8 ms·

Journalists want to re-create Twitter on Mastodon. Mastodon is not into it

13 points by ryzvonusef 4y ago

ryzvonusef 4y ago
> No one controls Mastodon—or rather, everyone controls their own version of it. There are thousands of servers running the software, and each one chooses which servers it “federates,” or exchanges information with. Don’t like the users who belong to a specific server? Just block them. > Unfortunately for some of the journalists who have joined the service, this mass-blocking (or “defederation”) approach is now being applied to them. A server that caters specifically to journalists was set up recently by Adam Davidson, creator of NPR’s Planet Money podcast. At last count, the server, called journa.host, had about thirteen hundred users, including some prominent journalists (and me). Earlier this week, a user of another network pointed out that about forty-five “instances” are blocking all content from members of journa.host. > One journalist who is on Mastodon noted that there is also a cultural difference between the way people often behave on Twitter and expectations on Mastodon. “I’m seeing a clear signal that this is at least in part about norms and conduct,” he said, including “a legacy insistence on sharing your articles, live-posting breaking news, etc.” from journalists more used to Twitter. “That doesn’t fly here.” Despite attempts by Mastodon veterans to educate new users about these differences, he said, many journalists are “stomping around doing the same-old same-old.”
- ryzvonusef 4y ago
  https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594315813913169920 https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594315813913169920 > Among the many irritating things about Mastodon is that it enables status-chasing journalists to gatekeep their peers by judging whether they have enough clout or are useful to other people's career ladder-climbing. https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594316420166344704 https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594316420166344704 > Anyway, a reminder that the moderator of your Mastodon server can read your DMs, and if you find someone is sufficiently invested in gatekeeping and status-chasing to invest time in excluding members of their own industry based on clout and perceived importance...hmm...maybe not.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - throwaway0x7E6 4y ago
    >Anyway, a reminder that the moderator of your Mastodon server can read your DMs holy shit
    - kirab 4y ago
      Same as every online service. There's always admins (even on Twitter of course) who can read the DMs (unless you have proper end-to-end encryption). FYI: especially now that Elon Musk owns Twitter.. And fired everyone who is not loyal.. The idea of reading DMs of employees at competing companies is not far fetched at all.
      - lm28469 4y ago
        Aren't companies much more tightly controlled than a random dude who hosts a mastodon server though ?
        orange_fritter 4y ago
        Every company is different, but anybody with access to the database or tools can do whatever they want. There might be a papertrail(that can sometimes be edited if it's centralized and you have sufficient privileges) but there is much less "regulation" than you think. Nobody from the government comes over like some kind of health inspector to make sure Employee 93457X isn't spying on people.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
        rsynnott 4y ago
        I mean... in theory? But see the history of social media privacy scandals. Really, Mastodon shouldn't call the feature DM at all, IMO. It's effectively just a normal message with special visibility rule.
JohnFen 4y ago
Unless I misunderstood the article, a more accurate title would be "[...] 1% of Mastodon servers are not into it."

13 points by ryzvonusef 4y ago

> No one controls Mastodon—or rather, everyone controls their own version of it. There are thousands of servers running the software, and each one chooses which servers it “federates,” or exchanges information with. Don’t like the users who belong to a specific server? Just block them. > Unfortunately for some of the journalists who have joined the service, this mass-blocking (or “defederation”) approach is now being applied to them. A server that caters specifically to journalists was set up recently by Adam Davidson, creator of NPR’s Planet Money podcast. At last count, the server, called journa.host, had about thirteen hundred users, including some prominent journalists (and me). Earlier this week, a user of another network pointed out that about forty-five “instances” are blocking all content from members of journa.host. > One journalist who is on Mastodon noted that there is also a cultural difference between the way people often behave on Twitter and expectations on Mastodon. “I’m seeing a clear signal that this is at least in part about norms and conduct,” he said, including “a legacy insistence on sharing your articles, live-posting breaking news, etc.” from journalists more used to Twitter. “That doesn’t fly here.” Despite attempts by Mastodon veterans to educate new users about these differences, he said, many journalists are “stomping around doing the same-old same-old.”

ryzvonusef 4y ago
https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594315813913169920 https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594315813913169920 > Among the many irritating things about Mastodon is that it enables status-chasing journalists to gatekeep their peers by judging whether they have enough clout or are useful to other people's career ladder-climbing. https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594316420166344704 https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/1594316420166344704 > Anyway, a reminder that the moderator of your Mastodon server can read your DMs, and if you find someone is sufficiently invested in gatekeeping and status-chasing to invest time in excluding members of their own industry based on clout and perceived importance...hmm...maybe not.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- throwaway0x7E6 4y ago
  >Anyway, a reminder that the moderator of your Mastodon server can read your DMs holy shit
  - kirab 4y ago
    Same as every online service. There's always admins (even on Twitter of course) who can read the DMs (unless you have proper end-to-end encryption). FYI: especially now that Elon Musk owns Twitter.. And fired everyone who is not loyal.. The idea of reading DMs of employees at competing companies is not far fetched at all.
    - lm28469 4y ago
      Aren't companies much more tightly controlled than a random dude who hosts a mastodon server though ?
      - orange_fritter 4y ago
        Every company is different, but anybody with access to the database or tools can do whatever they want. There might be a papertrail(that can sometimes be edited if it's centralized and you have sufficient privileges) but there is much less "regulation" than you think. Nobody from the government comes over like some kind of health inspector to make sure Employee 93457X isn't spying on people.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - rsynnott 4y ago
        I mean... in theory? But see the history of social media privacy scandals. Really, Mastodon shouldn't call the feature DM at all, IMO. It's effectively just a normal message with special visibility rule.

JohnFen 4y ago

Unless I misunderstood the article, a more accurate title would be "[...] 1% of Mastodon servers are not into it."