Back

@noondlyt @dangillmor

I'm not sure what those starter packs consist of over on the BS site, but a set of recommendations could be a good idea if newcomers would volunteer to fill out a questionnaire.

@TheEffekt @dangillmor Are you following this account?

@FediFollows

@noondlyt @dangillmor @FediFollows

Yes I am, though it's been a while since I've gone through it. My feed has matured and I enjoy it, so I might be a little out of the loop.

@TheEffekt @dangillmor @FediFollows Same, but still have them on notifications and follow a few every week from there. I just don't feel like this is a competition. These are two different animals that we are talking about here. I am here because it isn't like Twitter or now BS.

@noondlyt No one forces anyone else to use a starter pack.

I have one misgiving about them -- the "rich" get richer due to network effects. It's less organic than I'd prefer, but it's a good way to achieve critical mass and provide good content.

@dangillmor Exactly, but now I have 800 followers that I now have to vet and decide whether I want them following me or not. They obviously have no discernment when it comes to content so why would I want them following me?

@dangillmor This was the essence of the follow back resistor movement over on twitter. They were only lacking the mechinations of a one click solution. Instead they created huge follow back threads everyday. Engagement was low between these accounts except for the largest accounts who had group chat rooms to strategize how to get the most boosts and likes. They eventually became blue checks doing revenue sharing. These became "broadcast" accounts.

If you are a "broadcaster", I can see how you need this growth. What I am speaking about comes from a point of many discussions about the particular follow back movements on Twitter. They never had starter packs and yet somehow I managed to have 16,000 followers. To this day I don't understand the point of it.

It was never about trust over there. It was about following back no matter what. It was to the point that people demanded that people follow them back if they didn't right away. I can do without that kind of culture.

My experience is different with this type of scaling because I am not a content producer. Somebody put me in their starter pack without checking to see if I was even active over there. Now why should I trust someone who does that? Why should anyone?

I concede that for journalists, in particular, and other information disseminators along with content producers, that they need to reach a broad audience. When everyone is on a single server that sure makes that easy.

@paul @dangillmor Yes, but I will probably never click someone's list because there will inevitably be people I wouldn't follow. Your list is your algorithm. And when we're talking about people that have 15, 20, 25, and 30,000 followers and they put a list out of so many people, I can see that only working for broadcasting, not actual engagement. I can't think of a use circumstance other than wanting to grow your followership very rapidly without concern for vetting. I don't let anybody else vet accounts that I follow.

Apologies for the mess and edits. it's been a long week.

@noondlyt @dangillmor first, I understand your view. Next, I edited my reply to show I am talking about Mastodon's current "starter pack" equivalent. I know very little about Bluesky. I don't use it. Don't intend to post any original content there. I've invested a couple hundred dollars a year to build my selfhosted instance and this federation is where I am going stay and engaging at. Bluesky's recent federation to bluesky relay failure, even due to a coding error, shows it's in control of decentralization of the AT protocol so not a true federation.

Now, I will editorialize my POV, meaning to take nothing away from you POV, btw. I agree with your POV completely about the broadcasting abuse. However, I do see a use for quick lists that new users and maybe older accounts, can add a list of followers from a trusted person for content. I can also see a case use for emerging topics to follow of trusted sources for content and information. Is "hurricane Mastodon" coming ashore in Texas, follow the "Hurricane Mastodon" list from a trusted source information.

I've never followed anyone hoping for a follow back.

Of course, with Mastodon lists, you can unfollow anyone on the list at any time. Not sure about the Bluesky starter packs and really not going to learn.

My list use
I can't keep up with the follows I have and I spend time sending people I follow out of my home timeline to list only timeline based on their main content posts so I have a chance to see them based on the way Mastodon shows the feed. If I don't catch you nearly live posting, in replies, etc, your post is gone. If I put you on a mastodon list, I have a greater chance to see your content 12 hours after you post, esp if you're on a list that only has a limited amount of users

I imported a list I downloaded once of Mastodon Admin and Linux devs which I find helpful. I never would have found them any other way. Some I have built great relationships with. Others, off the list.

I like being able to take people out of my home timeline and into a dedicated list timeline, too.

Can't wait to delegate hashtags out of my home timeline and into a list.

@paul @dangillmor I have a question about how having a starter pack allows you to keep up with the posts of people you follow? I have a lists feature in mona that allows me to organize people into groups. I am a bit confused on this point. I commented directly back to Dan that I do see a use case for content providers. My use experience from Twitter was not that. There was a lot of Follow Back threads dedicated to increasing your followers for followers sake. Bluesky just made that a single click but with the same outcome in a lot of cases.

@noondlyt @dangillmor I can't speak about their starter pack but on Mastodon lists, everything stays in that list timeline in order it was posted, and you can just scroll and see what people posted from newest to oldest. Content only gets added after a user in that list posts. If your list is limited, it's not noisy at all. I scrolled a list earlier today to find a post I remember from October and found it quickly. I have my list saved to not add boosts to that list. It's original content/posts. You can also add people to more than one list, too.

@paul @dangillmor Ahhh ok, got it. you are one step or two steps more organized than I am. But I'm not running some side hashtag hustle

@wendinoakland @dangillmor We're working on them.

@Gargron @wendinoakland @dangillmor
It would be even better with the added functionality of creating lists from starter packs.