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Mastodon [0] has a default character limit of 500, which individual instances can turn up or down as they see fit (Mastodon is a federated network). Hundreds of

Mastodon [0] has a default character limit of 500, which individual instances can turn up or down as they see fit (Mastodon is a federated network). Hundreds of thousands of people use it and the social dynamics work just fine, or even better, with the additional breathing room for expression. To me Twitter's attachment to such a low cap feels like an anachronism. [0] https://joinmastodon.org https://joinmastodon.org

UberActivist 9y ago
I've been using it for about 2 weeks now and I love it. If you pick a cool instance related to your interests and toot to your liking, you often get responses almost instantly from people reading the local and federated timelines, and you get tons of new people to follow as well. It just feels so much more open to meeting new people than Twitter does.
aaron-lebo 9y ago
Very cool but too nerdy. Visiting that site requires clicking "Get Started" which then directs you to a list of instances, from which you choose a server and sign up (not sure because in the age of 140 chars don't have the attention span to follow through). Without doing that there's no content short of a bunch of reasons why Mastodon is open and free, but the average user doesn't care about that. It's kind of preaching to the choir which means that the choir is gonna dominate it. Maybe the goal isn't mass adoption, or maybe adoption would be a long term result of smaller communities getting popular, but wish it'd just get to the product a lot quicker than it does.
- mintplant 9y ago
  You could point people to https://mastodon.social https://mastodon.social, the "flagship" instance, or directly to any other instance's homepage. There's something of a word-of-mouth aspect here, in that instances targeted toward particular communities can be more attractive to people within those communities than general-purpose social networks. There's an instance chooser wizard at https://instances.social/ https://instances.social/, but I can see someone looking at that and calling it too complicated as well.
  - madeofpalk 9y ago
    > Mastodon > Mastodon hosted on mastodon.social Umm what? > What is mastodon.social? > mastodon.social is the "flagship" instance, belonging to the Mastodon project. ...sure.
    - Spivak 9y ago
      > Twitter > Twitter is hosted on twitter.com Seems to make sense. > What is twitter.com > twitter.com is the "public" instance of the Twitter service. You were one layer away from the answer. What is the Mastodon Project? > The world’s largest free, open-source, decentralized microblogging network.
    - UberActivist 9y ago
      I poked the owner and he updated mastodon.social to say this and be more clear... > What is mastodon.social? > This page describes the mastodon.social instance - wondering what Mastodon is? Check out joinmastodon.org instead! In essence, Mastodon is a decentralized, open source social network. This is just one part of the network, run by the main developers of the project It is not focused on any particular niche interest - everyone is welcome as long as you follow our code of conduct!
supernintendo 9y ago
It doesn't just feel like an anachronism, it is one. The cap was chosen to conform to the 160 character limit of SMS (140 characters in the tweet and 20 characters for your Twitter handle).
ufo 9y ago
Do you need to have an account to lurk around a mastodon instance?
- glenstein 9y ago
  It helps. But now, if you scroll down on the generic signup page that each instance greets you with, there's a "look inside" box with recent messages from users of that instance.
- mintplant 9y ago
  Mastoview is a tool for previewing Mastodon instances without signing up: http://www.unmung.com/mastoview http://www.unmung.com/mastoview
orthecreedence 9y ago
I really wanted to like Mastodon, but their "default" instance is just too restrictive on speech. It's basically a tumblrina safe space network. I'm saying this as a mostly-liberal, not your average OMG LIBTARDS ARE SNOWFLAKES person. If a social network, even a federated one, wants to gain traction, it needs to be a bit more open. Yeah, nazis are obnoxious assholes, but I'd rather have a network with them on it (and just ignore them) than have to constantly worry "am I saying the 'wrong thing'??" each time I post something. I mean, the whole point of distribution seems to be that you can say what you want and it can't get shut down. Mastodon's ideals are at odds with its goals, IMO.
- boyce 9y ago
  Say the flagship instance was a free speech one, what do you think would be the consequences
- matunixe 9y ago
  Yeah GTFO nazi lover, you definitely not belong on Mastodon.
  - kakarot 9y ago
    Took a look at your post history. It's rather negative and angry and projecting. This kind of anti-social speech is detrimental to a healty community and if you represent the average person on Mastodon then I will stay far away.
    - mintplant 9y ago
      I have no idea what was written here before it was flag-killed, but "negative and angry and projecting" doesn't describe my experience with people on Mastodon. Very much the opposite.
      - kakarot 9y ago
        Maybe this person was just an example of the stupidest / loudest misrepresenting the whole. I have to say it was very off-putting.
boyce 9y ago
Rapidly approaching a million accounts

