As I posted recently, the continuned growth of mastodon.social is putting the #Fediverse in danger (here's why: https://fedi.tips/its-a-really-bad-idea-to-join-a-big-server/).
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The continued growth of mastodon.social is putting the #Fediverse in danger (here's why: https://fedi.tips/its-a-really-bad-idea-to-join-a-big-server/).
The quickest, easiest and most effective way to solve this would be if the official apps & website stopped promoting mastodon.social, and instead promoted a rotating selection from a pool of reliable servers with solid track records.
If you're comfortable using Github, please give thumbs up to all these:
- https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-android/issues/568
- https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/1023
- https://github.com/mastodon/joinmastodon/issues/1052@FediTips We need a separation of Mastodon the software from Mastodon the service provider, it's an awful confict of interest.
They have the resource no other instance has, so there is no pressure to add better moderation controls that appreciate and respect the federated nature of moderating non-flagship instances. -
@FediTips
It looks like you've been championing this issue for years now, but I didn't see any of the main people working on Mastodon address it. Is there a way you could get a direct response from them on why Mastodon.social (the instance they own) is the "default" instance on the app?I am not one of the people who attacks Eugen personally, he's done more than anyone to popularise the Fediverse, we owe him. I don't agree with people who attack him.
But he doesn't really respond to criticism, and for some reason none of the others at Mastodon gGmbH respond about this issue either.
The only action Masto gGmbH has taken in response to my posts about this is banning me from trending on mastodon.social (that's why FediTips posts don't ever trend there any more).
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The continued growth of mastodon.social is putting the #Fediverse in danger (here's why: https://fedi.tips/its-a-really-bad-idea-to-join-a-big-server/).
The quickest, easiest and most effective way to solve this would be if the official apps & website stopped promoting mastodon.social, and instead promoted a rotating selection from a pool of reliable servers with solid track records.
If you're comfortable using Github, please give thumbs up to all these:
- https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-android/issues/568
- https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/1023
- https://github.com/mastodon/joinmastodon/issues/1052@FediTips Wait, I just read this blog post:
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/05/a-new-onboarding-experience-on-mastodon/
And I gotta admit, that is a cowardly response. Their excuse literally just is, "Because it's easier!" You know what else is easier? Centralized platforms. Does that mean they're better? No. We pay for convenience with our freedom.
This line is especially stupid, "This gives us a far better chance of showcasing what decentralized social networks have to offer instead of having that person bounce and never hearing from them again." How does growing an instance to 30+% of the userbase "showcase what decentralized social networks have to offer"??? Doesn't that literally do the opposite? And then they buried their heads in the sand and haven't addressed it since. That's pathetic.
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@FediTips We need a separation of Mastodon the software from Mastodon the service provider, it's an awful confict of interest.
They have the resource no other instance has, so there is no pressure to add better moderation controls that appreciate and respect the federated nature of moderating non-flagship instances.Dette indlæg er slettet! -
@FediTips Wait, I just read this blog post:
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/05/a-new-onboarding-experience-on-mastodon/
And I gotta admit, that is a cowardly response. Their excuse literally just is, "Because it's easier!" You know what else is easier? Centralized platforms. Does that mean they're better? No. We pay for convenience with our freedom.
This line is especially stupid, "This gives us a far better chance of showcasing what decentralized social networks have to offer instead of having that person bounce and never hearing from them again." How does growing an instance to 30+% of the userbase "showcase what decentralized social networks have to offer"??? Doesn't that literally do the opposite? And then they buried their heads in the sand and haven't addressed it since. That's pathetic.
Yeah, they should have transitioned it to promoting one rotating server from a pool of servers, and then it would have been just as easy for beginners but would have spread the growth out to stop it centralising.
They can still do this now, and I'm hopeful they see sense on this
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@FediTips We need a separation of Mastodon the software from Mastodon the service provider, it's an awful confict of interest.
They have the resource no other instance has, so there is no pressure to add better moderation controls that appreciate and respect the federated nature of moderating non-flagship instances.Yeah, there's too much power in one place:
-Main devs of most popular server software
-By far largest donations of any Fedi project
-Owners of by far largest server
-Owners of by far most used apps
-Owners of trademarks that let them control use of word "Mastodon" on social networks...if they get majority of Fediverse users too, that would make a heck of a package for a takeover.
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I am not one of the people who attacks Eugen personally, he's done more than anyone to popularise the Fediverse, we owe him. I don't agree with people who attack him.
But he doesn't really respond to criticism, and for some reason none of the others at Mastodon gGmbH respond about this issue either.
The only action Masto gGmbH has taken in response to my posts about this is banning me from trending on mastodon.social (that's why FediTips posts don't ever trend there any more).
@FediTips @Eeveecraft Well, damn. Blocking (or whatever it's called) you from Trending on Mastodon.social because you have a point of view that "there's more to Fediverse life than Mastondon.social" is petty. Especially since the point of the Fediverse is decentralization.
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@FediTips @Eeveecraft Well, damn. Blocking (or whatever it's called) you from Trending on Mastodon.social because you have a point of view that "there's more to Fediverse life than Mastondon.social" is petty. Especially since the point of the Fediverse is decentralization.
@Still_Nimmy @FediTips @Eeveecraft I've been considering moving from mastodon.social for awhile, I just never could figure out out which server to switch to. I guess I should start looking more seriously now.
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The continued growth of mastodon.social is putting the #Fediverse in danger (here's why: https://fedi.tips/its-a-really-bad-idea-to-join-a-big-server/).
