I have re-read the magnificent article by @kissane, titled "Mastodon is easy and fun except when it isn’t". On Bluesky, she asked those people who had tried/used Mastodon and bounced off, what had led them to slow down or leave.
https://erinkissane.com/mastodon-is-easy-and-fun-except-when-it-isnt
tl;dr; reasons why they left Mastodon:
- Got yelled at, felt bad
- Couldn’t find people or interests, people didn’t stay
- Too confusing, too much work, too intimidating
- Too serious, too boring, anti-fun
- Complicated high-stakes decisions
"I don’t know if Mastodon can grapple with the complexities of mass scale. Lots of people would prefer it didn’t—staying smaller and lower-profile makes it friendly to amateur experimentation and also a lot safer for people who need to evade various kinds of persecution. But if Mastodon and other fedi projects do take on the mass scale, their developers must consider the needs of people who aren’t already converts. That starts by asking a lot of questions and then listening closely and receptively to the answers you receive."
For many parts I agree. But despite everything, Mastodon/Fediverse is still the best place to be on social media. Let's make this even better. We have the power. #Mastodon #OpenSource #Fediverse #Bluesky #BlueskySocial
@rolle
> Mastodon/Fediverse is still the best place to be on social media. Let's make this even better.
100%. One problem that causes friction for newbies is the expectation that Mastodon can be all things to all people. Somehow we need to convince people who want an InstaGram/TikTok-a-like experience to try PixelFed, or people who want more of a neighbourhood feel to try Hometown, or people who want Quote Posts to try FireFish. The fediverse has so much more to offer than Mastodon.
@wrigleyfield I always recommend Mastodon. @strypey
@wrigleyfield
No comment covers all criticisms. I was addressing criticisms based on the lack of features like Quote Posts, which can be used in almost every fedi app *except* Mastodon.
> the less toxic parts of Twitter
... is not something technologists can recreate for you. That's up to the people who want it, and there are *many* moderation tools available, at both account and server level.
@wrigleyfield I've always found the fediverse less toxic than *any* part of Titter I've experienced. With temporary exceptions, when there's a huge influx of newbies hopped up on DataFarm algorithm nosecandy, and spoiling for a fight. But before long they always calm down. Or block me, or leave for lack of drama etc. Either way, it's a problem that appears to solve itself.
(Side note: Timed Mute is really handy for getting usually good people out of your face if they're getting snappy)
@strypey @rolle I guess our experiences were very different! My Twitter count was the perfect size for me on that platform (~7,000 followers: big enough to have really interesting conversations in a setting where an algorithm shows you to followers’ followers; small enough that I almost never had random trolls pop up). I really want this place to work but I’ve had a lot of challenge getting anywhere near the same level of interesting exchange here. 
It’s so hard to find the posts I want too!
@wrigleyfield @strypey @rolle
I've been crossing my fingers that #PopTwitter in particular will have a few more key "migrations" because I worry key ppl like you (@wrigleyfield - several others too, Beth Jarosz, Carl Schmertmann, Hugo Macedo, Philip Cohen...) will move on if not! I esp like aspects of just posting out to nowhere, but also I think it could be so great for *demography* to have a stronger comm network here on Mastodon, which seems to have better mission and connection to the Web.
@edyhsgr @wrigleyfield
> I've been crossing my fingers that PopTwitter in particular will have a few more key "migrations"
Please read this as a general suggestion, not a criticism of the two of you (or anyone else). But...
There's more you can do than crossing your fingers. I find it really helps to reframe the fediverse as a special case of community organisation, rather than merely a "platform"(1).
(1/?)
(1) a hand-wavey term I've always been uncomfortable with
@edyhsgr @wrigleyfield
Some ideas OTTOMH:
* actively shoulder-tap people, tell them how their posts help you meet your needs, and that you'd love to follow them in a network that's not owned and controlled by a single corporation
* write a brief guide to making the transition. Targeted at the specific needs and interests of people who make up the slice of Titter you want to recreate here. Share it widely with them, on Titter, and through other channels where they can be found
(2/?)
@edyhsgr
* talk about the verse at conferences, meetups, and other in-person events where people from your discipline gather. Explain what makes it fundamentally different from Titter and other DataFarms, or centralised replacements like CoHost or Minds. Offer to help people make the switch.
* write articles for journals and other media popular in your discipline, doing the above.
* give feedback to devs about how the software could meet the needs of your people
(3/?)
@edyhsgr
There's a strong parallel here with the Open Access movement. Both academic publishing and social media have a collective action problem. The only way to solve it is collectively. So far, the fediverse movement mostly relies on 'if you build it they will come'. We haven't had resources to do much more. But growing the verse from a network of experimenters, to the mainstream public utility it has the potential to be, will require organising and lots of it.
(4/4)
@strypey I hear you, and appreciate, will remember and consider, these thoughts/comments!
@wrigleyfield @rolle
The main thing I’ve been doing in this regard is trying to get my institutions (my pop center and department; another good goal would be our various professional orgs) to set up accounts here, even if it’s just a mirror of their Twitter at the moment. The lack of our institutions here seems highly relevant to whether the network can become dense enough.
@wrigleyfield @strypey @rolle One thing I keep meaning to reach out to PAA about somehow is to support/provide RSS on Demography (journal) - I think/recall they did way back - I think would be so great to get everyone keeping up via RSS or equivalent (for Web syndication), more powerful than even Mastododon/fediverse as I understand/find things!
@edyhsgr
> RSS or equivalent (for Web syndication), more powerful than even Mastododon/fediverse
One way to think about the ActivityPub standard that powers the verse is RSS+replies.
Many Free Code CMS now have AP plugins, including WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. So you can make a WP blog (for example) into an 'actor' that can be followed by a Mastodon account. Blog posts can be boosted and replied to, just like a post from Mastodon or any other fediverse server.
(1/2)
@edyhsgr
Depending on how the WP blog is set up, those replies from the verse can appear as commented on the web page of the blog piece they're replying to. The blogger can choose whether to enable that. If they do, they can choose whether to moderate replies before or after they appear there, just like they can with regular comments.
WeDistribute - a group blog about decentralised software news - was an example (edit: not currently):
(2/2)
@wrigleyfield
> trying to get my institutions... to set up accounts here
That's a great start. Once the EU Digital Markets Act and other similar legislation kick in, Titter et al won't be able to stop you from having your primary presence here, and having accounts on the DataFarms echoing what you post here, for whatever extra reach that gives you. The IndieWeb folks call this approach POSSE: Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere;
(1/3)
@wrigleyfield
RMS wrote a good article on this too.:
https://stallman.org/facebook-presence.html
He focuses on the specific example of FarceBook, which dates the essay a little bit given the relative decline in FB's influence since he wrote it. But the underlying principles can be applied to maintaining a presence on any DataFarming platform. Including less obvious ones like academia.edu, ResearchGate and LockedIn.
(2/3)
@wrigleyfield
In the longer term, you want to get your institutions running their own fediverse servers, under their own domain names. That's the gold standard equivalent of the old Titter blue check (when it still meant something).
That will get easier with newer software like Takahē, which uses much less resources than Mastodon, and allows one server to serve accounts using multiple domain names. Eg one server could host both @academic@univisity.edu *and* @academic@department.foo *and* @academic@research-cluster.foo.
(3/3)