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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.

Should I stay and fight? Or is this a lost cause?
in reply to Chris Trottier

Senna 🌿
Senna 🌿
• •
but even if you change instances, you'll retain most of your followers and everyone can still discover you on fedi.

I mean, that's the point, right?
in reply to Senna 🌿

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
@earth_walker Even with followers, I will no longer have the reach. Discoverability will become harder. Not everyone will discover me.
@Senna 🌿
in reply to Chris Trottier

ch0ccyra1n :she_her:
ch0ccyra1n :she_her:
• •
Perhaps this would be a great opportunity to utilize your backup account on atomicpoet dot org?
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
I talk to lots of devs, server admins, and users—and the trend has been that Mastodon’s BDFL approach is actively harming the rest of the Fediverse.

Community safety features haven’t been implemented in years.

Aspects of ActivityPub aren’t utilized or they’re kneecapped even though they’ve been present since the very beginning.

Things that are possible elsewhere on the Fediverse aren’t possible on Mastodon.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Sky UwU
Sky UwU
• •
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*.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
Here’s what especially bothers me.

Nomadic identity already exists on the Fediverse. @evan, who co-authored ActivityPub, has said it is possible.

@mike has made a protocol that does nomadic identity, and he’s building a Fediverse Identity Manager too.

#Calckey allows you to not just migrate but import your posts.

I wouldn’t mind mastodon.social being the default server if Mastodon has nomadic identity.

But it doesn’t.

On this point, even #Bluesky has an advantage here.
#bluesky #calckey @Mike Macgirvin @evan
in reply to Chris Trottier

Jake :QueerCat_Bisexual:
Jake :QueerCat_Bisexual:
• •
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
#calckey @Mike Macgirvin @evan
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
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.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Brown
Chris Brown
• •
Next you're going to tell me the Metaverse isn't Facebook
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
We’re at the point where Mastodon clients are actively hostile about server apps that aren’t Mastodon—despite using Mastodon’s API.

And it’s questionable to me whether or not Mastodon’s API should be the “standard”.

The Fediverse shouldn’t be a competition. Yet, I feel the Fediverse is becoming more hostile to people who don’t use Mastodon.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
One thing that gets me is all the folks who say, “We need to spread Mastodon—and then after they join Mastodon, they’ll be sold on the Fediverse.”

Frankly, I’m skeptical about that approach.

I’ve looked through the stats. Few people migrate to other parts of the Fediverse after joining Mastodon.

Mastodon is 80% of the Fediverse.

It’s closest competitor is Misskey—and Misskey is 3% of the Fediverse.

This despite that Misskey is in many ways superior to Mastodon in terms of usability.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
For awhile, I was okay with Mastodon being 80% of the Fediverse.

I was also okay with a campaign like @spreadmastodon.

But now I’m wondering: will servers that *aren’t* mastodon.social benefit from this campaign?

Have we gone from Mastodon dominating the Fediverse to now mastodon.social dominating it too?

This is not an irrational fear.
@Spread Mastodon
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
Despite my worries, I have some hope about the current state of the Fediverse.

1. @mammoth was right to default to its own app-specific server—I was wrong. Other app developers should follow suit

2. The *key apps are growing very fast, especially in Japan—but also in the West too

3. There’s Bluesky—so if ActivityPub fails to decentralize, AT protocol is an option

Mastodon is not *yet* the only option.
@Mammoth
in reply to Chris Trottier

Luis Carlos
Luis Carlos
• •
@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
@Mammoth
in reply to Chris Trottier

Luis Carlos
Luis Carlos
• •
@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
@Mammoth
in reply to Chris Trottier

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
What’s become apparent to me it’s not enough to advocate for Mastodon and call it a day.

Decentralization is going to be a fight within the Fediverse too.

Not everyone on Mastodon wants decentralization. Instead, they want Mastodon to “win”—and “winning” means crushing everything else.
This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to Chris Trottier

Jesse Boyd
Jesse Boyd
• •
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?
#Mastodon
in reply to Chris Trottier

maegul
maegul
• •
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.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Soc-i-eTy
Soc-i-eTy
• •
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.

<img class=" title=":mastodon:"/>
in reply to Chris Trottier

Enrique Barcelli
Enrique Barcelli
• •
this might be an overstatement.

There is no way an #opensource project could be everything to everyone. #Mastodon will not be the exception.

There will be some people who would use it and some others who would use something else, including many forks which may start from Mastodon itself.

