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> Yes, but it's incredibly hard -- try to follow them on whatever server you're on Confused about this. In my experience it's always just been a matter of addi

by culi 4y ago

> Yes, but it's incredibly hard -- try to follow them on whatever server you're on Confused about this. In my experience it's always just been a matter of adding @personiwannafollow@otherinstance.com Is this not always so simple?

bioemerl 4y ago
The moment you're manually typing a username it's game over. It should be rare to never that you need a specific user id, let alone a specific server. You should just have to see a user and click follow.
- happymellon 4y ago
  Can you not do that?
  - gtr 4y ago
    Not sure what you mean, I think that is a valid point.
    - happymellon 4y ago
      I don't use mastadon, so learning that the idea it doesn't have a registered "follow" scheme is not great.
  - jayknight 4y ago
    Imagine I'm on hacker news and there's someone on mastodon I think someone should follow and their mastodon handle is @cooldude@cooldude.example.com (because they are so cool they run their own instance). You definitely can't click that handle and add follow them, I could put https://cooldude.example.com/@cooldude https://cooldude.example.com/@cooldude and you could click to their profile on their instance, but there would be no way to follow them directly from there on your mastodon.social (or whatever) account, you have to go to your instance and type/paste in their handle and then click follow. Edit: There is a remote-follow workflow that involves clicking a link and entering your full handle to get redirected to a page where you can follow them. Maybe slightly better, but still not great.
    - stormbrew 4y ago
      You can just put that full name in the search bar on your own instance and follow them from it. You don't have to go to their instance at all. I mean, I'm not saying that mastodon is super duper easy to use for everyone but in this particular example you seem to be going out of your way to make it more complicated than it is. If the thing you found on hn was a link to their profile your flow would make sense, but if you have an id@domain the flow is really simple and basically the same as other similar things (ie. put it in your email client).
      - jayknight 4y ago
        I was replying in context to the comment above about typing in the handle, and I would put copy/paste in the same category. With email addresses, you have the mailto: link, which works pretty well so you don't have to copy paste. Maybe we need a follow: url scheme that browsers know what to do with.
        stormbrew 4y ago
        I wouldn't be surprised to see that come into existence now honestly.
    - happymellon 4y ago
      Is this something that is just crappy with the workflow, so other clients could be better or a limitation of the current mastadon server implementation not providing enough information?
- pohl 4y ago
  You should just have to see a user and click follow. Which you can, regardless of what instance they're on. Moving in bulk is also easy, using something like Debirdify https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/ https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/
  - falkd 4y ago
    You can't do this on the web interface unless you're on the same instance. It's pretty clunky right now. Correction: You can't do it if you are linked to their user page https://mastodon.social/username...that https://mastodon.social/username...that doesn't work if you're not on mastodon.social. And often I seem to find myself at these URLs and can't see if I'm following the person, and have to go through extra steps to follow them.
