I think this is a mischaracterization. I've read Webber's writing on OcapPub[0], and his more recent writing on ActivityPub[1]. I'm not getting the impression that Webber thinks ActivityPub is broken, or that he's stopped advocating for it, or that he's trying to replace it.
In his own words:
> "OcapPub" sounds like a new protocol, whereas it's really just a way-to-use ActivityPub mostly as it already exists. Maybe time for a new name for that?
Even if Webber does think ActivityPub has fundamental problems, he doesn't seem to be discouraging anyone from pushing it. I mean, go ahead and watch his most recent talk and decide whether or not Webber is "trashing" ActivityPub.[2]
> "It was 3 years of really hard work, and it wasn't clear in the process if it was going to pay off. And it has. We now have this as a standard that we can all use to be able to speak to each other, and I think this is really exciting."
In his own words:
> "OcapPub" sounds like a new protocol, whereas it's really just a way-to-use ActivityPub mostly as it already exists. Maybe time for a new name for that?
Even if Webber does think ActivityPub has fundamental problems, he doesn't seem to be discouraging anyone from pushing it. I mean, go ahead and watch his most recent talk and decide whether or not Webber is "trashing" ActivityPub.[2]
> "It was 3 years of really hard work, and it wasn't clear in the process if it was going to pay off. And it has. We now have this as a standard that we can all use to be able to speak to each other, and I think this is really exciting."
[0]: https://gitlab.com/spritely/ocappub/blob/master/README.org
[1]: https://dustycloud.org/blog/2019-10-01-updates/
[2]: https://conf.tube/videos/watch/2b9a985b-ccdd-49ce-a81b-ed00d...