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So as far as my simple mind understands, mastodon is a Twitter alternative. But without the adds, true timeconsistent Timeline, without annoying have you seen t

So as far as my simple mind understands, mastodon is a Twitter alternative. But without the adds, true timeconsistent Timeline, without annoying have you seen this tweet yet algorithms and simply working. But the problem is that it is a social network, that depends on your social network and its embrace of mastodon. Am i right?

thom_nic 9y ago
Actually I thought it's more like Usenet as soon as I started scrolling through https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started
Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
Yes, you're more or less correct. However, as someone who ditched Twitter for Mastodon, I don't miss Twitter. There's a vibrant community on Mastodon and you'll feel right at home. It'll only get better as more people make the leap.
- alkonaut 9y ago
  > Yes, you're more or less correct. However, as someone who ditched Twitter for Mastodon, I don't miss Twitter. There's a vibrant community on Mastodon and you'll feel right at home. I tried to quit twitter for Mastodon (because it felt more like an open effort than a facebook-esque megacorp) but I was immediately confused by the distributed thing. I thought it was going to be distributed in terms of how it operated, not in terms of the actual social networks being more or less separated. I understood I could follow people from other instances, but only if the instance was somehow connected to the other instance. This confused me even more. How do I pick an instance without ever running into the risk that interesting person X joins in the future and doesn't pick an instance disconnected from the group of instances I'm in? Basically I just use twitter for news: I follow some big names and organizations and just read from the firehose of news coming out. I probably have a lower than 1/10000 read to write ratio. Am I trying to use Mastodon like Twitter in a way it wasn't designed for?
  - daveid 9y ago
    You've got it a bit backwards, because instances don't connect and have no reason to connect except for following specific people. So you follow someone -> that creates a connection. Not the other way around.
  - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
    >I understood I could follow people from other instances, but only if the instance was somehow connected to the other instance. [...] How do I pick an instance without ever running into the risk that interesting person X joins in the future and doesn't pick an instance disconnected from the group of instances I'm in? In practice this is not a problem. You can pick any popular instance and it will work with everyone. All instances are connected with each other by default, instances are generally only explicitly "defederated" when they're havens for trolls, racists, etc. Besides, if you're trying to follow someone and the instance is defederated (something I've never run into, by the way), your admin is just a quick message away. Mastodon instances are small and the admins have a low workload, they're typically quite accessible. >Basically I just use twitter for news: I follow some big names and organizations and just read from the firehose of news coming out. I probably have a lower than 1/10000 read to write ratio. >Am I trying to use Mastodon like Twitter in a way it wasn't designed for? The only reason this might be the "wrong" approach is the general lack of big name organizations posting news. Most instances are hostile to companies settling in - Mastodon is for people, not brands. That being said, brands could run their own instances and be federated with anyone who wants to follow them. That aside, there's no wrong way to use Mastodon. Use it however you want.
    - gfodor 9y ago
      Isn't the whole point of decentralization to prevent censorship? Forced decentralization as a tool of suppressing speech doesn't seem like much of an improvement over Twitter. Is there some counterbalance to this?
      - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
        I don't understand what you mean by forced decentralization, or how it relates to censorship.
mxuribe 9y ago
Almost, yeah. Mastodon, and conceptually others like Gnu Social, are twitter-like alternatives, but that's not fairly telling the full story of their capabilities. These platforms bring with them decentralization benefits like classic email does. Remember when so many people's email addresses were not something like @gmail.com or @hotmail.com? When they used their own domain names (either personal, or for their organization, etc.), such as joe@whatever.net, or jane@something .org, and lived on their own servers, though could still interact - that is, email - people from other domains, servers? Mastodon - and again others like Gnu Social - can, and in fact SHOULD live on separate servers and domains...though still allow for interaction. This is the bigger benefit, and personally, i believe what makes mastodon and other similar platforms pretty cool. Now, the benefit of decentralization above may not be compelling enough for someone on a personal basis to set up/manage their own server...and for that, there certainly are several "largish" mastodon servers where you could create your own account...and STILL interact with folks on other servers, etc. I acknowledge that i sound like a salesperson for mastodon - i assure i'm not. I'm just a fan of decentralized platforms, and admit that mastodon's UI is easy to use. But if you're curious, i invite you to start an account, and see for yourself. Worse case, you can always abandon it if you really dislike it. Visit https://joinmastodon.org/ https://joinmastodon.org/ and scroll down to the part that helps you choose which instance to join...if you're stumped, simply join the main/first one (https://mastodon.social https://mastodon.social) Cheers!
- SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
  I will advocate for this software solely on the principle you have defined in this post - it is a disruption of the hegemony of Facebook. Of course, it could go wrong, but currently it is a 100% better choice when it comes to being a part of a social network and simultaneously not having your life creepily vacuumed up by Big Brother.
- rhinoceraptor 9y ago
  IMO it’s a better choice than ever to have your own domain for email. It’s basically impossible to get a good Gmail address. And now you have plenty of great, inexpensive email hosting choices.
agumonkey 9y ago
Also twitter keep trying new designs that weren't that useful. I liked twitter even with the short comings. It's like a big irc room. But it's not going the right way it seems. Maybe people will migrate (happened beforeà)

thom_nic 9y ago

Actually I thought it's more like Usenet as soon as I started scrolling through https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago

