I really don't like the idea of topic-specific instances being the standard way to handle group discussions in Mastodon. I don't want to juggle 15 different identities and 15 different sets of credentials just because I'm interested in 15 different things. Early adopters may put up with that kind of hassle, but a mass audience never will. And having to set up and maintain a whole instance just to host a group means that few groups will ever be formed.
I feel like there has to be a better way.
@jalefkowit So, that was my reaction for the first few weeks after Mastodon's big burst of attention, and how it was being written about. But I've been thinking a lot about how people interact on line, and how in a sense the alternative is to have exactly one online identity. As I think about how to convince people I know to use Mastodon, I think using a server for a community they're already in is exactly the right technique.
@jalefkowit Of course there are problems, as you point out, but they can be addressed. 1. Clients that support multiple identities nicely. Not too hard. Browser tabs are working okay for me, but not great, indeed. 2. Some hook like public@instance as a way to participate if you don't join the instance. Tag it to show up on their local timeline; subscribe to see their local timeline. 3. white-label instance services like masto.host, so admins just needs $, not tech skills.