Had a weird last email conversation five years ago, where I had been trying to explain to an old friend how awful the Epstein rot was in American power elites.

There was an ugly moment where I realized the person I was talking to thought it was all dubious nonsense and that I was a loon.

Oof.

Then the meta-discussion came to the front, and obliterated the original discussion, shoved it right off the table.

#metadiscussion

Argument: "A good social media platform must work so that you can just open it and start using it right away."

I disagree. How is this even possible? Nothing is served on a silver platter. Let's take for example computers and Internet. You have to choose the browser app, then you need to select the website you want to use. If you don't find something, you need to open a search engine and look for it.

You make micro-decisions like these every day. Why is the Fediverse different?

#Fediverse #MetaDiscussion #SocialMedia #Bluesky

Mastodon ticks all the boxes feature-wise and culture-wise, but it's still not enough for many people. It's different reasons for many, but I've come to a conclusion these are the two main reasons:

1. Not enough mutuals here when compared to other platforms (by expertise, hobby, cultural or geographical location)
2. Not attractive enough by default (by UI, onboarding, the general consensus)

For myself I've fixed both, for 1 I have lots of geek mutuals here and for a techie this is the place to be. There are also just enough Finnish people to make it feel like worthwhile. For 2 I have #MastodonBirdUI and apps like Mona.

However, for most of the people 1 and 2 are really issues. I can't continue to downplay it. If it works for me, it will not for many. People are not generally interested in hacks and nitpicks.

We can always reply "good riddance, we don't need them here" but is that constructive? We should instead focus on making the Fediverse more approachable. Even more than before.

#Mastodon #Fediverse #MetaDiscussion #SocialMedia

Well youse guise, get ready to mute me. I guess this can be my #introduction. I used to be in #IT long ago but I've migrated into #LabMedicine. I still am a computer nerd at heart. This leads me to why I'm here.

Your instance runs Glitch, I love software where I have all the options (I've already tried to break Epic at work), and I already follow a bunch of folks here. My old instance is blocked by too many others so I needed a new home.

It's all a positive for me, but for you? You get #MedMastodon posts, shitposts, posts on #Geopolitcs, posts about #fandom, #metadiscussion on things like #gaming and #sci-fi, my #film recaps. Etc. Not much #infosec but I do post about it sometimes. Mostly ranting about bad #HIPAA security.

So hopefully I'll either bring some spice to your timeline or you can straight up mute me and I can bask in a local timeline that interests me. Sorry for interrupting!  ​

Real #introduction time. Hi I'm Dani, a medical lab scientist. I've been on the net since the '80s, so this isn't my first rodeo.  

If you don't know what we do, we make doctors look smart. We do all the blood and body fluid testing — #chemistry, #hematology, #immunology, #bloodbank, #flowcytometry, etc. We are the jack of all lab trades.

In my previous life I was in #IT. I love all kinds of #music, #tech, #gaming, #cooking, #metadiscussion about games and media, #ethics, and #geopolitics. My guilty pleasure is #fanfiction.