Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 118 posts

Re: Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

#31

Post by lapcat »

pimlottc wrote: post #27
Sithwuth wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious as to how many people manage to sign up for email addresses across a variety of providers despite all that decentralised server nonsense.

Are you kidding? The vast majority just use Gmail now, or perhaps an institutional account they were enrolled in “automatically” and have a strong motive to check regularly for school/work purposes.

Right. Most people get their email from work, school, their ISP, or from their OS provider: Google, Microsoft, Apple.

If you present people with a list of 30 email providers they've never heard of before, it's going to throw them for a loop.

Re: Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

#33

Post by [deleted] »

standardUser wrote: post #28
Sithwuth wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious as to how many people manage to sign up for email addresses across a variety of providers despite all that decentralised server nonsense.

Users think of Mastodon as analogous to Twitter. You can tell them they are wrong. But telling new and eager users they are wrong, and then offering an elaborate explanation as to why they are wrong and then requiring them to make a confusing choice with unclear consequences before they can even use the service is not a great strategy for growth.

[deleted]

Re: Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

#35

Post by defrost »

Sithwuth wrote: post #20

If you're thinking of trying Mastodon, I would recommend joining an interest-specific or locality-specific server rather than one of the general purpose servers, because the local community is likely to be stronger and more engaged. You can always jump ship later if you find it's not your thing Some examples: - https://fosstodon.org for FOSS - https://infosec.exchange for infosec - https://sfba.social for the bay are…

Of possible interest to some:

> Please consider joining @mastodon.acm.org, a community for #computing researchers & practitioners to connect & exchange ideas with each other, whether you are an ACM member or not.

https://mastodon.acm.org/invite/FbXaxAHg

Re: Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

#37

Post by davidgerard »

hoppoy wrote: post #29

My main problem with Mastodon is it's such a tiresome monoculture of opinion. So many people with the pretty much the same politics, biases, grievances as everyone else. Any server that dissents too much from this gets a fediverse block. The whole thing is just so tedious. I don't know about the rest of you, but I enjoy reading opinions from people I have nothing in common with in terms of world view, and whom I vehe…

I'm sure there's somewhere in the Pleroma parts you'll fit in better.

Re: Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

#38

Post by rsynnott »

standardUser wrote: post #24
jghn wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This assumes one cares about the local community aspect of Mastodon. Granted many people do in which case your advice is spot on. But if you're just looking for a pure Twitter replacement, it doesn't matter. In fact you might be better off on one of the big players as they're probably less likely to be fly-by-night.

It would be nice if new users were simply assigned a big, generic server (like in many MMOs) and then later had the option to seek out and find a niche server. The vast, vast majority of new users wouldn't know or care either way.

That's more or less what _happens_; people join mastodon.social and then move.

Re: Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

#39

Post by smoldesu »

standardUser wrote: post #4

Twitter faces no real threat from Mastodon until they streamline their sign up process and mask the "decentralized server" nonsense. I understand that the people here don't see it as nonsense, but the millions of less tech savvy users needed to make it a true Twitter alternative do see it that way and it will prevent Mastodon from ever being more than a niche service. It's a baffling process to the everyday user who…

That's fine. Mastodon's goal isn't to replace Twitter, but the way Twitter is heading I wouldn't blame people who use it as a replacement.

Mastodon's real problem is that it doesn't have sex appeal. It's not a Game of Thrones celebrity throwdown like Twitter, and it lacks the marketing of successful viral platforms like TikTok or Instagram. It was a conscious decision too - calling posts toots and designing the entire network to be distributed - making it less social was part of making it more healthy. Even now, Mastodon maintainers waffle at the idea of making the platform more Twitter-like because it dilutes the balance the platform has cultivated over the past few years.

It's like saying that Discord doesn't face any threat from IRC. You might be right from a financial perspective, but the communities around them are completely different things. It's an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Re: Twitter Suspends @Joinmastodon

#40

Post by none_to_remain »

Sithwuth wrote: post #10
standardUser wrote: post #4

Twitter faces no real threat from Mastodon until they streamline their sign up process and mask the "decentralized server" nonsense. I understand that the people here don't see it as nonsense, but the millions of less tech savvy users needed to make it a true Twitter alternative do see it that way and it will prevent Mastodon from ever being more than a niche service. It's a baffling process to the everyday user who…

Curious as to how many people manage to sign up for email addresses across a variety of providers despite all that decentralised server nonsense.

In practice we don't see situations arising where Yahoo users can't send email to Gmail users because the boss of Gmail doesn't like that that the boss of Yahoo allows Fastmail users to send email to Yahoo users
Post reply on HN