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You and a lot of other people. I see this blind spot in the open source community from time to time regarding decision paralysis and I'm surprised that more peo

You and a lot of other people. I see this blind spot in the open source community from time to time regarding decision paralysis and I'm surprised that more people don't realize how much of an issue it is for a lot of users. I don't want to think about what server I'm on. I want the whole thing to just work. The fact that there is only one Twitter and only one Facebook are actually advantages in the marketplace for those services.

josteink 4y ago
> I don't want to think about what server I'm on. Maybe I’m the exception but for me almost without exception the answer is that I want to run my own instance. What’s the point of leaving a centralized system for a decentralized one if you still let someone else own your data?
- parminya 4y ago
  People aren't mass-leaving Twitter because Twitter owns their data. They were happy with someone else owning their data to the extent that they were users of Twitter. They're mass-leaving Twitter becomes Elon Musk bought Twitter. Elon Musk cannot buy Mastodon. He might buy your particular server, but the chances he'd try to are much more remote because the benefit of doing so is much less.
mynameismonkey 4y ago
Agreed. I've been pasting this anywhere I see the frustration Think of it like your phone number, it's a service and you need a provider. Choose one by location https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mastodon-near-me_828094 https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mastodon-near-me_828094 makes no difference, they all talk to each other and you can move servers at any time And it's curated for servers that are open for registration so hopefully no dead ends
- tekchip 4y ago
  Totally this. Did decision fatigue stop you from using email? It didn't because they all talk. It doesn't really matter which you choose. This is especially true now that there is an official system to change/move servers.
allenu 4y ago
I've been using Mastodon on and off for a few years now and the thing that bugged me was that the benefits it was pushing at first were absolutely uninteresting to me as a user: it's decentralized and you can pick your server. Those aren't exactly things a general user is going to care about or even understand. They just want to know how to sign up and follow interesting people. The fact that there wasn't any trending (or usable search) for a while made it also feel like a ghost town. You create your new account and look around and think, "Okay, where's the activity?" I suppose it wasn't really meant to be twitter, so my criticisms may not be entirely fair.
- jrnichols 4y ago
  you pick your server and see if they approve your account too. This was an issue that I encountered. I made accounts on a couple different instances but didn't make it through their approval process and had no idea why.
ncr100 4y ago
Should just lead with advice "CHOOSE THE FIRST YOU LIKE AND CHANGE IT LATER". Opine: The "tell me what to think" motivation is frustrating from multiple perspectives: - overt bias of the Tellers is rife with unethical potential - low engagement of the Users is a part of communication, it's reality and why the style of Exciting Content (insert emojis) has become popular in modern communication vs the 'respectably formatted and spell-checked' of yesteryear
lrvick 4y ago
Do you get decision paralysis when deciding what home to buy or what apartment to live in? This is what freedom looks like, vs going to a defacto centralized megacorp and having them tell you where to live so that they can most efficiently manipulate and spy on you for profit. Everyone has become far too accustomed with exploitative corpos telling them what to do on the internet. Choices are harder, but healthier. Just make a choice, and you can make a different one later.
- ISL 4y ago
  When you move because you don't like the instance anymore, how do all of your connections follow you? This, to me, is the central problem in the Fediverse.
  - M2Ys4U 4y ago
    > When you move because you don't like the instance anymore, how do all of your connections follow you? You use the built-in[0] migration feature. Create an account on your new instance, point it at your old one. Then point your old account to your new one. [0] Built in to Mastodon, anyway. YMMV with other Fediverse software.
    - ISL 4y ago
      And if the instance-administrator on the old account decides they don't like you and drops the account or points it to /dev/null?
      - lrvick 4y ago
        That risk exists at everything you do not host yourself on the internet.
        ISL 4y ago
        The risk is very small for email when you own your own domain. One can switch "instances" at will with just a DNS update.

josteink 4y ago

> I don't want to think about what server I'm on. Maybe I’m the exception but for me almost without exception the answer is that I want to run my own instance. What’s the point of leaving a centralized system for a decentralized one if you still let someone else own your data?

parminya 4y ago
People aren't mass-leaving Twitter because Twitter owns their data. They were happy with someone else owning their data to the extent that they were users of Twitter. They're mass-leaving Twitter becomes Elon Musk bought Twitter. Elon Musk cannot buy Mastodon. He might buy your particular server, but the chances he'd try to are much more remote because the benefit of doing so is much less.

mynameismonkey 4y ago

Agreed. I've been pasting this anywhere I see the frustration Think of it like your phone number, it's a service and you need a provider. Choose one by location https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mastodon-near-me_828094 https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mastodon-near-me_828094 makes no difference, they all talk to each other and you can move servers at any time And it's curated for servers that are open for registration so hopefully no dead ends

tekchip 4y ago
Totally this. Did decision fatigue stop you from using email? It didn't because they all talk. It doesn't really matter which you choose. This is especially true now that there is an official system to change/move servers.

allenu 4y ago

I've been using Mastodon on and off for a few years now and the thing that bugged me was that the benefits it was pushing at first were absolutely uninteresting to me as a user: it's decentralized and you can pick your server. Those aren't exactly things a general user is going to care about or even understand. They just want to know how to sign up and follow interesting people. The fact that there wasn't any trending (or usable search) for a while made it also feel like a ghost town. You create your new account and look around and think, "Okay, where's the activity?" I suppose it wasn't really meant to be twitter, so my criticisms may not be entirely fair.

jrnichols 4y ago
you pick your server and see if they approve your account too. This was an issue that I encountered. I made accounts on a couple different instances but didn't make it through their approval process and had no idea why.

ncr100 4y ago

Should just lead with advice "CHOOSE THE FIRST YOU LIKE AND CHANGE IT LATER". Opine: The "tell me what to think" motivation is frustrating from multiple perspectives: - overt bias of the Tellers is rife with unethical potential - low engagement of the Users is a part of communication, it's reality and why the style of Exciting Content (insert emojis) has become popular in modern communication vs the 'respectably formatted and spell-checked' of yesteryear

lrvick 4y ago

Do you get decision paralysis when deciding what home to buy or what apartment to live in? This is what freedom looks like, vs going to a defacto centralized megacorp and having them tell you where to live so that they can most efficiently manipulate and spy on you for profit. Everyone has become far too accustomed with exploitative corpos telling them what to do on the internet. Choices are harder, but healthier. Just make a choice, and you can make a different one later.

ISL 4y ago
When you move because you don't like the instance anymore, how do all of your connections follow you? This, to me, is the central problem in the Fediverse.
- M2Ys4U 4y ago
  > When you move because you don't like the instance anymore, how do all of your connections follow you? You use the built-in[0] migration feature. Create an account on your new instance, point it at your old one. Then point your old account to your new one. [0] Built in to Mastodon, anyway. YMMV with other Fediverse software.
  - ISL 4y ago
    And if the instance-administrator on the old account decides they don't like you and drops the account or points it to /dev/null?
    - lrvick 4y ago
      That risk exists at everything you do not host yourself on the internet.
      - ISL 4y ago
        The risk is very small for email when you own your own domain. One can switch "instances" at will with just a DNS update.