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From GNU social to Mastodon

thomask.sdf.org

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Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#131

Post by hashkb »

throw2016 wrote: post #112
ad_hominem wrote: post #69

I tried Mastodon early on and it was pretty slow, which I assume is due to it being a Ruby on Rails app that probably wasn't heavily optimized. Probably also partly due to there only being a handful of popular instances so the inrush of users weren't being spread out very much. Anyone still encountering that? A fairly popular instance also crashed and lost all accounts, toots etc.: https://web.archive.org/web/2018032…

The choice of Ruby for a platform that is supposed to enable decentralization does not make sense. Most Ruby apps have tens to hundreds of dependencies and require a build environment which immediately limits access to a smaller group of developers familiar with Ruby build environments and debugging their way out of any dependency hell. Customization also becomes a problem. There is also no particular design in Masto…

Ruby comes by default on most systems and/or package managers. Bundler has basically eliminated dependency hell. Ruby is one of the easiest environments for new hackers. Rails is capable of being fast enough and scaling enough for most applications (early Twitter was Rails) and also has no particular issues in an SoA or distributed system.

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#132

Post by WorldMaker »

phaedryx wrote: post #48
skybrian wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like it too, but having used it casually for about a week, I'm wondering how you visit different communities without creating multiple accounts? It should be as easy as visiting a different subreddit. (I do know that you can subscribe to individuals in other instances, but haven't done that yet.)

Yeah, I've been wondering if I can write a bot that signs in to other accounts and aggregates things for a primary account.

A number of instances in the Fediverse run bots whose sole purpose is to follow "interesting" accounts that they find on other instances in order to beef up the bot's instance's Federated feed. It can be a useful tool for small instances to still see a wider view of the Fediverse without any individual user themselves following a lot of people.

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#133

Post by _emacsomancer_ »

TheJoYo wrote: post #23

if anyone is averse to the column layout on the default Mastodon UI they should check out https://pinafore.social for a more Twitter like layout. rather than being a mastodon instance you simply use pinafore as your portal to your existing mastodon account.

Or use the Emacs package ( https://github.com/jdenen/mastodon.el ) :

https://i.imgur.com/dizqJmY.png

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#134

Post by WorldMaker »

TuringTest wrote: post #97
elago wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the android app I use, switching between accounts is as simple UI wise as switching to different instances (or spaces or whatever the top level division is called) in Slack. In two taps I can switch between tech themed and social themed for example. I agree some platforms make multiple accounts hard to the point where you're registering multiple free email accounts, installing multiple browsers and using incognito…

But tying accounts to instances, and then instances to topics, is bad design. The purpose of multiple accounts from a user perspective should be for having separate identities, not separate topics of conversation. If you're forced to create one account per instance, there's no way to do something as simple as "merge comments from two instances into a single stream", which supposedly was the selling point of federated…

I'm of the opinion that tying instances to topics is the mistake here. Since the software is mostly following the email provider model, I think it makes more sense to base instances along other lines of trust model/ownership model/hosting provider than "topics".

Obviously "topic" is the easiest way to differentiate instances today, but when was the last time you choose an email provider based on "topic" (or even domain name, for that matter)?

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#135

Post by anderspitman »

foxhop wrote: post #52

I decided to join Mastodon when it first came out. I planned to stand up my own server, but I kept.putting it off... Flash 2 years later, last week I finally got a Mastodon instance up, and I don't host it myself. I'm using https://masto.host They let you used your own domain. My thought process is to not waste my time writing automation to stand up a server until I know I really want to use it. So far I love it even…

I was wondering if they allow export. I poked around the website for a bit and didn't see anything. That's the primary selling point for me. I want to run my own instance eventually but I'd love to start with something hosted.

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#136

Post by WorldMaker »

throw2016 wrote: post #111

The problem is abuse of power and arbitrary behavior that affects many when they have even a little bit of power. This is what leads to censorship, suppressing views, bubbles and lack of accountability. Mastodon does not solve this in the slightest, just enables thousands of arbitrary admins. At least with Twitter there is one source and its easier to seek some kind of accountability and put a global spotlight on the…

Be your own "arbitrary" admin in that case?

