting that the new symbol would be easier to read:

I'm reading this thread on mobile, and the fediverse logo next to the community name is much easier to see than the three stars. If I didn't already know what the three stars were from the rest of the post, I wouldn't have a clue what they were supposed to be in the body. They look like a blurry capital A. Obviously the fediverse logo is bigger there, which helps, but it's not significantly bigger, and would still be clearer at a smaller size

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It's not being used by another group to represent themselves. It's a technical symbol like degrees or pi. This idea is similar to how the semicolon is being re-used as a symbol for a group of people. Nothing is being stolen from anyone.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Can we use dog buttholes instead of cat buttholes

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

no, this is lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Lemmings butthole then?

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[–] [email protected] 105 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 months ago

Diaspora already use the symbol, to some extent. https://diasporafoundation.org/

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

What a bunch of snowflakes. I like the idea. This was my first thought though

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Yeah, mine too.

Which I'm fine with. If the metaphor is that the Fediverse is a fucking blizzard of snowflakes organizing against corporate social media, I'm all in for it. If it serves to alienate right wing weirdos then all the better. In the end it's all about freezing out the fascists.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I thought it was three puckered buttholes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

(⊙_☉)

[+] [email protected] 63 points 4 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

my friend, please read the article. it does a great job of explaining the why. it only takes a minute to read.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago

So they touch upon it on their site:

The pentagram icon is the original symbol for the fediverse, created back in 2018 by Dr. Quadragon and Eukombos. It’s a great depiction of the decentralised nature of the fediverse, and has been serving the community well. However, its design is a little too complex to be used at small sizes, as you would in text or in a button. It’s also only available in image form, not as a typographical character.

I think they have a valid point. Currently on my website I use a Mastodon logo next to email and git and all that jazz. It's not ideal, as it's not so important that I'm on Mastodon specifically (and I might move to a self-hosted #Seppo instance in the future), but the existing fediverse icon would not work well at that scale.

It's a huge branding effort to make it catch on though. And part of me likes the pentagram better.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (3 children)

My guess is because it's unicode. But that doesn't really matter. How often are you going to want to put the icon instead of just typing the fediverse

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 months ago (2 children)

is said in webpage: the pentagram symbol is hard to distinguish at smaller typographicl sizes

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I'm reading this thread on mobile, and the fediverse logo next to the community name is much easier to see than the three stars. If I didn't already know what the three stars were from the rest of the post, I wouldn't have a clue what they were supposed to be in the body. They look like a blurry capital A.

Obviously the fediverse logo is bigger there, which helps, but it's not significantly bigger, and would still be clearer at a smaller size

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Don't typograh so small

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago

1 thats not how typography works

2 im not webpage authour what u wan me to do about it moew?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

Blech

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Stealing an icon already designated for something else? As is tradition

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Having a unicode icon that can be copy pasted anywhere is nifty, but yeah I'm really not a fan of choosing this one.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why do we need to have a unicode character that refers to the fediverse?

Are we trying to replace our alphabetical language with a language of ideograms?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Can you answer, "Why do we need a symbol that represents the Fediverse?" Because modulo that, your question becomes, "Why does the symbol that represents the Fediverse have to have a Unicode codepoint?"

We don't need it to be a Unicode character, but there are advantages if it is that are so obvious they don't even bear discussion.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

It's literally a character, like aitch.

⁂

I'm pretty sure we're cool to use it. The advantage of using a glyph that already exists in Unicode is huge.

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[–] [email protected] 233 points 4 months ago (7 children)

a bunch of assholes conected to each other... sounds about right.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago

Not an asterism but an assterism (or arseterism).

[–] [email protected] 64 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I was gonna say snowflakes, but now I can't unsee the buttholes.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 4 months ago

If Greendale Community College was a University.

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