FediTips has moved!Nov 5, 2022

Hey new people and those thinking of joining, you do NOT need to sign up on huge servers!

You can follow and interact with people on any server from any server, the servers are connected.

It would really, really help the network right now if you could sign up on medium or small size servers. You will still be able to follow and interact with whoever you want, and the network as a whole will work much better.

A good safe place for beginners to find servers to join is https://joinmastodon.org/servers

Show threadneatchee

@feditips
From an expectations perspective, this is a *really* hard sell.

1) "But I want to be where my friends are" doesn't respond to logic. It's a reaction that is literally bred into us as a species.

2) Bootstrapping your timelines is an inscrutable process when you're not on larger servers. Websites with giant directories of people are intimidating, and small servers with fewer total follows from the server to populate the federated timeline don't provide enough varied content.

Nov 5, 2022 at 9:26amWeb
Show threadneatcheeNov 5, 2022

@feditips
A feature I'd love to see (and will maybe add to the issue tracker after more thought) is a public, read-only, rate-limited API for a server's local and federated timelines.

Let people browse or even subscribe to a public feed to expand their access to more content.

Show threadlashmanNov 5, 2022

@neatchee @feditips would most likely have to be opt-in (not out) for server admins

but not a bad idea

Show threadneatcheeNov 5, 2022

@lashman
@feditips

Yes, definitely opt-in. But that should be a no brainer for the bigger and even medium sized servers, given how insecure messaging is on the platform already. I wouldn't have a private conversation anywhere near Mastodon right now lol

Show threadlashmanNov 5, 2022

@neatchee @feditips as with every other social network really

here's hoping with all the new people and funding they'll start working on encrypted DMs sooner rather than later. They were already planned anyway, but maybe now they'll arrive faster :D

Show threadneatcheeNov 5, 2022
@lashman
@feditips
I read on the issue tracker that it's already implemented on the services side and literally just needs someone with cryptography experience to do the work for the client end. Hopefully the influx of users will provide someone to do that work
Show threadlashmanNov 5, 2022
@neatchee @feditips yup, yup, exactly! definitely became a priority after all those "admins can read your DMs" twitter threads started going around
Show threadneatcheeNov 5, 2022

@lashman
This also gives me yet another reason to be upset about the slow adoption of IPv6.

IPv6 multicast is basically built for this scenario.

Show threadlashmanNov 5, 2022
@neatchee oh, i'm VERY upset, trust me! 😔
Show threadFediTips has moved!Nov 5, 2022

@neatchee

"But I want to be where my friends are" doesn't respond to logic. It's a reaction that is literally bred into us as a species."

I don't think this is true on federated networks.

Do people join a phone provider because their friends are on it?

No, because it makes no difference, because phone networks are federated. You can call people even if you're on different providers.

Your friends aren't "on" another server, you're all on the Fediverse and can interact and follow each other.

Show threadneatcheeNov 5, 2022

@feditips
You're talking about an entrenched system that was inherited from physical landline service, vs a completely new federated system built on entirely different principles.

If I said "hey you should get a cellphone. I'm on Verizon." And you went to Verizon to be like "hey my buddy said I should sign up" and they're like "sorry, not taking any more customers, you should go find a list of other carriers to try, there's several dozen of them" that would be friction.
1/2

Show threadneatcheeNov 5, 2022
@feditips
I'm not saying the fediverse doesn't work as you describe. I'm saying we will be fighting an uphill battle to negate those human impulses and keep people engaged. It's a problem we need to face and not just hand -wave away as irrelevant
Show threadIan MacAllenNov 6, 2022
@feditips @neatchee a better way of looking at it is how groups of people stop texting their one friend that’s not on iMessage because everyone else is on iMessage.