For the first time ever, I’m torn about whether I should stay on mastodon.social.
Being here has given me a voice I’ve never had, to talk about a topic that I feel strongly about, and I feel I’ve made the world a slightly different place.
But I also wonder if mastodon.social is becoming even more hostile to the rest of the Fediverse.
@atomicpoet Leave mastodon and join another imo! I should do the same, I keep talking about it but not haha
I briefly tried a calckey instance recently and it seems amazing.
@atomicpoet I believe the Fediverse is doomed if it doesn't have broad funding and support. Moving to one project or another doesn't solve the underlying problem imo.
But yeah, if Mastodon doesn't work for you, either improve it if you are capable or go to another project and support it. The BDFL style development is doomed imo.
@atomicpoet
I've been experimenting with #calckey and have really liked it so far. I'm likely just to spin up my own instance. I'm not very happy with the direction Mastodon is taking and don't really want to trust my online identity to a third party anymore. @evan@mike
I’ve said for awhile that, when it comes to the Fediverse, people have myopia regarding the possibilities of ActivityPub and are focusing too much on Mastodon.
Partly, that’s because once you’re in Mastodon, it’s very hard to know about the Fediverse outside of it.
As a result, people who use Mastodon think the Fediverse is Mastodon.
@atomicpoet@spreadmastodon I like mastodon and I am too lazy and on too many social media to investigate the fediverse further. I landed here from twitter, I’m happy with the little community I have. 🤷🏼♀️
@atomicpoet@spreadmastodon I know right. People are centralizing the Fediverse just with only a social network. This isn't fair for me, a person who wants to explore all of those fediversal alternatives of totalitarian, orwellian counterparts.
@atomicpoet@mammoth Jack Dorcey, Twitter's co-founder, recently critisized Elon Musk's twitter management. If BlueSky becomes strong than activity pub, the power of Twitter's Ex-CEO will flurish again, for ever and ever. Amen
@atomicpoet@mammoth Jack Will take the lead, believe me. Even the client that I'm writing this post will gain support. Believe me that the Fediverse is like the United States, with servers/instances as states. It's like the opposite of Twitter's Oceania like structure
Quite a turn around there (for me at least) on mammoth ... and I think you're absolutely right.
At a broader level, I feel like there is an evolution here, worth tracking, of what "the instance" means to people and how it gets projected onto fedi-advocacy and inducting newcomers.
My initial concern is to worry about how the construct, both from a UX and ecosystem level perspective, is intrinsically problematic.
@atomicpoet as long as I am able to get posts by "@press.coop" folks/outfits, I am happy and will continue with #Mastodon. Is it bad I don't care aside from that?
@atomicpoet I was having similar thoughts just recently ... in thinking about developer/advocate activity since "the migration".
The thought was: could it have been a fundamental mistake to accept mastodon as the de facto platform rather than embracing or building an ecosystem for platforms.
The key for me, was that as mastodon was/is so dominant, to not act at the platform level, and build tools/software for a diverse platform ecosystem, was to accept/cause the centralisation you speak of.
Personally, I have had and continue to have a very satisfying experience on Mastodon. For that, "Thank You" to all the progressive, creative people, caring and sharing! The mix of posts--art, animals, plants, scenery, and acts of resistance--are altogether refreshing.
Loyal to a platform? Never.
Just here boosting in hope of supporting good people and good causes.
@atomicpoet
You can see how well that attitude has worked out in large scale with billionaires who would master the world by destroying most of it. Not something to emulate.
@oliphant@TerryHancock@atomicpoet can't have your cake and eat it too. If people want to criticize Mastodon's governance it's fine to make a fork, but then they can't expect the same development velocity unless they're willing to put in the work (and by that show that the alternative governance model they're pushing for does produce the required development velocity).
Part of the pain for the fediverse at the moment, as I see it, is I think a honeymoon period is coming to a close and a set of critiques are settling into some consensus over which many are happily moving off of the fediverse. (Eg, https://erinkissane.com/blue-skies-over-mastodon).
Except, all of these opinions are addressed at #mastodon. The fediverse has probably been judged and rejected solely by its mastodon "cover".
@atomicpoet@spreadmastodon
Which is annoyingly on point, because if the fediverse were really the diverse federation that it's supposed to be, this wouldn't have been possible.
There would be plenty of people out there saying "actually, I've only used X which doesn't have that problem at all ... come check it out ... it's super easy".
Instead, who even knows or cares about the alternative platforms? Should it be this hard to know/care? What could have been done instead?
@atomicpoet@spreadmastodon We know that Tumblr is intent on joining fediverse. As is possibly Meta-owned systems. In that situation I’d consider a strong mastodon.social to be a good thing.
I understand your worry about the smaller instance (I’m on a small one myself), but still I think the point stands.
@atomicpoet this post. This is why the “put everyone on .social and move them later”, is the wrong response to the issue. It’s very hard for normies to make one change, let alone multiple.
