4 ms·

I'm curious why don't join another instance and simply follow people on mastodon.art - Is the local timeline that important for users? I'm genuinely asking sinc

I'm curious why don't join another instance and simply follow people on mastodon.art - Is the local timeline that important for users? I'm genuinely asking since I'm on my own single user instance but follow plenty of people to give me enough content to consume.

samcat116 4y ago
I think that the local timeline is the only decent way to have native discovery in Mastodon (especially if you're in a topic-specific instance). I know some people specifically don't want things like algorithmic recommendations, which is fine, but for others this means expanding your following is relatively hard.
- robga 4y ago
  Say you’re into several disparate topics. e.g. always into a tech area, a sports team, a type of music, a local city. Then you may have time based interests that come and go yearly. It doesn’t seem to make sense to me that you have to choose one as the primary discovery zone, even if one interest was dominant.
lijogdfljk 4y ago
TBH, i don't know entirely, it just "feels" like i want the instance i'm most interested in. Yes, local timeline is neat and a feature i'd like to be able to use, but the Social aspect of Mastodon (vs email) means i tend to view the domain as indicating primary interest. It feels like a badge of community/interest. Not sure if it makes sense, just trying to explain what's going on in my head. As i have debated that exact question myself, internally.
Matumio 4y ago
Discovery: You'll tend to discover what other local users have already found or subscribed to. (Local timeline, hashtag search.) Culture and rules: In this case this means how nudity is handled, whether anyone will care if you post spiders or gore without warning, some specific rules about AI-generated art, etc. I can confirm that mastodon.art feels cozy and well-moderated, been there for years, also a financial supporter. Another sign that they care is that they've closed registrations, instead of trying to instantly moderate 3x the users. They've recently silenced mastodon.social, which again is mostly about calming down the local discovery features (you can still follow/be followed). They are blocking instances that encourage copyright violations, etc. If you want an .art account, IMO right now you should start on one of the other instances they recommend, and move your account later. You can browse the local .art timeline and their view of hashtags without an account.

samcat116 4y ago

I think that the local timeline is the only decent way to have native discovery in Mastodon (especially if you're in a topic-specific instance). I know some people specifically don't want things like algorithmic recommendations, which is fine, but for others this means expanding your following is relatively hard.

robga 4y ago
Say you’re into several disparate topics. e.g. always into a tech area, a sports team, a type of music, a local city. Then you may have time based interests that come and go yearly. It doesn’t seem to make sense to me that you have to choose one as the primary discovery zone, even if one interest was dominant.

lijogdfljk 4y ago

TBH, i don't know entirely, it just "feels" like i want the instance i'm most interested in. Yes, local timeline is neat and a feature i'd like to be able to use, but the Social aspect of Mastodon (vs email) means i tend to view the domain as indicating primary interest. It feels like a badge of community/interest. Not sure if it makes sense, just trying to explain what's going on in my head. As i have debated that exact question myself, internally.

Matumio 4y ago

Discovery: You'll tend to discover what other local users have already found or subscribed to. (Local timeline, hashtag search.) Culture and rules: In this case this means how nudity is handled, whether anyone will care if you post spiders or gore without warning, some specific rules about AI-generated art, etc. I can confirm that mastodon.art feels cozy and well-moderated, been there for years, also a financial supporter. Another sign that they care is that they've closed registrations, instead of trying to instantly moderate 3x the users. They've recently silenced mastodon.social, which again is mostly about calming down the local discovery features (you can still follow/be followed). They are blocking instances that encourage copyright violations, etc. If you want an .art account, IMO right now you should start on one of the other instances they recommend, and move your account later. You can browse the local .art timeline and their view of hashtags without an account.