Yes, you're more or less correct. However, as someone who ditched Twitter for Mastodon, I don't miss Twitter. There's a vibrant community on Mastodon and you'll feel right at home. It'll only get better as more people make the leap.

alkonaut 9y ago
> Yes, you're more or less correct. However, as someone who ditched Twitter for Mastodon, I don't miss Twitter. There's a vibrant community on Mastodon and you'll feel right at home. I tried to quit twitter for Mastodon (because it felt more like an open effort than a facebook-esque megacorp) but I was immediately confused by the distributed thing. I thought it was going to be distributed in terms of how it operated, not in terms of the actual social networks being more or less separated. I understood I could follow people from other instances, but only if the instance was somehow connected to the other instance. This confused me even more. How do I pick an instance without ever running into the risk that interesting person X joins in the future and doesn't pick an instance disconnected from the group of instances I'm in? Basically I just use twitter for news: I follow some big names and organizations and just read from the firehose of news coming out. I probably have a lower than 1/10000 read to write ratio. Am I trying to use Mastodon like Twitter in a way it wasn't designed for?
- daveid 9y ago
  You've got it a bit backwards, because instances don't connect and have no reason to connect except for following specific people. So you follow someone -> that creates a connection. Not the other way around.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  >I understood I could follow people from other instances, but only if the instance was somehow connected to the other instance. [...] How do I pick an instance without ever running into the risk that interesting person X joins in the future and doesn't pick an instance disconnected from the group of instances I'm in? In practice this is not a problem. You can pick any popular instance and it will work with everyone. All instances are connected with each other by default, instances are generally only explicitly "defederated" when they're havens for trolls, racists, etc. Besides, if you're trying to follow someone and the instance is defederated (something I've never run into, by the way), your admin is just a quick message away. Mastodon instances are small and the admins have a low workload, they're typically quite accessible. >Basically I just use twitter for news: I follow some big names and organizations and just read from the firehose of news coming out. I probably have a lower than 1/10000 read to write ratio. >Am I trying to use Mastodon like Twitter in a way it wasn't designed for? The only reason this might be the "wrong" approach is the general lack of big name organizations posting news. Most instances are hostile to companies settling in - Mastodon is for people, not brands. That being said, brands could run their own instances and be federated with anyone who wants to follow them. That aside, there's no wrong way to use Mastodon. Use it however you want.
  - gfodor 9y ago
    Isn't the whole point of decentralization to prevent censorship? Forced decentralization as a tool of suppressing speech doesn't seem like much of an improvement over Twitter. Is there some counterbalance to this?
    - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
      I don't understand what you mean by forced decentralization, or how it relates to censorship.

mxuribe 9y ago

Almost, yeah. Mastodon, and conceptually others like Gnu Social, are twitter-like alternatives, but that's not fairly telling the full story of their capabilities. These platforms bring with them decentralization benefits like classic email does. Remember when so many people's email addresses were not something like @gmail.com or @hotmail.com? When they used their own domain names (either personal, or for their organization, etc.), such as joe@whatever.net, or jane@something .org, and lived on their own servers, though could still interact - that is, email - people from other domains, servers? Mastodon - and again others like Gnu Social - can, and in fact SHOULD live on separate servers and domains...though still allow for interaction. This is the bigger benefit, and personally, i believe what makes mastodon and other similar platforms pretty cool. Now, the benefit of decentralization above may not be compelling enough for someone on a personal basis to set up/manage their own server...and for that, there certainly are several "largish" mastodon servers where you could create your own account...and STILL interact with folks on other servers, etc. I acknowledge that i sound like a salesperson for mastodon - i assure i'm not. I'm just a fan of decentralized platforms, and admit that mastodon's UI is easy to use. But if you're curious, i invite you to start an account, and see for yourself. Worse case, you can always abandon it if you really dislike it. Visit https://joinmastodon.org/ https://joinmastodon.org/ and scroll down to the part that helps you choose which instance to join...if you're stumped, simply join the main/first one (https://mastodon.social https://mastodon.social) Cheers!

SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
I will advocate for this software solely on the principle you have defined in this post - it is a disruption of the hegemony of Facebook. Of course, it could go wrong, but currently it is a 100% better choice when it comes to being a part of a social network and simultaneously not having your life creepily vacuumed up by Big Brother.
rhinoceraptor 9y ago
IMO it’s a better choice than ever to have your own domain for email. It’s basically impossible to get a good Gmail address. And now you have plenty of great, inexpensive email hosting choices.

agumonkey 9y ago

Also twitter keep trying new designs that weren't that useful. I liked twitter even with the short comings. It's like a big irc room. But it's not going the right way it seems. Maybe people will migrate (happened beforeà)