Ancestors

Toot

Written by Pep on 2024-10-02 at 19:09

I mentioned before that despite being happy that I left Twitter, I do feel cut off from what is still the Internet town square.

Many well-meaning online creators haven't left, major brands haven't left, update feeds for essential services haven't left.

Threads only appeals to Meta users, I don't know who Bluesky is for, and Mastodon is still too confusing and niche.

I fear that even if Twitter actually does shut down, people won't migrate and a large part of the web will just go dark.

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Descendants

Written by Pep on 2024-10-02 at 19:20

Controversial take:

If there's even a slight chance of convincing someone to try Mastodon, just have them sign up for mastodon(.)social. Keep that barrier to entry to the Fediverse as low as possible.

Then, let them discover what federation is naturally by pointing them to accounts to interact with that may come from other instances without explaining what that means upfront.

If they want to learn more, ease into the terminology based on how much they actually want to know.

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Written by eishiya on 2024-10-02 at 19:40

@PepVerbsNouns I support recommending a specific server rather than just "Mastodon", but I think it would be even better to suggest a specific server that would actually suit that person's interests, rather than point everyone to an instance that doesn't match how they use social media.

Of course, ideally this should be a server that has open registration, or one you can create invites for. Account reviews like on .ART are too much of an obstacle to most completely new users, I think.

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Written by Pep on 2024-10-02 at 19:53

@eishiya I agree that people should ideally be directed to instances that reflect their interests, but I'm just afraid that introducing the concept of instances upfront might backfire

In my eyes, it's sometimes way too easy to lose people if you present a new way of doing things that they're not ready for, or that has too steep of a learning curve.

To ease this curve, I would maybe compare instances to how old-school forums work, but how relevant is that in this era of centralized platforms?

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Written by eishiya on 2024-10-02 at 22:16

@PepVerbsNouns I don't think one has to explain that there are different servers to recommend a specific one. It's not like someone not already familiar with Mastodon would know about mastodon.social anyway, so to them, Mastodon is going to be whatever instance they start on. Might as well be one they'll probably like.

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Written by eishiya on 2024-10-02 at 22:21

@PepVerbsNouns That said, to people who already understand that Facebook isn't the entire Internet, I think the server thing isn't all that wild as long as you don't try to introduce Fedi-specific terminology or add too much detail. The email analogy has worked well for me - people generally understand that whether you're using Gmail or Outlook or their work/school/ISP address, it's all still email and they can email people who have their email elsewhere.

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Written by Pep on 2024-10-02 at 22:44

@eishiya Fair enough, I haven't even considered the email comparison. Also I guess it's true that if they start on a server they'd like, it'd technically be the only one they'd have to think about as their starting point.

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