The following is a list of dansup's public and private statements to and about himself, smaller FOSS maintainers, the fediverse itself, and the free and open source ecosystem at large.
It must be noted that this is not meant to be an attack on dansup himself or his identity. Any personal attacks sent to dansup are not condoned by the authors, and we condemn anyone who speaks ill of or to him on our behalf.
dansup describes himself as an OSS fediverse developer, citing his work including Pixelfed and FediDB. Despite these claims, FediDB is not fully open-source; the actual software featured on the FediDB website differs from the AGPL-licensed "community edition" that hasn't been updated in four years.
I have released the source code here and will be opening up https://fedidb.org to everyone in the coming days.
FediDB.org has grown beyond just developer tools, you can browse the network, discover ActivityPub projects or find other community resources!
The more I work on this, the more I realize that I cannot do it alone. This project has a lot of potential and should be stewarded by a community organization once itβs more stable.
Have a nice day π
@beacondb @loops @fedidb They are [open-source] but I do need to make the source more visible I agree https://github.com/fedidb/fedidb-ce
He explained that the reason the repository hasn't been updated is because he uses a paid Laravel theme for the hosted version, which, if true, would make the current version not open-source.
@beacondb The issue is I'm using a paid theme for the current version, so I have to rewrite it with an open source one to not violate any licences.
Despite the NGI Zero Core fund's goal to make more of the internet open-source, dansup seems presently uninterested in open-sourcing Loops, promising that it will become OSS when stable.
@h @cybertailor As I explained countless times before, the backend and frontend will be open sourced when they are stable.
Despite this, he has repeatedly referred to Loops as the open-source version of TikTok, without any qualifiers.
Haha it's all good Meta, don't mind me making open source federated alternatives of your ad driven platforms.
Instagram, Reels, Messenger.
βοΈ
Pixelfed, Loops, Sup.
Nice to see you at the fediverse table, it wasn't because of me was it? π
It's cute tho, I appreciate it all.
Y'all in my replies with this and that, while I'm focused on building.
Let the people decide, they gunna come to my side, but we still appreciate your lil stance.
Fight the right guy (TikTok, not the open source version, but you do you)
hazycora (Hazel), a FOSS developer who worked on reverse-engineering the Loops API and authoring a web UI for it, publicly reported dansup had threatened to cut off her access to the API, on multiple occasions.
Another FOSS developer, pixeldesu, was vaguely threatened with legal action for attempting to reverse-engineer the Loops API and publishing his findings.
@pixel I wasn't expecting this, and even though it violates our ToS, I do believe that APIs should be open.
Officially I'm not impressed, unofficially I am impressed and won't hinder unauthorized 3rd party access.
Btw, you and @h should help me define the v1 schema, I'm aware of 3 devs who plan to build 3rd party clients and would love your help in an official fashion!
This would normally lead to legal action, but here in the fediverse, you are doing my work for me β¨
dansup's unprofessionalism and hostility towards fellow OSS developers is expanded upon in this section.
In a now-deleted poll posted to his account, dansup was gauging interest in the incorporation of adsinto Loops. When approached by Hazel, he both denied his post being a serious inquiry and defended the prospective addition of ads to the platform.
dansup: "at the cost of ppls trust in you" what?
it was just a joke, if you thought i was going to do this, you missed
the whole point, but i wish you the best!
hazy!: its not a good joke!
dansup: who was hurt by this? did you see any ads on loops?
at best it was a thought exercise, but really i just wanted to
do a few polls to test federation polls with loops
if you look at my comments/replies, a lot of people actually support
this
and they would never federate, and only be applied to the official
client, if this was to happen
but girl
im with dat steve jobs ahh mentality, im sorry to disapoint you, but
im controversial like this sometimes, and i don't think it was
disrespectful in any way
After Hazel expressed disinterest in taking part in a project that may contain advertisements, dansup blocked her on Discord.
He has since denied ever having considered adding ads to Loops, asserting his original poll was a joke, and reaffirming that Loops will stay ad-free.
So that's why I cut ties tbh, you misunderstanding the ads poll was like the biggest red flag.
Never ever did I say Loops would have ads, but here you are, misconstruing ads with Loops, and acting like you were trying to convince me that Loops shouldn't have ads when i was never considering it
Hazel was offered an official position working on Loops, a fact that was published on fedi and the Pixelfed Discord server with no prior consent nor any contract being signed.
I am also in talks with @hazy! to join our team to help manage the Loops webUI! She has built the first Loops webUI https://loops.gay/ and her stewardship would allow me to focus on other big picture projects!
