Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter • Hacker News Board

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#61

Post by glenstein » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 5:47 AM UTC

rvz wrote: post #24

TylerE wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds pretty dismal? E.g. >90% of "registered users" don't actually use the platform.

It's because it is dismal and Eugen is right as well and there is evidence supporting that [0] which it is still true to this day with the up-to-date instances that are active and with users who have logged in at least once over a week. 3,064,237 total registered Mastodon accounts and only 192,384 users using it. That is 7% of active users using the platform and 93% of everyone else not using it. There is virtually n…

>This is enough to tell us that Mastodon is indeed a failure and has not replaced Twitter after 6 years of marketing itself as a Twitter alternative.

I think this is pretty obviously false. There are vibrant communities on Mastodon that left Twitter so they could exist in peace. Furry and furry friendly community, lgbtq+ webcomic artists, sex workers are a few off the top of my head that created their own communities.

And I would have thought this was self evident, but you can be an alternative and succeed as an alternative without it meaning you have to replace the original or absorb all the active users of the original.

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#62

Post by Underphil » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 5:48 AM UTC

somat wrote: post #33

Perhaps not for you, but for me, who has never been on twitter it does ok. That aside, The whole twitter style, shouting into the void, microblog communication platform is really stupid. When I decided to give mastodon a try because someone I know set up an instance devoted to a subject I enjoy. the whole experience was baffling and inefficient compared to other communications systems I have tried. I stick with it be…

I feel the same as you, but the article isn't aimed at us. It's aimed at people who do use it, and possibly rely on it for connections etc.

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#63

Post by JD557 » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 5:50 AM UTC

VikingCoder wrote: post #52

assetlabel wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only true among mastodon servers that connect to each other. As I recall, most servers would not talk to gab's servers. Further, once you pick a server, if you are kicked off, you lose all your followers because they are following you@thatserver which you cannot get onto anymore.

...so why isn't there another layer of abstraction, where you have like a DNS to register where you (and here's your public key) are currently: you@thatserver, and you sign it... And then you can change (using the same public / private key pair) to be: you@someotherserver? This seems obvious to me as a necessary feature...?

There are a few issues for that, but they haven't seen any activity in a while:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/3796 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/2668

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#64

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 5:54 AM UTC

The author has probably not used Mastodon for more than 5 minutes to write such a ignorant piece about the network. The sign is that he talks about the immature Mastodon mobile app while unofficial clients have been around for years before, and are much more feature-full. If you don't know a topic, don't write about it.

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#65

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 5:56 AM UTC

na85 wrote: post #40

gargron wrote: post #39

The author seems under to be under the wrong impression that Mastodon servers are isolated communities (and therefore compares them to subreddits). This is incorrect. Mastodon is a platform where a server of your choosing hosts your account, like an e-mail provider hosting your inbox. From that account, you follow any other account on the network, regardless of which server hosts that account. Everyone you follow app…

>The author seems under to be under the wrong impression that Mastodon servers are isolated communities (and therefore compares them to subreddits). This is incorrect. Mastodon is a platform where a server of your choosing hosts your account, like an e-mail provider hosting your inbox. From that account, you follow any other account on the network, regardless of which server hosts that account. Everyone you follow ap…

> I've been aware of Mastodon pretty much since its inception and I had no idea that this was the case. The messaging really needs improved.

How can you not know, since it's clearly "decentralized" in every claim made about its service. That's the textbook definition of decentralized.

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#66

Post by roenxi » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 6:14 AM UTC

gargron wrote: post #39

The author seems under to be under the wrong impression that Mastodon servers are isolated communities (and therefore compares them to subreddits). This is incorrect. Mastodon is a platform where a server of your choosing hosts your account, like an e-mail provider hosting your inbox. From that account, you follow any other account on the network, regardless of which server hosts that account. Everyone you follow app…

Greetings ordinary and non-remarkable commenter who has no special insight into Mastodon's workings! I don't know anything about the project but I have been watching the journey of the big social networks with interest. If you're taking questions - what do you think are the typical needs of new users as they hear about and start trying mastodon? How do you envision onboarding happening?

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#67

Post by sph » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 6:15 AM UTC

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #57

I've had a mastodon account for years. Not only you can't get a tenth of the audience or quality publications you get on twitters, but also there is less diversity. A mastodon instance is often its own island, with one view of the world, and they don't connect to any other instances with a different view of the world because the others are intolerant assholes (but themselves are alright, of course). Ironic, given the…

It's like the problem isn't the platform or the technology, but people aren't meant to voice their ideas for the whole world to see, anonymously. It's such a naive view that it's a good idea to attach a megaphone to anyone's mouth.

The focus on decentralisation and not on solving the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory [1] means they focused on the wrong problem. They've just created an island for jerkwads that think they are better from the other jerkwads at the bird site.

Now, I wouldn't be against a Twitter-like for direct friends. Like Google+ for a moment tried to do before it imploded.

1: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/green-blackboa...

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#68

Post by sohkamyung » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 6:15 AM UTC

The good thing about having multiple Mastodon servers is you can sign up for multiple accounts (one on each server) and use each one for a specific purpose. I have three separate Mastodon accounts: one for general postings, one for posting photos only, and one for book reviews. Followers can choose which 'aspect' of me to follow and ignore the rest.

This is unlike Twitter, where followers have no choice but to put up with my thoughts, book reviews and photos even if they are only interested in one thing.

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#69

Post by na85 » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 6:22 AM UTC

glenstein wrote: post #59

na85 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The author seems under to be under the wrong impression that Mastodon servers are isolated communities (and therefore compares them to subreddits). This is incorrect. Mastodon is a platform where a server of your choosing hosts your account, like an e-mail provider hosting your inbox. From that account, you follow any other account on the network, regardless of which server hosts that account. Everyone you follow ap…

>I've been aware of Mastodon pretty much since its inception You must be part of an exceptionally small minority then. I, too, have known about Mastodon since it's inception, and this was not news to me. As another commenter said, a debate during that time was that users were beaten over the head with too much discussion of federation and instances. This is always how it's worked, and it's nearly impossible to join a…

>This is always how it's worked, and it's nearly impossible to join any instance without following & interacting with people from other instances on a daily basis. It's like the one thing about Mastodon you can't escape knowing about even if you actively try.

I don't use Mastodon, so perhaps that's why. It always seemed like a Twitter clone except with fewer people and, importantly for this particular discussion, where you can't interact with anyone.

Guess I was mistaken, but that's why I never bothered to learn anything further about it.

Re: Mastodon still can’t replace Twitter

#70

Post by sph » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 6:23 AM UTC

egypturnash wrote: post #23

It's largely replaced Twitter for talking to a lot of my friends. Which is the only reason I ever joined Twitter in the first place - all their Livejournals got replaced by these autoposts of cryptic fragments of conversations, and I reluctantly followed them to this annoying world of ultra-short posts that just kept getting shittier and shitter as Twitter kept on trying to make it profitable. And I can preemptively…

Please indulge me: what's wrong with email for talking to your friends?

Unless you think your conversations have to be public for everybody else to see.