I believe all the innovation going on the #Fediverse applications is where the actual success is. 😊
#Mastodon #opensource #fediverse
in reply to Chris Trottier

maegul
maegul
• •
@mammoth

Quite a turn around there (for 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.
@Mammoth
in reply to Chris Trottier

david
david
• •
@mammoth

What do you think of Secure Scuttlebutt?

The work
@staltz has teased in his most recent manyverse supporters update, here https://www.manyver.se/blog/2023-04-05 sound really intriguing.

April 2023 update

A social network off the grid – mobile and available on Android
www.manyver.se
@André Staltz @Mammoth
in reply to Chris Trottier

Nona Rose
Nona Rose
• •
@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. 🤷🏼‍♀️
@Spread Mastodon
in reply to Chris Trottier

Luis Carlos
Luis Carlos
• •
@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.
@Spread Mastodon
in reply to Chris Trottier

maegul
maegul
• •
@spreadmastodon

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".

Erin Kissane

In the early 80s, my mom worked a couple shifts a month at a little small-town food co-op that smelled like nutritional mummy. She brought home
erinkissane.com
#Mastodon @Spread Mastodon
in reply to Chris Trottier

Torb (old account)
Torb (old account)
• •
@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 understsnd your worry about the smaller instance (I’m on a small one myself), but still I think the point stands.
@Spread Mastodon
in reply to Chris Trottier

Michael Miller :blobrdm: 🦆
Michael Miller :blobrdm: 🦆
• •
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.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Elisheva Meira ✡︎ 🌈
Elisheva Meira ✡︎ 🌈
• •
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
in reply to Chris Trottier

Tip
Tip
• •
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.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Baruch 🇮🇱
Baruch 🇮🇱
• •
Is there a feature request to add nomadic identity to Mastodon? Let's get the campaign started!
in reply to Chris Trottier

Humbird0 Fandom
Humbird0 Fandom
• •
@evan @mike
I only just today learned about "nomadic identity." It sounds fascinating.

I hear Hubzilla is pretty good.
@Mike Macgirvin @evan
in reply to Chris Trottier

Liera the space dragon
Liera the space dragon
• •
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

Neat breakdown btw!
in reply to Chris Trottier

mempko
mempko
• •
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.
in reply to Chris Trottier

@hcv41
@hcv41
• •
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.
Unknown parent

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
@Linux_in_a_Bit @earth_walker Sometimes I don’t want discoverability. That’s why I have accounts elsewhere. But this account has a purpose.
@Linux in a Bit 🐧 @Senna 🌿
in reply to Chris Trottier

Kigelia
Kigelia
• •
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.
in reply to Chris Trottier

Humbird0 Fandom
Humbird0 Fandom
• •
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.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mastodon/comments/jgy2tz/what_are_some_of_the_biggest_relays_to_join/

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com
Unknown parent

Chris Trottier
Chris Trottier
• •
@Cassandra There's other microblogging platforms on the Fediverse besides Mastodon.
in reply to Chris Trottier

eshep
eshep
•
If you don't feel comfortable there, move somewhere you do. Then just put a line in your bio saying the account is now inactive/archived and link to where you can be refollowed.

I know you already know this but for the benefit of those who may not, here my view on moving. If you continue to address Fediverse News in your posts as you already do for many of them, you'll have pretty much the same voice from your new home. Start adding more #tags in the text of your posts to both widen and focus the audience for who they're intended. And maybe a bit overkill, but you could always tag this account of yours in future posts from your new one for a while to help lead folks to it.
#tags
in reply to Chris Trottier

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
• •
you should move. It's pretty great out here in the broader fedi world. I also started off on m.s, and moved twice since.
in reply to Chris Trottier

nonlinear
nonlinear
• •
You mean the instance? I think it's best to always dig deeper, be less central.

Me and my friends are about to create an instance on praxis.nyc... my friend gas experience managing instances, so it's better.
in reply to Chris Trottier

fedi :fediverse:
fedi :fediverse:
• •
I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other as to whether you should leave dot social but if you do:

1. consider Fosstodon
2. consider your own single user instance like did Aral Balkan: https://ar.al/
3. consider https://treehouse.systems
4. consider creating a new multi-user instance specifically for fedi devs
5. consider a generalist instance like this one: https://masto.ai

I don't believe being on the biggest instance gives a big advantage as to reach.

Aral Balkan

Aral Balkan’s personal web site. Covers small technology as an alternative to big tech and surveillance capitalism, human rights in the digital age (cyborg rights), personhood, and democracy.
Aral Balkan
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