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The funny thing is that I found myself generally agreeing with every point in the post, but seeing them as positives where the survey participants saw them as n

by stncls 3y ago

The funny thing is that I found myself generally agreeing with every point in the post, but seeing them as positives where the survey participants saw them as negatives. > got yelled at, felt bad > Constantly being told I was somewhat dim because I didn’t understand how to do things or what the unwritten rules were. Well, yeah, welcome to any social group. Personally, I like that people second-guess themselves a bit, and self-limit what they post, to some extent at least. At the other extreme of the spectrum, we would get Eternal September. > couldn’t find people or interests, people didn’t stay > For me, it was that Mastodon seemed to actively discourage discoverability. One of the things I loved most about Twitter was the way it could throw things in front of me that I never would have even thought to go look for on my own. I appreciate anyone making the effort to pierce their own bubble. However, - I simply don't use Mastodon for that. - I didn't like Twitter's suggestions - And btw, Twitter's algorithms never had a reputation of piercing anyone's bubble. > too confusing, too much work, too intimidating > I’m tech savvy and have found mastodon simply opaque. [...] I actually don't totally hate just a little bit of a technical barrier to entry. Quite frankly, that barrier is very very low. > Discoverability/self promo is limited & typing out 6 hashtags is annoying. # being in the actual posts clutter things (unlike cohost/insta). "Self promo is limited" sounds like a huge bonus to me! > too serious, too boring, anti-fun > ultimately, I just bounced off of the culture, because it wasn’t banter-y and fun. It feels too much like eating your vegetables. I only follow people on Mastodon for the technical stuff, so I don't really need fun. But then some of those technical people I follow turned out to be lots of fun. The average Mastodon experience is, I think, much more dependent on who you follow (and maybe your instance) than the average Twitter experience. As a result, different people will get very different things out of it. Of course, all my remarks above are very much only due to my own preference. But I do love my little corner of Mastodon, and this article inadvertently hits on all the reasons why I do.

goku12 3y ago
Most of the problems seem to stem from unfamiliarity with fediverse. Except this: > Personally, I like that people second-guess themselves a bit, and self-limit what they post, to some extent at least. The given examples include badgering people to put content warning on discussions about anti-trans legislation or pictures of reptiles. That feels more like thought-policing. If people are so sensitive, they probably shouldn't be on the internet, much less the social media. This though, seems like them saying "Nobody wants to hear what you have to say. Go away!". It doesn't just feel insensitive - it feels like bullying of new users. I have been on the Fediverse for a while now. I have had nothing but respectful discourse from others even when they disagree with me. However, if anybody bullied me like this, I would rather just call them out for it than put a CW on my content. > At the other extreme of the spectrum, we would get Eternal September. I hear you when you say Eternal September would be the extreme. But Eternal September is really only applicable to shared communication spaces like forums, Reddit or Lemmy. Mastodon is more of a personal space akin to personal blogs, Twitter or Facebook. The quality of your Mastodon feed depends on who you follow and not on everyone around. The quality of posts should be allowed to vary with each individual - except in extreme cases. Let people be themselves in their own spaces. The recent influx of users to Mastodon has actually enriched my feed. There is always interesting content and new users to follow. I personally am happy with all the new users.

by stncls 3y ago

goku12 3y ago

Most of the problems seem to stem from unfamiliarity with fediverse. Except this: > Personally, I like that people second-guess themselves a bit, and self-limit what they post, to some extent at least. The given examples include badgering people to put content warning on discussions about anti-trans legislation or pictures of reptiles. That feels more like thought-policing. If people are so sensitive, they probably shouldn't be on the internet, much less the social media. This though, seems like them saying "Nobody wants to hear what you have to say. Go away!". It doesn't just feel insensitive - it feels like bullying of new users. I have been on the Fediverse for a while now. I have had nothing but respectful discourse from others even when they disagree with me. However, if anybody bullied me like this, I would rather just call them out for it than put a CW on my content. > At the other extreme of the spectrum, we would get Eternal September. I hear you when you say Eternal September would be the extreme. But Eternal September is really only applicable to shared communication spaces like forums, Reddit or Lemmy. Mastodon is more of a personal space akin to personal blogs, Twitter or Facebook. The quality of your Mastodon feed depends on who you follow and not on everyone around. The quality of posts should be allowed to vary with each individual - except in extreme cases. Let people be themselves in their own spaces. The recent influx of users to Mastodon has actually enriched my feed. There is always interesting content and new users to follow. I personally am happy with all the new users.