The quickest, easiest and most effective way to solve this would be if the official apps & website stopped promoting mastodon.social, and instead promoted a rotating selection from a pool of reliable servers with solid track records.
If you're comfortable using Github, please give thumbs up to all these:
- https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-android/issues/568
- https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/1023
- https://github.com/mastodon/joinmastodon/issues/1052@FediTips I feel like when people ask for randomly assigned servers, there's a strange forgetfulness about which specific problem the default server was meant to solve.
Among people who signed up in 2022, the biggest reason (by far!) why people involuntarily left – that is, wanted to keep using Mastodon but failed to – was that they changed phones or browsers or just wanted to sign in on another device, and couldn't because they didn't know what server they were on.
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@FediTips I feel like when people ask for randomly assigned servers, there's a strange forgetfulness about which specific problem the default server was meant to solve.
Among people who signed up in 2022, the biggest reason (by far!) why people involuntarily left – that is, wanted to keep using Mastodon but failed to – was that they changed phones or browsers or just wanted to sign in on another device, and couldn't because they didn't know what server they were on.
@FediTips We can't be telling people “don't worry too much about all that server stuff for now” and also “oh you don't know if your account was on mstdn.social or mas.to, then you're just outta luck sorry”.
We also know that asking fedi newcomers to pick their own server does not work. Your suggestion addresses this point.
My conclusion is that having a default server for all newbies (not invited by a friend) is the best practical approach. Somewhere people can get their bearings.
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@FediTips We can't be telling people “don't worry too much about all that server stuff for now” and also “oh you don't know if your account was on mstdn.social or mas.to, then you're just outta luck sorry”.
We also know that asking fedi newcomers to pick their own server does not work. Your suggestion addresses this point.
My conclusion is that having a default server for all newbies (not invited by a friend) is the best practical approach. Somewhere people can get their bearings.
@FediTips And yes, I understand the cons.
IMHO the path forward is to improve the scope & simplicity of the account moving process, and then encouraging people on m.s to use it after some time. Not to abolish the default server.
I've been holding my tongue on this since @andypiper said Mastodon may reply to this with a blog post. But I hope we can acknowledge that a “rotating servers” suggestion is incomplete without an idea to (unobtrusively but reliably) teach people about their own server.
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@Still_Nimmy @FediTips @Eeveecraft I've been considering moving from mastodon.social for awhile, I just never could figure out out which server to switch to. I guess I should start looking more seriously now.
If you just want one suggestion a very similar and equally reliable alternative large alternative would be mas.to
If you want a selection of good medium-sized servers to choose from, you can find some at https://fedi.garden all of which are human-curated and have to be compatible with certain requirements listed at https://fedi.garden/about-this-site/
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@FediTips @Eeveecraft Well, damn. Blocking (or whatever it's called) you from Trending on Mastodon.social because you have a point of view that "there's more to Fediverse life than Mastondon.social" is petty. Especially since the point of the Fediverse is decentralization.
@FediTips @Eeveecraft To be clear, I'm not recommending, condoning, nor would I support, dogpiling on the moderators or instance admin(s) of Mastodon.social. That is not called for, nor acceptable.
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@FediTips @Eeveecraft To be clear, I'm not recommending, condoning, nor would I support, dogpiling on the moderators or instance admin(s) of Mastodon.social. That is not called for, nor acceptable.
Oh yeah, neither would I, and I don't think it's the fault of moderators on mastodon.social.
I think this problem is due to the leadership at Mastodon gGmbH, and they are the only ones who need to respond about this.
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If you just want one suggestion a very similar and equally reliable alternative large alternative would be mas.to
If you want a selection of good medium-sized servers to choose from, you can find some at https://fedi.garden all of which are human-curated and have to be compatible with certain requirements listed at https://fedi.garden/about-this-site/
What's your opinion of .world? I picked this cause someone I was interested in was here, but didn't give it any thought. It's absolutely default, and reliable. The "default" is bad cause it's only 500 character toot limit, but otherwise, it works well.
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What's your opinion of .world? I picked this cause someone I was interested in was here, but didn't give it any thought. It's absolutely default, and reliable. The "default" is bad cause it's only 500 character toot limit, but otherwise, it works well.
I don't know much about it, but it is up to date on the latest version, it has a detailed published code of conduct, it has multiple staff, its admin has posted recently and it has been operating since 2022 so those are good signs.
Its about page is at https://mastodon.world/about
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@FediTips We can't be telling people “don't worry too much about all that server stuff for now” and also “oh you don't know if your account was on mstdn.social or mas.to, then you're just outta luck sorry”.
We also know that asking fedi newcomers to pick their own server does not work. Your suggestion addresses this point.
My conclusion is that having a default server for all newbies (not invited by a friend) is the best practical approach. Somewhere people can get their bearings.
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Exactly. The solution is obvious, there are many servers with similarly reliable track records, promote one of those.
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@UlrikeHahn @FediTips My central point is about how rotating the default server solves none of this.
Except the difficulty of deciding on a server.I mean, what do we expect to happen when people forget their server name? Should the password reset process ask people whether they signed up during October or November?
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@UlrikeHahn @FediTips My central point is about how rotating the default server solves none of this.
Except the difficulty of deciding on a server.I mean, what do we expect to happen when people forget their server name? Should the password reset process ask people whether they signed up during October or November?
"I mean, what do we expect to happen when people forget their server name?"
Speaking as someone who has actually provided tech support for this over the past 5 years, people can find the name of their server on the email they received when they signed up.
People cannot sign up without an email, and *they always receive an email with the name of their server on it*
This is not the massive barrier you are making it out to be. They can just check their email if they forget.