- RunSet 4y ago
  > The moment you're manually typing a username it's game over. Is copy/paste also too much to ask of technology's current generation?
  - jonnycomputer 4y ago
    Let's be honest. Copy-Paste sucks on most mobile. And mobile is where most people are at, especially on social.
  - jezovuk 4y ago
    Yes.
  - nonfamous 4y ago
    Yes. As it happens, it’s really hard to copy a Mastadon ID (or whatever it’s called) on Mobile. iOS at least interprets it as an email address and launches a mail client, and actively prevents copying it to the clipboard.
- culi 4y ago
  Actually someone pointed out you don't even need to do that much There's a big (and only) search bar at the top of the homepage. You can simply search the username and they'll pop up across instances. There's a little follow button next to their name you can click and you're done Exactly like Venmo or Snapchat or Instagram. It's already in the cultural norms to ask "what's your insta" or "what's your venmo". What's your mastodon?
Vaslo 4y ago
This is like when computer geeks don’t get why people won’t switch from windows to Linux. If you don’t understand why they don’t want to, or why there will never be a massive shift to Mastodon you’ll never fix the issue. Your suggestion is not “simple”. My non tech wife doesn’t care about instances and this and that. She goes to Twitter, she types in her favorite people, finds and follows. Done.
- toofy 4y ago
  im still confused about The Terrible Time people are having here... for example. if i want to search for @johnnydick@head.com... i do that, and click follow. thats it. i click follow. like, where are you guys having so much trouble with this?
- ghostDancer 4y ago
  It's exactly the same you don't like it you stay with Windows or Twitter oar Facebook . Why do people have to jump to the Fediverse now. They don't like it they just can stay where they are , everybody happier.
- culi 4y ago
  How is this any different from typing @gmail.com vs @yahoo.com? People seem competent enough to handle emails...
wzdd 4y ago
"Remote follow" is very unintuitive, particularly for Twitter users. 1. View a user's profile page on another instance. 2. Click "Follow". 3. A "remote follow" window opens with the message "Enter your username@domain you want to act from". 4. ??? How profile pages are displayed changes depending on whether you middle/right click ("open in new tab") or left click on a user's name from your own instance. If you left click, you get the profile page on you own instance. If you get the link by any other means (including e.g. someone sends you a link to their profile), you get the above. It's confused me more than once.
- ghostDancer 4y ago
  The problem is that is not centralized server and even can be a different type of server like Pleroma, Misskey or any other that supports ActivityPub so it works different, They have to learn that ActivityPub/Mastodon is different and works different the same they had to learn how Twitter works or just stay in Twitter if it's too hard or too painful for them.
kzrdude 4y ago
Right, we need the user to figure out what "just adding @personiwannafollow@otherinstance.com" entails. I think it means going to your home instance, searching for @personiwannafollow@otherinstance.com and clicking the follow button that will show up. But maybe you mean something else? Either way it's not easy to find it.
- culi 4y ago
  Oh right I forgot you can just search. In that case you don't even need the "otherinstance.com" part You can just search for "@personiwannafollow" and they'll show up and you can hit a single button to follow. It's the big, and only, search bar at the top of the home page...

