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Exploring Mastodon

martinfowler.com

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Re: Exploring Mastodon

#101

Post by toofy »

nr2x wrote: post #10

The fact that one has to pick from many different places to set up an account is a massive barrier to entry. Let alone the complexity of moving an account from one host to another is also woefully complex, so if you choose wrong, you’re in for more pain. I don’t see this platform being able to benefit from the Twitter exodus. I’m putting my hopes on blue sky/AT which appears to solve the above pain points: https://bl…

> ...woefully complex...in for more pain.

this is incredibly incredibly hyperbolic if ive ever seen hyperbole.

i just migrated my account the other day (i wanted to move onto a friends server) and it was absolutely not "woefully complex"

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#102

Post by PestoDiRucola »

radarsat1 wrote: post #56

The thing that surprised me a bit about federation is that it puts instances front and center. You have an account at your "home instance", and that's the first thing you see. When I first read about federation I had thought that the idea was to have one big network of independent but equal instances that just transparently share data under common topics. But instead I discovered that you are identified with your ins…

This! I couldn't really figure out what bothered me so much about Mastodon and it's exactly what you explain in this comment. I wish the local instance wouldn't matter as much as it does, which would also pave the way for single-user self-hosted instances, for people who want to access the fediverse on their own terms.

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#103

Post by saurik »

camjohnson26 wrote: post #100
MivLives wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it helps mastadon writes it's users as @ @instance.example which looks very similar to email with a twitter handle slapped on front.

Most people choose Gmail as their email provider specifically because understanding federation is too much mental overhead. There is no gmail equivalent in the Mastodon space, instead there’s many small instances that are difficult to compare.

People who use Gmail still have to know how to send e-mail to support@apple.com and when asked what their e-mail address is know to tell people someone@gmail.com instead of someone@hotmail.com. You don't get to not understand how e-mail addresses work just because you are using Gmail. There is clearly something else broken about how Mastadon tries to do federation if people are having a hard time with this, but you can't blame federated addresses.

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#104

Post by cyborgx7 »

giantrobot wrote: post #88
cyborgx7 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People just have lost the ability to comprehend the concept of federation because everything in the current internet is walled gardens. There is nothing Mastodon can do to "fix this" without giving up on federation. But people understand how federation works. They see it happen everyday with e-mail. You just need to tell them it works like that and they'll get it.

> People just have lost the ability to comprehend the concept of federation because everything in the current internet is walled gardens. Non-technical users have never understood these things. They browse the web by accident and sending e-mail is incomprehensible magic. Most people don't care at all how such things work, they only care when they don't work.

Yes that type of person exists but they are not the ones looking for a twitter alternative because of Elon Musk right now.

There are shades of gray between the people who understand the technical definition of federation, and people who, as you put it "browse the web by accident". The people who are looking for an alternative right now understand e-mail well enough (from an end-user perspective) to make the comparison.

If we ever get to the point where enough people use mastodon that the latter category would also be interested in participating in it, it would be so ubiquitous that they would ask someone with a minimum of understanding to et it up for them. Just the way it works now with other things.

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#105

Post by toofy »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #77
stewbrew wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's more like picking your community. Compare an account on mastodon.social vs an instance localated in your hometown to see the difference.

What is the difference? From my limited exposure to Mastodon at the moment I don't actually interact with "my instance", i just follow a bunch of people most of which are not actually on my instance. Not sure what I would be missing out on.

yeah, the panic people are putting forward about server choice is really strange. my account is on a friends invite server and 99% of the people i follow and interact with are on all kinds of other servers. my timeline is almost entirely people from dozens of other servers.

im not at all sure why people are panicked about this.

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#106

Post by stewbrew »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #77
stewbrew wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's more like picking your community. Compare an account on mastodon.social vs an instance localated in your hometown to see the difference.

What is the difference? From my limited exposure to Mastodon at the moment I don't actually interact with "my instance", i just follow a bunch of people most of which are not actually on my instance. Not sure what I would be missing out on.

You can use mastodon this way of course and ignore the local feed.

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#107

Post by toofy »

nr2x wrote: post #84
KindAndFriendly wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I politely disagree: you just pick an "entry node", similar to picking an ISP or an email provider. You can interact with everyone in the Fediverse just fine. Having a newsfeed for your chosen "entry node" is an additional nice-to-have imho but not the defining criteria.

If I own a domain I can host my email anywhere. I own the name, and every possible address. Mastodon does not have nearly the same level of portability and ownership. This is why I think AT is more promising.

> Mastodon does not have nearly the same level of portability and ownership.

how so? its just a protocol, just like email. which concerns do you have that it is not as portable as email?

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#108

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

Barrin92 wrote: post #66
SoftTalker wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked in tech for 30 years. I agree 100%. Any twitter alternative needs to be as easy and seamless as Twitter itself. The first step being a decision on where to set up an account is a non-starter for a huge number of people. Haven't we all learned the UX lesson of reducing choices?

>The first step being a decision on where to set up an account is a non-starter for a huge number of people then the should just stay on twitter. The entire differentiator between Mastodon and Twitter is choice. It's akin to complaining about the fact that there's 50 states in the US and you have multiple elections to take part in and decide where you wanna live. It's all very complicated. Any technology that empower…

> then the should just stay on twitter. The entire differentiator between Mastodon and Twitter is choice

There's that OSS elitism we all know and love so much.

Re: Exploring Mastodon

#109

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #27
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #2

> but the protocol they use to communicate (ActivityPub) I stopped reading here. Most people who aren't tech savvy (much less professionally famous engineers) aren't going to want to learn this nonsense, much less see cased words like this that reek of geekdom. Everything about Mastodon (and the Fediverse) seems like it's catered to people who are already are (or who think they are) mentally all in on the concept. I…

Most people who aren’t tech savvy aren’t reading Martin Fowler’s blog. It’s okay for bloggers to write for their expected audience, rather than having to think “how will what I am writing be interpreted by all possible readers, e.g., literally everyone who can access this web site.” As for Mastodon itself, yeah, it would be nice if it got better about its terminology and “marketing” to people who aren’t nerds, althou…

Similarly I saw a lot of activity there in the spring when Musk made his first attempt, and it didn't last.
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