Even as a techie, I am lethargic to the mastodon competitors, mainly because there’s not enough differentiation.
@atomicpoet Are there useful advice articles for other parts of the fediverse? I'd like to try some; I have a bookwyrm already (that was easy, a UK bookwyrm posts here inviting people to join) and am going to set up a calckey when I can get enough brain cells firing in the same direction. When I joined mastodon I tried to learn more about others but got bogged down in the same decision-paralysis which-instance problem PLUS even deciding which to try.
M had indepth articles, the rest a paragraph
@oliphant I did that. And when I put the Pix url into Masto search I can find the Pix account and follow it. On Pix I see my Masto account as follower. But on Masto I don't see Pix on list of who I'm following and the Pix posts aren't showing in the home or Federated timeline.
@oliphant good question for @SSelf which is my Masto instance. Also noticing profile pix here don't load as often as they load. Does bugginess vary by instance? That's not a criticism, I realize running an instance is probably a giant headache and wouldn't wish it upon my greatest enemy.
@oliphant how do you upgrade Pixelfed if you're using it on a browser? I logged out and logged back in because it had been awhile since I'd done that. But nowhere in my Pixelfed settings do I see a place to update to latest version. Thanks for your patience, I realize most people aren't here to do IT support for strangers!
@Occidental@oliphant
Starting a new account on an upgraded server would be a straightforward way of testing whether or not it's a version issue.
Might also be worth using an additional Pixelfed account to investigate compatibility with its versions??
I don't know if this would be a solution, but it's something you can do on your own initiative.
Good luck finding a way which works.
@oliphant yeah that's what I thought, too, but didn't want to assume. And I legit feel the pain of whoever manages these things. Can only imagine the list of demands on their desks.
@atomicpoet
I'm part of the twittermigration. I started on Mastodon.social, because it's the only one I had heard of, and have since discovered the many other things the fediverse has to offer. I'm still amazed at what I didn't know. I am sure there will be a rise in the use of mastodon.social but I also believe that when people will see what's around, a core of the adventuous will keep the diversity of the fediverse by moving around. I am very open to changing in the future.
@atomicpoet
We're getting a big exodus from Twitter. That's a microblogging platform, so people are looking for a new microblogging platform. I was on Twitter all the time, but I only used Instagram and Facebook to promote my business. Since I don't have that anymore, I'm not particularly interested in Pixelfed or Friendica as replacements for apps I don't use. You're probably more likely to find new Pixelfed enthusiasts on Instagram, not Twitter.
@atomicpoet
There are two issues. One, microblogging is overweighted in the Fediverse as compared to Friendica, Pixelfed, and other types of apps. I think that's because of where users are coming from. Two, Mastodon is overweighted within microblogging. We need to spread out new referrals.
@atomicpoet Really useful that Calckey also supports migrating posts, should also definitely be possible but isn't available here on Mastodon. Definitely would have helped lots when I was moving away from mastodon.lol with it's admin drama.
Hope it does also get added to mastodon at some point since that's basically the inly thing holding me here instead of sometimes explore hopping. Don't want to lose my post history if I'm able too avoid it
Dear atomicpoet at mastodon social: I believe that you have provided a positive influence on mastodon social, I also believe that if you should leave mastodon social, wherever you go you will enrich that social media platform. I do not know if mastodon social is becoming hostile, if it is becoming hostile, the owners and moderators should fix the problem before it becomes another Twitter. I read a lot of your posts, so I think I can say that you are a sincere person who will positively contribute to any social media platform.
I really do not know if you should stay and fight or move on, what I do know is that you should not allow mastodon social to define you. Mastodon social is lucky to have you, so do what your heart ❤ tells you to do. Either way you will make the right decision, there is no predefined right path in life for any of us, there is only right thoughts which cause us to do positive right actions.
@atomicpoet
Maybe go both ways and have two accounts on different servers?
Your mastodon.social account could reblog what you post on your outer account so people there don't miss anything. That way if mastodon.social doesn't work out or gets blocked, your posts are still available because they originated elsewhere.
I think something called a "relay" can automate the reblogging.
@atomicpoet I would prefer you to stay as it will be easier for me with my aging IT knowledge to learn what the fediverse can offer me. I have learnt plenty from you already. I appreciate even if you move somewhere else I will still be able to see what you are post about but I think there is an argument for you to stay here making your points to an audience that may need to hear(read) what you are telling them about the wider fediverse than this first toe dipping.
@atomicpoet if you want advanced search you can come to my instance we don't have as many users as mastodon.social but we would welcome you if you decide to join us at universeodon.com
@atomicpoet Considero que si no tienes las condiciones para continuar la lucha en ese espacio, debes optar por migrar y continuar posteando tus reflexiones, valiosas y pertinentes, para todo aquel que desee analizar críticamente la tecnología y servicios que se ofrecen a miles de personas en el mundo.
Gracias por escribir cosas interesantes y te sigo con atención desde Sur América.
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