3 ms·

So, it's exactly like signing up for gmail if gmail was down and you had to either wait for them to fix it at some undetermined point in the future, find anothe

by Joeboy 4y ago

So, it's exactly like signing up for gmail if gmail was down and you had to either wait for them to fix it at some undetermined point in the future, find another email provider or set up your own email server instead.

flkiwi 4y ago
Much of the history of the Internet has been exactly like that. New services (or new-you-you) constantly going down with an influx of new users, services (like email) that allow anyone to set up their own machine ... this mild and temporary inconvenience is familiar. A week from now it will be fine. But I think that's the important point. Right now, there's nothing wrong with Mastodon. Mastodon is working fine. A couple of servers that people commonly encounter first are having growth issues. But those servers aren't Mastodon any more than Gmail is email.
- Joeboy 4y ago
  Well, I would say it's a problem that a lot of people are trying to join the fediverse and it's currently quite difficult and confusing to do so. I would further say there's a marketing problem that Mastodon advocates keep saying this situation is normal, expected and it's working fine, which is obviously quite offputting.
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    It is a community project, there isn't a centralized marketing message or anything like that. If the community is growing as fast as their servers can handle it, that seems like a fine situation?
    - Joeboy 4y ago
      I sincerely hope it can conquer its current growth and signup issues and the unnecessary reputational damage inflicted by its advocates.
- ianbutler 4y ago
  > A couple of servers that people commonly encounter first are having growth issues. But those servers aren't Mastodon any more than Gmail is email. And that's what a lot of tech people don't get, to normies actually Gmail does equal Email and such. You're not going to get the bulk of everyday people on these platforms until you think in their shoes and provide features (and don't have downtime on your main servers) that fit their experiences.
  - parminya 4y ago
    > to normies actually Gmail does equal Email and such I'd love to hear of some evidence for that. I've never encountered anyone assuming that the bit after the @ has to be gmail.com, or being unclear and uncertain if they can communicate between their work Outlook account and their home Gmail account. This feels very much like someone's taken the idea "to most people, the internet just is the web" and run wild with it.
    - ianbutler 4y ago
      My point stands Mastodon has a bad UX and no one I know wants to continue to use it. They were all pretty much immediately put off.
ralgozino 4y ago
> So, it's exactly like signing up for gmail if gmail was down and you had to either wait for them to fix it at some undetermined point in the future, find another email provider or set up your own email server instead. GMail was invite only for a very long time at the beginning fwiw
mirkules 4y ago
It's also exactly like when people on the right started leaving twitter and all these alternatives popped up. And in the end, people (who left willingly) ended up back on twitter anyway just because people kept sharing things from there. But also because the alternative services could not keep up with the momentum, resulting in degraded service. So everyone seemed to collectively go "meh" and returned to twitter. I predict everyone will be back on twitter once all this blows over, and especially if alternatives can't keep up. Uptime and reliability seem to be more important than features, freedom, or just about anything else.

by Joeboy 4y ago

flkiwi 4y ago

Much of the history of the Internet has been exactly like that. New services (or new-you-you) constantly going down with an influx of new users, services (like email) that allow anyone to set up their own machine ... this mild and temporary inconvenience is familiar. A week from now it will be fine. But I think that's the important point. Right now, there's nothing wrong with Mastodon. Mastodon is working fine. A couple of servers that people commonly encounter first are having growth issues. But those servers aren't Mastodon any more than Gmail is email.

Joeboy 4y ago
Well, I would say it's a problem that a lot of people are trying to join the fediverse and it's currently quite difficult and confusing to do so. I would further say there's a marketing problem that Mastodon advocates keep saying this situation is normal, expected and it's working fine, which is obviously quite offputting.
- bee_rider 4y ago
  It is a community project, there isn't a centralized marketing message or anything like that. If the community is growing as fast as their servers can handle it, that seems like a fine situation?
  - Joeboy 4y ago
    I sincerely hope it can conquer its current growth and signup issues and the unnecessary reputational damage inflicted by its advocates.
ianbutler 4y ago
> A couple of servers that people commonly encounter first are having growth issues. But those servers aren't Mastodon any more than Gmail is email. And that's what a lot of tech people don't get, to normies actually Gmail does equal Email and such. You're not going to get the bulk of everyday people on these platforms until you think in their shoes and provide features (and don't have downtime on your main servers) that fit their experiences.
- parminya 4y ago
  > to normies actually Gmail does equal Email and such I'd love to hear of some evidence for that. I've never encountered anyone assuming that the bit after the @ has to be gmail.com, or being unclear and uncertain if they can communicate between their work Outlook account and their home Gmail account. This feels very much like someone's taken the idea "to most people, the internet just is the web" and run wild with it.
  - ianbutler 4y ago
    My point stands Mastodon has a bad UX and no one I know wants to continue to use it. They were all pretty much immediately put off.

ralgozino 4y ago

> So, it's exactly like signing up for gmail if gmail was down and you had to either wait for them to fix it at some undetermined point in the future, find another email provider or set up your own email server instead. GMail was invite only for a very long time at the beginning fwiw

mirkules 4y ago

It's also exactly like when people on the right started leaving twitter and all these alternatives popped up. And in the end, people (who left willingly) ended up back on twitter anyway just because people kept sharing things from there. But also because the alternative services could not keep up with the momentum, resulting in degraded service. So everyone seemed to collectively go "meh" and returned to twitter. I predict everyone will be back on twitter once all this blows over, and especially if alternatives can't keep up. Uptime and reliability seem to be more important than features, freedom, or just about anything else.