UberActivist 9y ago

I've been using it for about 2 weeks now and I love it. If you pick a cool instance related to your interests and toot to your liking, you often get responses almost instantly from people reading the local and federated timelines, and you get tons of new people to follow as well. It just feels so much more open to meeting new people than Twitter does.

aaron-lebo 9y ago

Very cool but too nerdy. Visiting that site requires clicking "Get Started" which then directs you to a list of instances, from which you choose a server and sign up (not sure because in the age of 140 chars don't have the attention span to follow through). Without doing that there's no content short of a bunch of reasons why Mastodon is open and free, but the average user doesn't care about that. It's kind of preaching to the choir which means that the choir is gonna dominate it. Maybe the goal isn't mass adoption, or maybe adoption would be a long term result of smaller communities getting popular, but wish it'd just get to the product a lot quicker than it does.

mintplant 9y ago
You could point people to https://mastodon.social https://mastodon.social, the "flagship" instance, or directly to any other instance's homepage. There's something of a word-of-mouth aspect here, in that instances targeted toward particular communities can be more attractive to people within those communities than general-purpose social networks. There's an instance chooser wizard at https://instances.social/ https://instances.social/, but I can see someone looking at that and calling it too complicated as well.
- madeofpalk 9y ago
  > Mastodon > Mastodon hosted on mastodon.social Umm what? > What is mastodon.social? > mastodon.social is the "flagship" instance, belonging to the Mastodon project. ...sure.
  - Spivak 9y ago
    > Twitter > Twitter is hosted on twitter.com Seems to make sense. > What is twitter.com > twitter.com is the "public" instance of the Twitter service. You were one layer away from the answer. What is the Mastodon Project? > The world’s largest free, open-source, decentralized microblogging network.
  - UberActivist 9y ago
    I poked the owner and he updated mastodon.social to say this and be more clear... > What is mastodon.social? > This page describes the mastodon.social instance - wondering what Mastodon is? Check out joinmastodon.org instead! In essence, Mastodon is a decentralized, open source social network. This is just one part of the network, run by the main developers of the project It is not focused on any particular niche interest - everyone is welcome as long as you follow our code of conduct!

supernintendo 9y ago

It doesn't just feel like an anachronism, it is one. The cap was chosen to conform to the 160 character limit of SMS (140 characters in the tweet and 20 characters for your Twitter handle).

ufo 9y ago

Do you need to have an account to lurk around a mastodon instance?

glenstein 9y ago
It helps. But now, if you scroll down on the generic signup page that each instance greets you with, there's a "look inside" box with recent messages from users of that instance.
mintplant 9y ago
Mastoview is a tool for previewing Mastodon instances without signing up: http://www.unmung.com/mastoview http://www.unmung.com/mastoview

orthecreedence 9y ago

I really wanted to like Mastodon, but their "default" instance is just too restrictive on speech. It's basically a tumblrina safe space network. I'm saying this as a mostly-liberal, not your average OMG LIBTARDS ARE SNOWFLAKES person. If a social network, even a federated one, wants to gain traction, it needs to be a bit more open. Yeah, nazis are obnoxious assholes, but I'd rather have a network with them on it (and just ignore them) than have to constantly worry "am I saying the 'wrong thing'??" each time I post something. I mean, the whole point of distribution seems to be that you can say what you want and it can't get shut down. Mastodon's ideals are at odds with its goals, IMO.

boyce 9y ago
Say the flagship instance was a free speech one, what do you think would be the consequences
matunixe 9y ago
Yeah GTFO nazi lover, you definitely not belong on Mastodon.
- kakarot 9y ago
  Took a look at your post history. It's rather negative and angry and projecting. This kind of anti-social speech is detrimental to a healty community and if you represent the average person on Mastodon then I will stay far away.
  - mintplant 9y ago
    I have no idea what was written here before it was flag-killed, but "negative and angry and projecting" doesn't describe my experience with people on Mastodon. Very much the opposite.
    - kakarot 9y ago
      Maybe this person was just an example of the stupidest / loudest misrepresenting the whole. I have to say it was very off-putting.

boyce 9y ago

Rapidly approaching a million accounts