Eugen Rochko is stepping down as lead of the Mastodon project. Assets he holds are to be transferred into the Mastodon non-profit. His role will be taken over by Felix Hlatky, next to Hannah Aubry (Mastodon) as community lead, and Renaud Chaput as tech lead.

As Rochko allures to in the quote there are plenty examples where leading figures become problematic if not downright toxic to the projects they created. Technology is political, and we’ve seen various techbro people who let their radicalizing personal politics become the guide for the course of their projects. Rochko’s step avoids him becoming that OFG. Like turning down oodles of VC money in 2022, this is a political step. Well done.

I also like that two of the three people leadership team have their Mastodon accounts away from the behemoth instance mastodon.social, with Chaput’s on a tiny instance. That too is well done and a politically relevant signal. We need rewilding and an open web.

After nearly 10 years, I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon and transferring my ownership of the trademark and other assets to the Mastodon non-profit. Over the course of my time at Mastodon, I have centered myself less and less in our outward communications, and to some degree, this is the culmination of that trend. […] There are too many examples of founder egos sabotaging thriving communities […]

Eugen Rochko