ACCOUNT MOVEDAug 11, 2018

After sleeping on it, I think #Mastodon should rename ‘instances’ to ‘Communities.’

Instances feels too technical and I see even savvy people struggling to understand it.

I argue communities would make much more sense. It denotes much of the purpose behind _why_ this service has different instances, and many people will already be familiar with the concept from Reddit (the, what, sixth most popular site on the net?).

Show threadJustin MichaelAug 11, 2018
@chartier "Communities" is good except for one thing: it makes it sound like none of the instances are connected to each other, which is one of the key aspects. It's not just a bunch of seperate communities, it's one big interconnected federation.
Show threadACCOUNT MOVEDAug 11, 2018
@VioletPixel Sure, but real world communities interact with each other, and members frequently participate in multiple or uproot and move between them.
Show threadJustin MichaelAug 11, 2018

@chartier True, but this place is even more connected than that. You and I are effortlessly talking to each other even though we're using different instances; it's not like I had to go over to your building or even pick up the phone, you're just immediately accessible. "Communities" implies barriers that don't exist here.

Don't get me wrong; I agree that "instances" is a very technical and opaque term, and I'm all for finding a better name, I just don't think "communities" is quite right.

Show threadMike PiontekAug 11, 2018
@VioletPixel @chartier I don't agree that there aren't barriers. If I follow a web link to a different instance it's not at all clear how to interact with anything on that instance. I also think we're well past the point where people think of separate communities as a significant barrier to communication—there are so many ways different communities flow together constantly, especially on other social media sites.
Show threadDan V PetersonAug 11, 2018
@robotspacer @VioletPixel @chartier definitely dislike “instances”. I worry a bit about “communities” as well for similar reasons as Justin. So far the easiest way to explain to others has been comparing to email and they just call those “providers”. Same as ISPs. I really don’t like that term either but maybe the easiest to grok?
Show threadMike PiontekAug 11, 2018
@danvpeterson @VioletPixel @chartier I think "servers" is a better word choice if you're trying to explain the service from a more technical standpoint. Web servers and email servers are familiar concepts; people get that they're run separately but communicate with each other. Sure you could have more than one instance running on a server, but if you're not a person running an instance then… who cares 🤷🏻‍♂️
Show threadDan V PetersonAug 11, 2018
@robotspacer @VioletPixel @chartier Servers still sounds too technical when trying to get people to sign up. People don’t want to sign up to a server. Provider lets you compare to things like ISPs, AOL back in the day for older folks, etc.
Show threadDan V PetersonAug 11, 2018
@robotspacer @VioletPixel @chartier but I definitely like Communities better than Instances. A mixture of “communities” and “providers” I think works well when trying to introduce people to the concept.
Show threadDan V Peterson
@robotspacer @VioletPixel @chartier saying “you sign up with a provider” helps to explain that it isn’t insulated and doesn’t limit you where “communities” or “instances” may give that impression. You can still talk about communities, etc. but specifically when talking about how to sign up, I think “provider” may work better.
Aug 11, 2018 at 8:07pmWeb