> Email is the only truly successful decentralized protocol

HTTP?

HTTP is a transfer protocol, not a semantic protocol. Email at least lets you identify the sender/receiver and other metadata and separate them from the message, HTTP is just "this is the filename, this is the data.." It's not much more than a TCP stream really.

> Email at least lets you identify the sender/receiver

I'm not sure of your point. Http also allows you to identify the server. Forwarding mail servers are analogous to caching and forwarding proxies.

> other metadata and separate them from the message

Just like http.

> HTTP is just "this is the filename, this is the data.." It's not much more than a TCP stream really

No, it isn't. No more than SMTP, IMAP, and pop3 are.

By "sender" and "receiver" I mean person, not server. I truly don't understand why you're on about servers and transport protocols when this thread is about social networks.

> By "sender" and "receiver" I mean person, not server.

What's the difference? An email address isn't a person, nor does it represent one.

> I truly don't understand why you're on about servers and transport protocols when this thread is about social networks.

Because it was mentioned that SMTP is the only decentralized protocol, and I disagreed.