So, as far as I understand, mastodon social implements some of the beta features that are not fully rolled out. How am I to give feedback on them? (Preferably without actually activating my super old unused github account - FYI, yes, I know how to use git but work on a local gitlab installation).
Because I'm really unhappy about the way the replies work in the browser on mobile (I need to see the whole post I reply to, not just the first few lines!)
@vicgrinberg@dgoldsmith Yeah, I'd definitely say the donor Discord probably has the best signal-to-noise ratio, and hence is probably the best way to get feedback noticed and discussed (imagine how many people probably mention Eugen or Mastodon on the fedi every day), but it requires using yet-another-proprietary-chat-service, and only the lobby channel is accessible for free.
@vicgrinberg@dgoldsmith It does seem a but strange with Mastodon having a default 500 character limit, which is already pretty tight, that we can't see whole messages there. The cutoff makes sense when replying to a post which allows longer length posts, but not the default length ones.
@ocdtrekkie@dgoldsmith yeah, this... And thanks of reminding me of discord; I did actually donate this year so may have access to it. But have to first find out again how to use it and how to turn all their awfulness off (I think their default allows AI training on data...).
@vicgrinberg@dgoldsmith I recommend not using the actual app for one, the default behavior does things like "seeing what games you are currently playing", that I really don't think a chat app should be doing without permission. Within the normal web browser, you can manage it a bit better.
Discord is something I would never touch if not for the ten groups in my life that insist I do.
@ocdtrekkie@dgoldsmith ahaha at the last sentence. I used it mainly for our DnD rounds during the pandemic lockdown since this seemed to be the one free solution that worked for most folks. Luckily there aren't many other reasons to.
@vicgrinberg My understanding (which is not great) is that the "client" refers to the web interface. I think tagging the app would get the attention of some of the developers and they would pass on your concern to the right people. Neither of those tags gets a lot of traffic so you wouldn't be polluting tag space much.
You could also tag the <at> Mastodon account, perhaps?
@aktbar "A Mastodon client performs similar functions as the standard web interfaces." - and I am talking about the standard Web interface here. Simple browser. 😒
I know what Elk is. I sometimes use it, but mostly I'm using and here worried in the standard Web interface.
@vicgrinberg Hmmm. So Elk (and the other web clients) access the underlying data differently than the standard web interface? That would seem strange to me, but entirely possible. I would think that the "standard web interface" would really be the "standard web client."
From the relatively-generic ios developer page (after a quick search) "...in fact, our web client is just an API client that runs in the browser." That suggests the client tag is appropriate.
Since dev happens on github I expect that is the most direct way to highlight your complaint to devs, but I've also seen people speaking directly to some of the more famous devs on masto, like Eugen. Not sure how well that works in practice.
(my wife tends to just make a new girhub account when she forgets the details to the old one)
@tobychev thanks. Not server admins (since it's not really about a server issue?), I was mainly wondering whether there was a direct feedback line for developers that would not need a github account - I can recover mine, but it does assume that one is familiar and comfortable with that structure. Would be better if there was a different way.
@vicgrinberg
(I wondered if you meant you didn't like the instance running beta features)
I couldn't find any other "official" channel, and since open source is at its core a developer philosophy I'm not surprised: open source projects tend to expect a substantial level of familiarity with development practices from those that address them directly.
Usually what exists is github and maybe some social media channel, and it takes a long time until a project develops enough formal structure that it creates some sort of public friendly feedback mechanism.
@tobychev nah, I'm aware what instance I'm on 😅 Some of the beta features are fun!
And well, mastodon is open source (I am a scientist who, among other things, worked on research/analysis software in astrophysics, so familiar with open source projects), but it's also a bit larger by now than just a random project ...
Oh well, let's hope we missed something or that's one of those features which get scrapped in the end. And I'll get hold of my old account if nobody else suggest a better way.
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