4 ms·

I agree, discovery was my biggest problem for a long time with Mastodon. Fortunately, most of the recent Twitter emigrés have been doing #introduction posts wi

I agree, discovery was my biggest problem for a long time with Mastodon. Fortunately, most of the recent Twitter emigrés have been doing #introduction posts with tags about their interests, which makes them easy to find. Via the internal search, and with sites like https://fediverse.info/explore/people https://fediverse.info/explore/people if they register for it. And people have also been sharing services like * https://fedifinder.glitch.me/ https://fedifinder.glitch.me/ and https://twitodon.com/ https://twitodon.com/ to find people you were following on Twitter, and * https://fedi.directory/ https://fedi.directory/ and https://communitywiki.org/trunk https://communitywiki.org/trunk which have users categorized by interests and what they usually post. Just randomly clicking around these exposed me to new areas of interests (eg. generative art) that I had no clue existed on Mastodon. These follows then serve as your gateway into discovering more users, via their boosts (retweets in Twitter parlance). My timeline is a lot richer than it was even a couple days ago, and it seems this trend of creating external tools to solve Fediverse-wide issues is growing and catching momentum. Which was sorely needed, as it means you don't have to depend on the Mastodon project or instance admins dedicating even more of their time. Instead, the problem gets solved through collaborative effort, as it's meant to be.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago
> Instead, the problem gets solved through collaborative effort, as it's meant to be. Exactly. It's the world wide web, people. It's about discovery and distribution and linkage. Centralization on this medium is not necessary; just convenient. This is what the early net was like when I got on it in 1990/1991. I ran a personal UUCP node on my Atari ST. When I got a telnet connection, I went and found lists of MUDs and MOOs and IRC servers to connect to. I used Archie and Veronica and Gopher. When the WWW first came along, I used directory services like Yahoo, etc. And then things got more convenient as Google, etc. came to dominate. And for a while the compromises that came with that were fine. But systems like Facebook and Twitter are really counter to the networked spirit that drove the excitement in the first place. They want all the marbles in one place. I don't want to play that game, seeing how it's gone. I think others are seeing now just how bad it can get. Mastodon isn't my dream system. I'd rather see something synchronous and dynamic and programmable... like LambdaMOO, but federated. But that ship sailed in the early 90s. I'm enjoying the bump in activity in Mastodon right now.
- agiacalone 4y ago
  > Exactly. It's the world wide web, people. It's about discovery and distribution and linkage. Yes! I usually try to avoid posting "me too" replies, but this is what the WWW should be, IMO. Remember webrings? We should bring that back.
- VectorLock 4y ago
  Widespread adoption came from easier to use systems that didn't require you to go out and piece things together. High barrier to entry systems to keep out the "normies" is already a solved, and incredibly uninteresting problem. Although I loved LambdaMOO and thought we could see an evolution of smart contracts in that direction but cryptobro greed might have ruined or soured that potential future.
  - cmrdporcupine 4y ago
    You might like what my current employer is working on; Clockwork Labs. It's got a vaguely MOOish vibe. Can't show you anything public yet -- and I'm personally leaving middle of the month -- but it sounds like it might be up your alley.

cmrdporcupine 4y ago

> Instead, the problem gets solved through collaborative effort, as it's meant to be. Exactly. It's the world wide web, people. It's about discovery and distribution and linkage. Centralization on this medium is not necessary; just convenient. This is what the early net was like when I got on it in 1990/1991. I ran a personal UUCP node on my Atari ST. When I got a telnet connection, I went and found lists of MUDs and MOOs and IRC servers to connect to. I used Archie and Veronica and Gopher. When the WWW first came along, I used directory services like Yahoo, etc. And then things got more convenient as Google, etc. came to dominate. And for a while the compromises that came with that were fine. But systems like Facebook and Twitter are really counter to the networked spirit that drove the excitement in the first place. They want all the marbles in one place. I don't want to play that game, seeing how it's gone. I think others are seeing now just how bad it can get. Mastodon isn't my dream system. I'd rather see something synchronous and dynamic and programmable... like LambdaMOO, but federated. But that ship sailed in the early 90s. I'm enjoying the bump in activity in Mastodon right now.

agiacalone 4y ago
> Exactly. It's the world wide web, people. It's about discovery and distribution and linkage. Yes! I usually try to avoid posting "me too" replies, but this is what the WWW should be, IMO. Remember webrings? We should bring that back.
VectorLock 4y ago
Widespread adoption came from easier to use systems that didn't require you to go out and piece things together. High barrier to entry systems to keep out the "normies" is already a solved, and incredibly uninteresting problem. Although I loved LambdaMOO and thought we could see an evolution of smart contracts in that direction but cryptobro greed might have ruined or soured that potential future.
- cmrdporcupine 4y ago
  You might like what my current employer is working on; Clockwork Labs. It's got a vaguely MOOish vibe. Can't show you anything public yet -- and I'm personally leaving middle of the month -- but it sounds like it might be up your alley.