6 ms·

Also, besides choosing a server, how do you figure out which other servers that server "federates" with or blocks entirely?

geoffeg 4y ago
Many Mastodon servers list which other instances they block or limit. Check out the "Moderated servers" list at the bottom of https://mastodon.social/about https://mastodon.social/about
tedunangst 4y ago
Live and learn? It astonishes me that people would get so worked up about the possibility that somebody somewhere is posting and you might not see it. Guess what? They're already posting today and you're not seeing their posts.
- elcapitan 4y ago
  Oh, I have no intention or reason to move away from twitter. My interest ist purely theoretical.
- allenu 4y ago
  You have a point, but think about it from the newbies perspective. They have no idea how many posts they won't see. Everybody is used to centralized where they see everything and now they're being told to check out this alternative where you might not see everything. Okay, does that mean 50% of what gets posted won't be seen? 25%? 5%? Will I be able to see what my favorite celeb posts? There's zero context for a newbie to understand what they're missing out on. Much easier to say "too complicated" than to give it a try.
  - tedunangst 4y ago
    Honestly, I think it's concern trolling. Newbies don't know federation is incomplete, so it's not a problem for them. It's only on the HN threads full of mastodon haters that the topic even gets mentioned, but these are not newbies. They're people looking for reasons to be unhappy.
    - allenu 4y ago
      Perhaps some are concern trolling, but I think it's still a legitimate problem if you want people to take up the technology. I use mastodon, but I know it's not the easiest thing to pick up. A lot of the complaining, to me, is just recognizing the common pattern of technically-minded creators not recognizing that the tech (and how it's presented) can get in the way of encouraging more users to join.
  - mcv 4y ago
    > Everybody is used to centralized where they see everything You never see everything. There's way too much of it. Everything is going to be a selection. The question is who is going to do the selecting.
- unconed 4y ago
  You don't see the risk of outsourcing your reach to a rando admin, who may have started their instance out of protest reasons, in a highly contentious, politicized climate? There are people right now having tantrums because they want their one-sided censorship back, and indeed, that's what's behind this latest drive to promote mastodon all over the place. Nothing has actually changed on Twitter except the bluechecks' sense that they're no longer a privileged class.
  - _djo_ 4y ago
    There are risks in trusting your instance admin, but you can move. Tons has changed on Twitter, including the laying off of half the company including substantial numbers in the Trust & Safety team. I'm seeing people who couldn't have cared less about the US's culture wars talking about leaving Twitter and setting up Mastodon accounts because they're expecting the platform to become nastier, more spammy, less reliable, and overall less pleasant to be on. Perhaps they're wrong, but it's wrong to pretend they're all doing it because they're having 'tantrums' and want their 'one-sided censorship back'. The major concern I've seen regarding the blue checks is that it's going from being a system of verification (this person really is who they claim to be) to one where it just represents having paid a subscription fee without any real identity verification at all.
    - unconed 4y ago
      Bluechecks stopped being about verification a long time ago, when it became clear Twitter wouldn't verify people with the wrong kind of opinions, and when they vindictively started to deverify accounts as punishment. That proves it was not about identity verification at all but about the in-group. I have no doubt there is some hysteria going around, but it is entirely unfounded. If anything, you can expect fanatic lefties to false flag abuse to create that impression because that's exactly their style.
      - _djo_ 4y ago
        Oh please, actually notable conservatives and right wingers with impersonation risk have never had much trouble getting verified. All journalists from Fox News, Newsmax, etc were verified as were all GOP politicians. Those complaining about not being verified were invariably non-notable internet famous personalities, and I saw many of those complaints from people on the left too. Not everything was political bias, some people just were far less notable than they thought they were. That you consider this to be about ‘fanatical lefties’ and ‘false flags’ shows you’re way too far down the rabbit hole and you’ve lost all perspective. Step back from the culture war nonsense and maybe spend a bit of time offline to touch grass.
none_to_remain 4y ago
Generally they seem to have lists of blocked servers (often with the full domain censored with ****) on the about page. I don't know if the list is generated or manually updated.
- jrnichols 4y ago
  Most of the servers I've looked at today have that list hidden behind a signup wall. "The list is visible for logged-in members under the heading Unavailable content below." and they aren't taking new signups. Soooo.... no idea.

