I think it's super important that we realize that Mastodon isn't "the next Twitter / Tumblr / whatever". It's not there yet. I was on the ground floor when people were "migrating" to Google Plus, and that went so horribly because we all thought it was gonna kill Facebook tomorrow.
We won't kill *anything* unless we make this a place people want to come to by 1) keeping all oppressors out and 2) making good community / context / posts
Mastodon doesn't need be a Twitter-killer.
Twitter is already a Twitter-killer.
@InspectorCaracal @ben_c the product is so far removed from what twitter is trying to be anyways. At most it could be compared to "legacy twitter" and that's only comparing technology on a single instance without bringing federation or community into this.
@InspectorCaracal true facts. I could have said that bit in a different way.
> I think it's super important that we realize that Mastodon isn't "the next Twitter / Tumblr / whatever".
But really -- nothing is ever the next anything at all.
The whole "the next X" is a concept the record industry (among many many others) desperately tried to use to leverage what people like into getting them to try imitations.
Everything is an imitation of something else and a new creation, everything. There's no 'next' Twitter or Tumblr.
Masto will grow. ^_^ That's all.
@sydneyfalk @tim @ben_c You mean this isn't the next Usenet?
@artsyhonker @sydneyfalk @tim oh no this *is* the next Usenet, and every day is the last day before Eternal September
GASP
YOU'VE FOUND OUT THE SECRET!
*throws a canister of knockout gas at the floor and vanishes in the excess smoke it produces*
@sydneyfalk well, sure, Masto will grow. It's probably advanced to the point where it won't fail (like Peach or Ello) or become a wasteland (like Google Plus), but it does have a potential of vibrancy that it hasn't reached that we as a community of users can help it reach. That's all.
I actually kinda meant to say "Masto may grow."
I don't assume it will or won't, just that it may, and that'd be interesting, and it won't be like the other places' growth because Masto is its own thing.
> potential of vibrancy it hasn't reached
Possibly? I can hope. But if this is as far as Masto ever gets, I'll still be deliriously happy that it happened and I came across it. ^_^
What can I say? I'm easily satisfied about some things. ^_^
@sydneyfalk perhaps I'm just sad that most of my good friends from birdsite aren't on Masto, and I would love to be able to say "...yet."
Well, I can certainly understand that. <3 I hope you see some of them here ^_^
(and that's not meant to detract from your correct point about how to make the place grow -- it's just that nothing is absolutely, truly, unquestionably a drop-in replacement for anything else, without any difference)
@ben_c I think the differences are important.
There is no "this place". There are many places all talking to one another. Some float, some sink. Each one just has to worry about it's own community, which is the greatest strength of the platform: the ratio of mods to users.
I mean, there is no "Mastodon" the place. There are thousands of Mastodon instances. There is the idea of Mastodon. There is choice. Mastodon doesn't have to kill anything: it's designed to outlive the alternatives.
@ben_c I have a great time on G+, is the funny thing. Very high new-stuff ratio, easy to unfollow jerks.
@ben_c Not sure what your point is about G+; I joined in 2011 and always considered it a much better place than Fashbook, which I now rarely use. Only Masto has been able to lure me away much.
Also, what's Twitter? <naiveface>
@ben_c > make this a place people want to come to by 1) keeping all oppressors out
Ha ha no. Building a wall around your garden and instituting checkpoints on entry isn't likely to make it a popular place to visit for *everybody*. Look at every historical attempt.
@ben_c Trying to keep *all* oppressors our is a fool’s errand: see all the admin discourse that goes on every month or so (half the time it’s two people accusing of being the oppressor of the other)
@USBloveDog I get that it will never be complete, but it's got to be the goal. Deeply considering starting an instance or joining a smaller instance specifically so that I know if some Nazi (or similar) shit happens I know I can have some say in blocking users or instances acting in bad faith.
@ben_c That's a good choice. I seem to notice that Nazis and right-wing nuts go after groups of people to oppress and they simply do not care about the humanity of the individuals who are in the groups they hate.
Leftist oppression is much more personally targeted, and they would consider their own actions abhorrent if they oppressed the wrong person.
@ben_c If I ever do start my MLP roleplay instance, I'm going to make it kayfabe and have a reminder that the one Nazi pony the chan half of the fandom loves is banished from my realm for extremely good reasons.
@ben_c *I* think it's super important to realize that we aren't trying to kill twitter. We're trying to have a social media platform that doesn't suck. 👼