mastodon.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
The original server operated by the Mastodon gGmbH non-profit

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So, assuming I'm not interested in answers like "neither! use !", why would someone use over ? My wife is on Threads and says there's a good vibe over there. I'm not going to join because I don't want any Facebook any my life, but I'm also not representative. Who does bluesky target? People who are anti-Meta but can't figure out signing up for an account like you would email?

That kind of took a turn I don't mean. I know a few folks on bluesky and they're fine people, but their vibe seems to be entirely "we're not mastodon because we refuse to talk about ". But I have a very, very small sample size.

@gulfkiwi I don't see a reason to join BlueSky.

They're strategy seems very suspicious and totally based on corporate bullshittery regarding decentralization, the federation protocol, and confusing people enough about those things so that people don't really try messing around with those parts of the infrastructure...🤦‍♂️

@BeAware I don't disagree, but people are clearly deciding Bluesky vs. Threads (and mutually rejecting mastodon) and I'm curious who "bluesky voters" are, what they perceive bluesky as offering.

@gulfkiwi you might have to go to BlueSky to get those answers.

I'd say there's very few "BlueSky positive" folks here that will be able to give you the answer you're looking for.😬🤷‍♂️

gulfkiwi

@BeAware HA that's the funny part: I have asked friends over there!

The answer in my group was 100% some combination of (1) mastodon is too difficult, (2) mastodon is too judgmental, (3) too much linux, and (4) mastodon doesn't fight enough (that one is probably attributable to one or two specific friends of mine though).

I genuinely don't understand the perspective. People here are nice. Many are genuine world-class experts. And you can block linux keywords.

@gulfkiwi yeah...I don't get it either. Hope you find the answers you're looking for, but I'd guess that you'll probably keep getting those same answers that don't make sense.🤦‍♂️

@gulfkiwi @BeAware
The reasons people are using Blusky over Threads (or Mastodon) is not rational, stationary, or monolithic.

It’s like Coke vs Pepsi, at this point.

@paninid @gulfkiwi I feel like it's more like "You want coke and Pepsi? We have coke and Pepsi at home" and BlueSky is coke and Pepsi at home that's just carbonated water with brown food coloring.

@BeAware@social.beaware.live
You're doing it too, right here.
🙃
I have zero trust in the company either, but don't diss the tool without using it. It is a great tool, really.
And it doesn't have to be one OR the other.

@paninid@mastodon.world @gulfkiwi@mastodon.social

@DavidBHimself @paninid @gulfkiwi I don't need to use it because I see how they're doing things and I don't like it. It's my own personal opinion. Feel free to disagree, but my opinion can't be wrong, it's an opinion.

@BeAware @DavidBHimself @paninid I don't use it because I'm just generally over monolithic social media platforms, regardless of how good they are. That's not even criticism of Bluesky or Threads as such.

@BeAware @DavidBHimself @paninid Though I will note the irony of my ending up on the most generic of mastodon instances because my attempts on smaller ones were unsatisfying.

@gulfkiwi@mastodon.social @BeAware@social.beaware.live There are a few judgmental idiots here. The "HOA" that tries to dictate how Mastodon and the Fediverse should be used, the Leftist Taliban, and a few more groups who are easy to avoid when you know how to use the place, but who give the place a bad name from the outside. The worst part being that they like it gives the place a bad name. The last thing they want is for the Fediverse to grow and thrive. They want it to remain a small thing just for them. And they're succeeding I'm afraid seeing the adaption rate of these past few months.

@DavidBHimself @BeAware I don't disagree there are unpleasant folks here but I've never seen it as really gatekeeping and no different from the usual town jerks you find in any big community. About the only thing I've found here is a very "we will not be twitter again" vibe that tends to lean pretty hard on people who just come to fight--and I came from activist-left-twitter so I'm used to just omg hyperobsessive combat with today's Main Character.

@gulfkiwi@mastodon.social @BeAware@social.beaware.live Oh, I've seen a lot of gatekeeping, a lot...

And the problem is that it is the perception non-users have of Mastodon now. Seriously, I even think the Fediverse has a Mastodon problem more and more and that Mastodon is the main thing preventing the Fediverse from being more widely adopted.

@DavidBHimself @BeAware I am absolutely willing to be wrong because I'm not in any way the demographic to have been gatekept (?) against, but I've tended to see (a) people grumpy about the influx of normies (sic) right at the beginning and (b) the same sort of toxic, hostile sociopathy way too common on the whole Internet. Lots of folks offering a helping hand to people new to mastodon too. So ... maybe culture is changing?

@gulfkiwi@mastodon.social @BeAware@social.beaware.live Maybe the culture has changed (hopefully it has, I don't see much of that attitude anymore, but mostly because I block and mute on sight - and the most hardcore gatekeepers have probably defederated from most other instances but theirs).
Still, regardless of the reality, Mastodon's reputation is made, and it will be very difficult to change it for people who are not active here.