Peter Griffin ☕Mastodon.social feels a lot like early web. Before 'social networks' were named thus. Before Ryze or Orkut, which for many Indians were their first steps into the ocean . Before even blogs. When there were communities, and it felt... right. When "assume goodwill," to steal friend Udhay Shankar's advice to those joining his pioneering list, seemed perfectly natural.
(To be clear, I didn't know Udhay or his list then. When we did meet and when I did get invited to join, those words stood out; they described what I had been looking for then --- and often I found it --- and continue to search for today.)
These communities of choice formed in ad hoc ways. Lists (to which I came late), chat rooms (which I jumped into enthusiastically), even comment sections when they came up. It took some time and effort to find your peeps and keep track of them.
Geocities was the first, if I recall right, to create infra of a sort for this. (Raise hands if you had a homestead.) Then came LiveJournal, which I totally missed out on, and then other early purpose-built networks.
Geocities was the first, if I recall right, to create infra of a sort for this. (Raise hands if you had a homestead.) Then came LiveJournal, which I totally missed out on, and then other early purpose-built networks.
And now, of course, social media seems ubiquitous, inescapable.
In this deluge of information, Mastodon.social feels calmer. Like starting over. The rules of engagement, formal or informal, are sane, and moderation is firm and decisive. I see 'influencers' fumbling around, some adding 'verified' symbols to their handles because Mastodon doesn't have them. I also see folks who are confident in their worth, being helpful, reaching out, not standing on their celebrity dignity.
In this deluge of information, Mastodon.social feels calmer. Like starting over. The rules of engagement, formal or informal, are sane, and moderation is firm and decisive. I see 'influencers' fumbling around, some adding 'verified' symbols to their handles because Mastodon doesn't have them. I also see folks who are confident in their worth, being helpful, reaching out, not standing on their celebrity dignity.
I see names from long ago, people who sort of withdrew from the hurly-burly (or maybe just from my ken, as I morphed).
Perhaps, this won't last.. Perhaps server loads will get too high to keep membership free. Perhaps traffic will be too frenetic for moderators to keep track of. Perhaps.
For now, this is refreshing. And fun.
Perhaps, this won't last.. Perhaps server loads will get too high to keep membership free. Perhaps traffic will be too frenetic for moderators to keep track of. Perhaps.
For now, this is refreshing. And fun.
It seems like a good omen that just after I finished adding to that thread, @udhay should jump onto the elephant.
cyberjunkie@zigzackly Geocities, Lycos, Talkcity, Tripod. Guestbooks!
@cyberjunkie Guestbooks! Of course!
Gautam Ghosh@zigzackly raises hand