geoffeg 4y ago

Many Mastodon servers list which other instances they block or limit. Check out the "Moderated servers" list at the bottom of https://mastodon.social/about https://mastodon.social/about

tedunangst 4y ago

Live and learn? It astonishes me that people would get so worked up about the possibility that somebody somewhere is posting and you might not see it. Guess what? They're already posting today and you're not seeing their posts.

elcapitan 4y ago
Oh, I have no intention or reason to move away from twitter. My interest ist purely theoretical.
allenu 4y ago
You have a point, but think about it from the newbies perspective. They have no idea how many posts they won't see. Everybody is used to centralized where they see everything and now they're being told to check out this alternative where you might not see everything. Okay, does that mean 50% of what gets posted won't be seen? 25%? 5%? Will I be able to see what my favorite celeb posts? There's zero context for a newbie to understand what they're missing out on. Much easier to say "too complicated" than to give it a try.
- tedunangst 4y ago
  Honestly, I think it's concern trolling. Newbies don't know federation is incomplete, so it's not a problem for them. It's only on the HN threads full of mastodon haters that the topic even gets mentioned, but these are not newbies. They're people looking for reasons to be unhappy.
  - allenu 4y ago
    Perhaps some are concern trolling, but I think it's still a legitimate problem if you want people to take up the technology. I use mastodon, but I know it's not the easiest thing to pick up. A lot of the complaining, to me, is just recognizing the common pattern of technically-minded creators not recognizing that the tech (and how it's presented) can get in the way of encouraging more users to join.
- mcv 4y ago
  > Everybody is used to centralized where they see everything You never see everything. There's way too much of it. Everything is going to be a selection. The question is who is going to do the selecting.
unconed 4y ago
You don't see the risk of outsourcing your reach to a rando admin, who may have started their instance out of protest reasons, in a highly contentious, politicized climate? There are people right now having tantrums because they want their one-sided censorship back, and indeed, that's what's behind this latest drive to promote mastodon all over the place. Nothing has actually changed on Twitter except the bluechecks' sense that they're no longer a privileged class.
- _djo_ 4y ago
  There are risks in trusting your instance admin, but you can move. Tons has changed on Twitter, including the laying off of half the company including substantial numbers in the Trust & Safety team. I'm seeing people who couldn't have cared less about the US's culture wars talking about leaving Twitter and setting up Mastodon accounts because they're expecting the platform to become nastier, more spammy, less reliable, and overall less pleasant to be on. Perhaps they're wrong, but it's wrong to pretend they're all doing it because they're having 'tantrums' and want their 'one-sided censorship back'. The major concern I've seen regarding the blue checks is that it's going from being a system of verification (this person really is who they claim to be) to one where it just represents having paid a subscription fee without any real identity verification at all.
  - unconed 4y ago
    Bluechecks stopped being about verification a long time ago, when it became clear Twitter wouldn't verify people with the wrong kind of opinions, and when they vindictively started to deverify accounts as punishment. That proves it was not about identity verification at all but about the in-group. I have no doubt there is some hysteria going around, but it is entirely unfounded. If anything, you can expect fanatic lefties to false flag abuse to create that impression because that's exactly their style.
    - _djo_ 4y ago
      Oh please, actually notable conservatives and right wingers with impersonation risk have never had much trouble getting verified. All journalists from Fox News, Newsmax, etc were verified as were all GOP politicians. Those complaining about not being verified were invariably non-notable internet famous personalities, and I saw many of those complaints from people on the left too. Not everything was political bias, some people just were far less notable than they thought they were. That you consider this to be about ‘fanatical lefties’ and ‘false flags’ shows you’re way too far down the rabbit hole and you’ve lost all perspective. Step back from the culture war nonsense and maybe spend a bit of time offline to touch grass.

none_to_remain 4y ago

Generally they seem to have lists of blocked servers (often with the full domain censored with ****) on the about page. I don't know if the list is generated or manually updated.

jrnichols 4y ago
Most of the servers I've looked at today have that list hidden behind a signup wall. "The list is visible for logged-in members under the heading Unavailable content below." and they aren't taking new signups. Soooo.... no idea.