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Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

blog.joinmastodon.org

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Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#111

Post by pabs3 »

andreamonaco wrote: post #19

I'm not very optimistic about the technical direction of Mastodon. Mastodon had a minimal HTML-only interface before, you could read posts and replies of each profile. They removed it some time ago, now you just see a blank page if you don't have JS, and I think it's a huge mistake; it was a clear albeit small advantage over mainstream social networks.

Here is a client you can use to avoid turning on JS:

https://github.com/jwilk/zygolophodon

I'm working on adding a WebExtension that would let you use it in the browser.

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#112

Post by nyclounge »

mkl wrote: post #95
ekianjo wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution was always: provide several algos on top of chronological order, and let people choose. Client side Algo cannot be implemented because the API does not give you enough controls (I know, I have written Mastodon clients)

If you can get the messages, you can run a client-side algorithm - just download everything in the last 24 hours or whatever, and algorithmically choose what to display in what order.

While I agree with you, technically everything can be done with API, but what are the bottle neck of just have everything accessing a db table directly? Cutting out the http API middle man?

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#113

Post by spartanatreyu »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #106
spartanatreyu wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some people I followed would constantly post, so your feed, over time, simply becomes whatever those extremely online users post. It becomes less of a "balanced media diet" if it favors people who are always online. I saw this as a feature of sorts. If anyone starts spamming my feed: instant unfollow. Now my feed is curated towards a slow but interesting ephemerality, and not a firehose of psychological manipulatio…

>If anyone starts spamming my feed: instant unfollow. How is that a feature? It would be entirely unnecessary with a feed mixer.

When you have an algorithm, it tends to favor some posts over others which in some cases is good but in other cases is oh so bad. The higher problem is the visibility of the algorithm misbehaving is reduced, so you're likely not even aware of how bad the problem is.

Rather than have an algorithm and trying to hide any problems, Mastodon puts the problems front and centre. You are forced to deal with them. It makes you spend a little bit of time controlling your feed's hygiene and in return you end up with a feed that only contains useful content.

It's like the eating healthy alternative to doomscrolling.

It also has another interesting side effect. Not having an algorithm that concentrates on popularity means that the low effort content problem tends to evaporate away. Attention seekers aren't rewarded for spamming or rage baiting, since they lose followers every time they try.

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#114

Post by numpad0 »

dingnuts wrote: post #53
sangnoir wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Partly because algorithmic curation is a big business, tied in pretzel knots with advertising, and is marketed by major companies as a huge "improvement" or "user need" (to sell more ads) You might have inadvertently fallen for the fallacy of composition. What to describe is only one type of algorithm; one meant to maximize engagement/revenue. Mastodon has the potential for a user-centric "Bring your own algorithm"…

Mastodon simply cannot be that user centric because the user can only control the subset of the Fediverse that your instance is able and allowed to see. Given that single user instances are largely nonviable due to the abundance of blocking in the 'verse in lieu of adequate spam controls, which ActivityPub fundamentally lacks, your choice of homeserver matters more than anything. And of course, there's no good way to…

  > Most newcomers will simply give up when faced with the choice.
Why not give them back the top 5 instance list?

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#115

Post by whyenot »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #98
bigiain wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have for some time considered some of his decision making and community leadership skills a bit suspect. But like you, I am impressed by this move. I wonder if he's been watching Mullenweg and WordPress's recent drama?

Mullenweg, Zuckerberg, Musk, whoever runs Reddit now... there's no shortage of CEOs happy to enshittify their platforms.

Have you seen Reddit's recent stock prices? Bemoan enshtification if you want, but management's decision to include many long term users in the IPO and decisions since then have made many loyal redditors a lot of money ($34 -> $164.82).

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#116

Post by throwawayq3423 »

solarkraft wrote: post #3

Mastodon is on the right track. They’ve been doing so much right, the UX has improved considerably. I think there’s some mainstream appeal, but there are also ecosystem issues that aren’t solved easily, as well as a lack of algorithmic curation, which a lot of people deem very important.

A decentralized social network is an oxymoron. Centralization is the point.

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#117

Post by throwawayq3423 »

WorldMaker wrote: post #8
solarkraft wrote: post #3

Mastodon is on the right track. They’ve been doing so much right, the UX has improved considerably. I think there’s some mainstream appeal, but there are also ecosystem issues that aren’t solved easily, as well as a lack of algorithmic curation, which a lot of people deem very important.

> as well as a lack of algorithmic curation, which a lot of people deem very important. Twitter ran for enough of its early years without that and it still had "mainstream appeal". (Blogs and RSS for even more years.) I'm happier without algorithmic curation. I think a lot of people over-estimate what algorithmic curation is worth to them. Partly because algorithmic curation is a big business, tied in pretzel knots w…

When it was new. There are no excited early adopters to something that is 2 decades old.

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#118

Post by s1artibartfast »

spartanatreyu wrote: post #113
s1artibartfast wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If anyone starts spamming my feed: instant unfollow. How is that a feature? It would be entirely unnecessary with a feed mixer.

When you have an algorithm, it tends to favor some posts over others which in some cases is good but in other cases is oh so bad. The higher problem is the visibility of the algorithm misbehaving is reduced, so you're likely not even aware of how bad the problem is. Rather than have an algorithm and trying to hide any problems, Mastodon puts the problems front and centre. You are forced to deal with them. It makes yo…

That makes sense, just isn't how I understood your other comment. I thought you meant having to get rid of people with solid and interesting content that post more often than you want is somehow a feature.

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#119

Post by openrisk »

With bluesky bursting on the open source (and not yet enshittified) microblogging scene, mastodon needed to regroup and reposition.

This organizational change seems aligned and is a good sign that there is ambition and appetite to build further, starting with solid governance.

The first chapter of the re-decentralization of the online experience is closing. Lets hope there are many more and curious what the shape of new things to come will be.

Re: Mastodon announces new European non-profit, change of CEO

#120

Post by brianbest101 »

whyenot wrote: post #115
NoboruWataya wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mullenweg, Zuckerberg, Musk, whoever runs Reddit now... there's no shortage of CEOs happy to enshittify their platforms.

Have you seen Reddit's recent stock prices? Bemoan enshtification if you want, but management's decision to include many long term users in the IPO and decisions since then have made many loyal redditors a lot of money ($34 -> $164.82).

Stock prices do not help me find fixes for my 3d printer.
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