The decentralized nature certainly allows for "competition" between "ingroups of admins". Don't like your current admins? Move to an instance elsewhere. If you have friends, encourage them to follow you in the move.

Different instances have different transparency/accountability metrics, and the good ones tend to have that posted in the Instance About page/terms. Many of the "ingroups of admins" people decry have all of their silences/suspends posted publicly and transparently on GitHub repositories and offer suggestions/propose fixes as GitHub issues and PRs. That's certainly way more amenable to transparency/accountability than anything Twitter has ever offered.

The things that lead to censorship/suppressing views/bubbles/etc on Mastodon aren't power-hungry admins in a secretive cabal, but instead the same powers that be in the world of email: signal-to-noise management (spam management, "newsletter" management, "fwd: fwd: re:" management). That's as much a user opt-in choice/need as any sort of admin opt-out "power", and if other users think you are more part of the noise rather than the signal, then that's more of a "you" problem, isn't it?

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#137

Post by ifur »

Vinnl wrote: post #129
ifur wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it lack of adjectives and positive or negative extensions that throws you of? This is hacker news, I'm talking about technical things. And you want me to limit myself to user experiences rather than back and forth on nerdy technicality? Edit to reply to the the reply below, apparently speed is frowned upon in HN: > Maybe this analysis helps: This is hyperbole :) >> Generally don't like AJAX > Not quite sure what A…

Here's a reply to your edit, I guess. Again: AJAX and XML have nothing to do with Mastodon. You keep going into those, claiming that people say that it's an improvement, but it's not even relevant. Your entire posts appear to build on that, but it's a premise that is faulty.

Did you read what this thread is about, its filled with AJAX arguments for why GNU social is bad, it's flat out fud.

And are you saying AJAX isn't something that can be used to transform user data on-the-fly?

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#138

Post by lolikoisuru »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #29
oopsman88 wrote: post #3

With all of its faults, I'll take Twitter and its almost free speech over Mastodon any day. Many people say they are quitting Twitter because of the algorithmic timeline and so on, and they are going to Mastodon where a cabal of people choose to ban opinions that are perfectly legal.

I can't help but notice that you, complaining about “free speech”, have “88” at the end of your name. Wonder what kind of speech (which you only defend by its supposed legality) you're concerned about being banned.

You say that as if supporting free speech was somehow part of the nazi platform.

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#139

Post by lolikoisuru »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #87
dx87 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you seriously implying that someone is a nazi just because they have the number 88 in their name? I have the number 87 in my name, what does that tell you about me? You're a perfect example of what they're complaining about. They've said nothing even remotely offensive, just that they don't agree with shared block lists, and you've already decided that they're wrong and a nazi. I've seen people get added to share…

I don't think everyone I disagree is a Nazi. It's just… easy to lose patience with the “free speech” line of argument when so many people invoking it are doing so in bad faith.

>I don't think everyone I disagree is a Nazi.

Just everyone who values freedom of speech then?

>so many people invoking it are doing so in bad faith.

You really think people who support freedom of speech are doing so in bad faith?

Re: From GNU social to Mastodon

#140

Post by lolikoisuru »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #120
oopsman88 wrote: post #3

With all of its faults, I'll take Twitter and its almost free speech over Mastodon any day. Many people say they are quitting Twitter because of the algorithmic timeline and so on, and they are going to Mastodon where a cabal of people choose to ban opinions that are perfectly legal.

You're perfectly free to run your own instance and post whatever you like. Others might not want to read it, but that's your problem - you don't inherently deserve an audience, you have to convince people that you're worth following. Luckily for you, there's also https://pleroma.social where they might align with your values[1] a lot more. 1 - I am pro free speech, however many on the right these days seem to think t…

You basically said that you're pro free speech unless you disagree with said speech. It's quite apparent that you actually aren't pro freedom of speech.
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