@h i couldn't wait, i'm sorry. Loops is moving fast π
He would later quietly delete a few posts mentioning the two's partnership, tell Hazel publicly that she is immature and isn't a good designer, and eventually claim Hazel is "crashing out" because he refused to let her join his team.
You can disagree but like, maybe focus all that hate on something productive like a career so you can afford that mac book you wanted.
[...] We can still work together, but I don't think you are mature enough to manage the frontend as your actions have proven.
I have a few more fans, like NLnet, and they keep me happy because I'm actually shipping something.
Maybe you could to?
[...] Your UI needed a lot of work, and you clearly aren't a designer, so I had to do it properly myself.
[...] (btw, this person is using the same email domain as h, the one who is crashing out because I didn't want her to join our team)
And you wonder why lol
He has, on multiple occasions, dismissed criticism against his actions by claiming he is more important, more successful, or more popular.
I'm enjoying this too much, and need to get back to coding, but at the same time, it's like girl, how many users do you have?
oh you never built a fedi platform before? So why you trying to give me advice?
Feedback is one thing, but they tryna bring me down.
But our community is still here, waiting for me to ship.
So I just keep shipping, just imagine if they put that same energy into building something for the fedi.
Something for the fedi.
But no, they just complain about me. π
lmao her follower count is going down, meanwhile over here, mine is growing.
I couldn't hope for better resolve, sometimes all you need is a platform and integrity.
The rest will work itself out.
He has described these posts as bragging, yet he also claimed that others would do the same had they built the same things he did.
I get it, i brag too much.
But wouldn't you too if you built Pixelfed, Loops and FediDB on your own?
I'm not sorry, and am proud of my accomplishments, and resolve through cancel campaigns like we're seeing now.
No regrets tho.
He has repeatedly referred to his peers and fellow fediverse developers as "rats", and to criticism against his actions as "hate", including in statements in which he flaunts European Union funding of his projects.
I've been having to deal with a lot of hate and stuff because I parted ways with someone who I hoped would help with Loops.
Despite my attempts to resolve that, they keep spreading hate, and at this point, I just want to go back to focusing on dev.
Say or think what you want, but my progress speaks for itself.
I know I should be more mature and shit, but like I'm having fun exposing the rats.
I'm not like other fedi devs, I will make your hate a merch tshirt for sale, to help fund progress...
Some people post memes, others build dreams.
Your hateful comments and interactions don't hit the same as EU funding.
keep at it tho, maybe it will get you somewhere.
π€£
In response to criticism, dansup has claimed that he is being treated unfairly for being the only gay and indigenous fedi developer.
As a queer and indigenous developer, I've struggled with acceptance and hateful replies and even being called out for using the "yall" phrase.
I hope my fellow cree and other indigenous devs don't have to face the same fate.
While it can be hard sometimes, don't forget where you came from, and don't take no shit from anyone.
Go ahead, hate on the only indigenous and gay fediverse dev.
I'll still be here building, for everyone.
I've never played this card, because I never thought I'd have to, but it does kinda feel a bit racsist how some indian like me has to go beyond to prove his worth.
On one occasion, dansup banned the Loops accounts of everyone registered
under the email domain hazy.gay, claiming that one parody
account registered under said domain that impersonated Kamala Harris was
a political grift.
@yassie_j@labyrinth.zone:
Oh
My loops account is gone
yassie_j in the Loops app or if you
followed/followed by me, I no longer am on your list
Did... Uh. Did Loops Guy delete my account?
@dansup@mastodon.social:
@yassie_j you or whoever manages your mail domain registered a fake Kamala account, which violates our terms as clearly described.
You cannot impersonate a brand or person. This wasn't the only one though, there were a few others too.
Take your grift elsewhere lmao
yeah, if you don't want your Loops account banned, maybe don't impersonate a presidential candidate, and act clueless when you are associated with malicious actors.
Maybe take your political grifts somewhere else, loops.video isn't the place.
But keep your "freeze peach" to yourself bro, we don't need your kind here.
(btw, this person is using the same email domain as h, the one who is crashing out because I didn't want her to join our team)
And you wonder why lol
Later, in response to a supportive Ukrainian-language reply, he claimed that the banned accounts supported Trump, and that the users operating them are Russian state actors.
@yuriiname ngl, their shady ties to the Russian regime with their Kamala fake account is pretty evident.
When you join Loops and make such a political statement like that, basically supporting trump, it makes you wonder what side they on!