by culi 4y ago

bioemerl 4y ago

The moment you're manually typing a username it's game over. It should be rare to never that you need a specific user id, let alone a specific server. You should just have to see a user and click follow.

happymellon 4y ago
Can you not do that?
- gtr 4y ago
  Not sure what you mean, I think that is a valid point.
  - happymellon 4y ago
    I don't use mastadon, so learning that the idea it doesn't have a registered "follow" scheme is not great.
- jayknight 4y ago
  Imagine I'm on hacker news and there's someone on mastodon I think someone should follow and their mastodon handle is @cooldude@cooldude.example.com (because they are so cool they run their own instance). You definitely can't click that handle and add follow them, I could put https://cooldude.example.com/@cooldude https://cooldude.example.com/@cooldude and you could click to their profile on their instance, but there would be no way to follow them directly from there on your mastodon.social (or whatever) account, you have to go to your instance and type/paste in their handle and then click follow. Edit: There is a remote-follow workflow that involves clicking a link and entering your full handle to get redirected to a page where you can follow them. Maybe slightly better, but still not great.
  - stormbrew 4y ago
    You can just put that full name in the search bar on your own instance and follow them from it. You don't have to go to their instance at all. I mean, I'm not saying that mastodon is super duper easy to use for everyone but in this particular example you seem to be going out of your way to make it more complicated than it is. If the thing you found on hn was a link to their profile your flow would make sense, but if you have an id@domain the flow is really simple and basically the same as other similar things (ie. put it in your email client).
    - jayknight 4y ago
      I was replying in context to the comment above about typing in the handle, and I would put copy/paste in the same category. With email addresses, you have the mailto: link, which works pretty well so you don't have to copy paste. Maybe we need a follow: url scheme that browsers know what to do with.
      - stormbrew 4y ago
        I wouldn't be surprised to see that come into existence now honestly.
  - happymellon 4y ago
    Is this something that is just crappy with the workflow, so other clients could be better or a limitation of the current mastadon server implementation not providing enough information?
pohl 4y ago
You should just have to see a user and click follow. Which you can, regardless of what instance they're on. Moving in bulk is also easy, using something like Debirdify https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/ https://pruvisto.org/debirdify/
- falkd 4y ago
  You can't do this on the web interface unless you're on the same instance. It's pretty clunky right now. Correction: You can't do it if you are linked to their user page https://mastodon.social/username...that https://mastodon.social/username...that doesn't work if you're not on mastodon.social. And often I seem to find myself at these URLs and can't see if I'm following the person, and have to go through extra steps to follow them.
RunSet 4y ago
> The moment you're manually typing a username it's game over. Is copy/paste also too much to ask of technology's current generation?
- jonnycomputer 4y ago
  Let's be honest. Copy-Paste sucks on most mobile. And mobile is where most people are at, especially on social.
- jezovuk 4y ago
  Yes.
- nonfamous 4y ago
  Yes. As it happens, it’s really hard to copy a Mastadon ID (or whatever it’s called) on Mobile. iOS at least interprets it as an email address and launches a mail client, and actively prevents copying it to the clipboard.
culi 4y ago
Actually someone pointed out you don't even need to do that much There's a big (and only) search bar at the top of the homepage. You can simply search the username and they'll pop up across instances. There's a little follow button next to their name you can click and you're done Exactly like Venmo or Snapchat or Instagram. It's already in the cultural norms to ask "what's your insta" or "what's your venmo". What's your mastodon?

Vaslo 4y ago

This is like when computer geeks don’t get why people won’t switch from windows to Linux. If you don’t understand why they don’t want to, or why there will never be a massive shift to Mastodon you’ll never fix the issue. Your suggestion is not “simple”. My non tech wife doesn’t care about instances and this and that. She goes to Twitter, she types in her favorite people, finds and follows. Done.

toofy 4y ago
im still confused about The Terrible Time people are having here... for example. if i want to search for @johnnydick@head.com... i do that, and click follow. thats it. i click follow. like, where are you guys having so much trouble with this?
ghostDancer 4y ago
It's exactly the same you don't like it you stay with Windows or Twitter oar Facebook . Why do people have to jump to the Fediverse now. They don't like it they just can stay where they are , everybody happier.
culi 4y ago
How is this any different from typing @gmail.com vs @yahoo.com? People seem competent enough to handle emails...

wzdd 4y ago

"Remote follow" is very unintuitive, particularly for Twitter users. 1. View a user's profile page on another instance. 2. Click "Follow". 3. A "remote follow" window opens with the message "Enter your username@domain you want to act from". 4. ??? How profile pages are displayed changes depending on whether you middle/right click ("open in new tab") or left click on a user's name from your own instance. If you left click, you get the profile page on you own instance. If you get the link by any other means (including e.g. someone sends you a link to their profile), you get the above. It's confused me more than once.

ghostDancer 4y ago
The problem is that is not centralized server and even can be a different type of server like Pleroma, Misskey or any other that supports ActivityPub so it works different, They have to learn that ActivityPub/Mastodon is different and works different the same they had to learn how Twitter works or just stay in Twitter if it's too hard or too painful for them.

kzrdude 4y ago

Right, we need the user to figure out what "just adding @personiwannafollow@otherinstance.com" entails. I think it means going to your home instance, searching for @personiwannafollow@otherinstance.com and clicking the follow button that will show up. But maybe you mean something else? Either way it's not easy to find it.

culi 4y ago
Oh right I forgot you can just search. In that case you don't even need the "otherinstance.com" part You can just search for "@personiwannafollow" and they'll show up and you can hit a single button to follow. It's the big, and only, search bar at the top of the home page...