SyrioForel t1_j2a8rlp wrote
I think it’s kind of funny and sad that people are hoping against hope that Mastadon could be a viable alternative for Twitter, and are basically lying to themselves out of frustration because they don’t actually like Mastadon but now feel like they are “stuck” with it being the only viable alternative. And the cherry on top of that is that the people who run Mastadon don’t give a flying fuck about what the people are clamoring for and are actively refusing to listen to user feedback, all because they are on some sort of religious crusade that has nothing to do with any sort of market research, any sort of user feedback — they are just sitting there smelling their own farts while letting this great and transformative opportunity go to waste.
I don’t think Mastadon has a chance in hell of ever going mainstream, simply because the people who run it don’t give a fuck. It’s one thing to stick to your guns, but it’s another thing to be an arrogant fool.
Years ago, people left Digg to move to Reddit — which worked out, because at the time Reddit was a genuinely good platform. Same thing happened when people Left MySpace for Facebook, it was actually an improvement in many ways. This time, with Mastadon, it’s different because Mastadon is such a huge downgrade from what people were used to, and there is no will from the developers to do anything about it.
Palmsiepoo t1_j2agwlt wrote
>This time, with Mastadon, it’s different because Mastadon is such a huge downgrade from what people were used to, and there is no will from the developers to do anything about it.
This was also my takeaway from the article. If you read this article only as an end-user wanting to get into Mastadon, it sounds like 100000% too much work. People are drawn toward FB, Instagram, and Tiktok because it's easy to jump in. As much as people cry about privacy (and they're not wrong), we see their behaviors are completely at odds with this belief: people will very easily trade their privacy for entertaining and easy-to-use platforms.
For Mastadon to succeed beyond the dozens of webdevs who want to use it, it needs to think more about the end-user.
ianhillmedia t1_j2auaea wrote
I honestly think this is a branding problem more than anything. I joined a Mastodon server in late October as part of the first Twitter migration, and while it took a minute to get used to, I didn’t find it all that difficult to learn. I also think a fair amount about what it would be like if I had to learn Facebook’s UX today from scratch. It’s more complicated than that of a typical Mastodon server.
SyrioForel t1_j2az3bn wrote
It’s not about complexity. On Twitter, you are a part of a global community. There is a constant sense of activity. On Mastadon, you are sitting in a dark room with a small handful of other lost souls.
ianhillmedia t1_j2b915g wrote
One of the things I’ve actually appreciated about Mastodon instances is that they’ve kept me more engaged. That’s because on Mastodon, you’re not limited to only seeing the posts of folks you follow or that those folks want you to see. You can easily see feeds of the posts of everyone on your instance, posts from the folks they follow and folks on other instances. Twitter initially offered a feed of all users on its service - it’s similar to that. So I’m exposed to ideas I don’t get on other services. That said, Mastodon’s 8M users are still largely early adopters - technologists, scientists, artists, activists, educators and journalists - as the post notes. That’s not everybody’s community. If they’re going to keep growing, Mastodon instances will need to attract folks from other communities - and that, in part, means addressing the perception that Mastodon is difficult to join and understand.
tuna_safe_dolphin t1_j2e1m86 wrote
It took you a minute to get used to it. You are obviously a technical end user. That's where Mastodon fails.
Way way back in the early days, Reddit was basically a bunch of nerds like us. However, the platform was easy to use and gradually grew beyond LISP jokes and PC mods.
And you could just start using it without actually signing up.
ianhillmedia t1_j2eb20h wrote
The economic model creates additional challenges. Without corporate financing, ad revenue or other support, admins need to limit access to their servers so they can pay the bills. That means users can’t necessarily immediately join the instances that best meet their interests. Users then come away saying Mastodon is too complicated. But some of it is also branding. When you use terms like “server” and “instance,” users assume the network is only for those who are tech-savvy.
All that said, learning to navigate Mastodon really isn’t any more complicated than learning how to navigate subreddits. When I say it took me a minute to learn the Mastodon UX, it also takes a minute to learn Reddit’s UX and culture - the importance of replying vs. posting, how to find active subreddits that meet your interests, the rules of subreddits, etc. And I’d argue that learning how to navigate a Mastodon instance is easier than learning how to navigate Facebook right now - that UX is a trainwreck.
SVZ0zAflBhUXXyKrF5AV t1_j2brn6n wrote
To the average home computer user, and by that I mean people who don't go actively seeking out tech and IT forums and articles online, I doubt many of those average users understand what's truly involved with privacy online and what is done with the data and metadata the companies gather, profile and build about all their users.
There was an incident many years ago, I think it was something to do with a trial an ISP was doing, where the EU complained that they didn't consult the customers involved and explain what was happening or ask permission. The response, or excuse, was basically it's too complicated for them to understand so they didn't bother. I think it was to do with adverts.
Paradoxmoose t1_j2ced7m wrote
The .art community there evidently has ultra restrictive policies which end up excluding large chunks of the artists out there. They got there first and got to decide the rules, it's just a detriment to the potential transition over. Nothing can be done about it.
iRedditonFacebook t1_j2ci80d wrote
>And the cherry on top of that is that the people who run Mastadon don’t give a flying fuck about what the people are clamoring for and are actively refusing to listen to user feedback, all because they are on some sort of religious crusade that has nothing to do with any sort of market research, any sort of user feedback — they are just sitting there smelling their own farts while letting this great and transformative opportunity go to waste.
These open source project don't owe anything to anybody and Mastodon have nothing to gain from sudden influx of entitled users.
They don't sell your data and don't show you ads while still having to pay the bill for choosing beggars who've been accustomed to using free stuff online all their lives, bitching about where the project should go.
They can contribute code, open a fundraiser to raise funds to pay developers, or just go back to Twitter.
Wood_Ingot t1_j2cyc2g wrote
Sounds to me like you just reinforced his point
Zncon t1_j2d2jv6 wrote
I really feel this line of thinking. Online discussion was great back in the days when you had to really put effort into having the hardware and access to join in.
ThellraAK t1_j2fw9b2 wrote
Open a PR or start a bounty?
If they don't want your changes fork it and maintain your own branch that's got all those things you think it should have.
MpVpRb t1_j2b47if wrote
What specifically are the problems?
NovaTerrus t1_j2fqimd wrote
Welcome to open source. Fart smelling is the primary pastime.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments