hey builders and devs in the open social web! just curious about what's the state of burnout and bus factors within both the fediverse + atmosphere ecosystems, so feel free to chime in the forums or replies: discourse.atmosphere.community/t/the-state-of-burnout-and-bu…
The state of burnout and bus factors in the open social web
discourse.atmosphere.communitySep 22, 2026 at 2:58 AM
Burnout in Open Source: A Structural Problem We Can Fix Together ✸ Software Stewardship Lab
Burnout is affecting the entire Open Source ecosystem. Here's what we could do to make things better.
Burnout in Open Source: A Structural Problem We Can Fix Together | Open Source Pledge
Burnout is affecting the entire Open Source ecosystem. Here's what we could do to make things better.
You Can Help Solve Burnout in Open Source
A list of people and projects working on structural solutions to problems that cause burnout in open source software
Report on Burnout in Open Source Software
I am currently working on a report on the causes of burnout in open source software, and am inviting the OSS community to share their thoughts!
The Unsolvable Dilemma: Open Networks vs. Economic Sustainability - Nightflight
A conversation with a Fediverse core developer revealed the structural problem: donation models fail, and even specialized contributors can't make a living.…
Aaron Boodman on Twitter / X
There is this tension in dev tooling right now: Lots of people want to self-host, and not depend on a service. Lots of people also want the vibes of open source - being part of an open development community, having the code, etc.But builders still need to make a living...— Aaron Boodman (@aboodman) January 23, 2024
When Contributing to WordPress Full-Time Leads to Burnout
As a distributed worker, one of the toughest obstacles I face is burnout. It’s one of the reasons I took a month off from all things WordPress. According to Merriam-Webster, burnout is, ̶…
Open Source Burnout Claims Another Project
Yet another OSS maintainer quits because of burnout. To fix this, we need better mental health resources for maintainers.
The Fediverse Explained: Social Media’s Next Form
The fediverse is a network of social media platforms that are interconnected. Find the answers to fediverse FAQs here.
The Enshittification of Work: Platform Decay and Labour Conditions in the Gig Economy
ABSTRACT This study investigates the mechanisms by which gig platforms degrade labour conditions over time, building on the concept of platform decay, or ‘enshittification’, initially developed in the context of social media platforms. In this article, we draw on 30 interviews with long‐term gig workers in the ride‐hail and grocery delivery sectors, offering insights into how these companies shift from offering attractive working conditions to exploiting labour as these services develop market power via network effects. We identify three mechanisms through which gig companies claw back value from workers over time: burden shifting (transferring operational costs to workers), feature addition and alteration (increasing the demands on workers), and market manipulation (reducing worker bargaining power). We then explore how workers respond to platform decay, finding that workers adopt three responses: effort recalibration , multi‐homing and navigating the changing conditions through what we term toxic resilience . This study contributes to the gig work literature by developing a framework to explain how working conditions in the gig economy improve or degrade over time. In doing so, this article provides a framework for organizing the growing constellation of labour research on gig workers.
There is One Fediverse. There are a Million Fediverses.
Over the past several years I’ve listened to admins, mods, and community managers from across the decentralised social media landscape. I’ve been in the chats, attended the conferences,…
Scaling Engineering Teams: Lessons from Google, Facebook, and Netflix
After spending over a decade in engineering leadership roles at some of the world’s most chaotic innovation factories—Google, Facebook, and Netflix—I’ve learned one universal truth: scaling e…
Many builders in the Open Social Web are discouraged by the lack of funding in the ecosystem, slow pace of feature development (e.g. private accounts), and “low” adoption relative to incumbents like Meta. In my keynote I emphasized multi-generational struggle & movement building. People who faced…
One thing I left out of my The Everything Account piece was a whole section on Bridgy Fed. Short version: As Bridgy Fed adds more lexicons, it makes the Atmosphere the most versatile and data-owning Fediverse instance in the open social web. Perhaps in a future piece 😉
Anuj Ahooja
I wrote about what I've been calling "The Everything Account" If you're familiar with The Atmosphere, you already know how to get one, and this should hopefully help you explain it to others. For those of you who aren't, you'll be surprised to know you already have one; here's how you use it:
The Open Social Web generally rotates to these discussions: 10 Friendly name of the network (ATmosphere vs Bluesky; Fediverse vs Mastodon®) 20 Branding (ATmosphere vs Atmosphere/atmosphere; Fediverse vs fediverse) 30 AI / LLM 40 Twitter / X 50 Meta 60 ActivityPub vs ATProto 70 Moderation 80 Goto 10
After AtmosphereConf I was hit with the realization that I couldn't continue working in corporate tech where I had could not see the impact of my or the companies work on communities. I've started a new venture, Eskahlay, rooted in my nubian culture to build sustainable community technology.
Eskahlay UG
Focusing on community technology A waterwheel, a protocol, and the case for technology that communities can own.
