So I just don't understand why so many newbs like ⬆️ that guy seem so angry.

He's not the first guy like this. So what's going on?

Is it just the sentiment on Twitter right now?

All right, so the more I think about this, it seems there's a lot of folks who are reluctant Mastodon users -- and they really don't like the notion of a Fediverse.

They perceive the Fediverse as a nerd concern -- and they sure as hell aren't nerds!

However, despite that there's a plethora of Twitter clones on the Internet, you're here on the Fediverse.

You're here with the nerds.

Because the nerds built something. And the nerds are telling you how that thing they built works.

To those Twitter migrants who are generally pissed off about all this talk regarding the Fediverse:

We talk about it because it's critical information.

If you operate a car, you better know how the brakes work.

On the last social network you were on, you were essentially driving a car without breaks.

Mastodon, and other apps, have the equivalent of brakes. It's called "federation".

So I'm going to be especially nerdy right now. If you don't like it, tough.

Want to avoid yet another social network that crashes and burns?

Learn how federation works!

If an instance you're on is terrible, migrate to another.

If you're encountering trolls and neo-Nazis, block their entire instance.

If you want complete control over social media, start your own instance.

Federation: those are your brakes. Now don't crash your car!

@atomicpoet Do you have any tips or further reading for people like myself that would like to mitigate the problems with federation on a small instance? My main pain point right now is not being able to get full conversation context because replies are not federated to my instance. This is further made difficult when remote instances require a sign-up to get this much needed context.

I have read some of the GitHub discussions about this, and it doesn't seem to be an uncommon problem for people who prefer to run their own instance either for privacy/control reasons or just for an identity management reason.

Thank you for teaching me a ton about how ActivityPub works over the past few days, by the way! I am technical, but still very new to this, and especially since my previous experience on the Fediverse was centered around "big" instances of popular Fediverse applications.

@robert Looks like your instance is new.

What I suggest:

1. Follow everyone you're actively interest in, and interact with them.
2. If you have a profile on a bigger instance, cross-post from your smaller instance
3. Give this time! Federation takes awhile to get going.

@atomicpoet

Oh yeah, I'm not giving up, I am here for the long haul and I know how to work around a lot of the issues. I am mostly trying to prepare for bringing my partner and family into this instance, and to have explanations for how this whole thing works to stem the frustration factor.

I am still working on building up my following lists, so I am sure that will help over time. I hadn't thought about using the larger instance profile as a way to crosspost to gain more federation contact points, I'll try that for sure.

Now that I think about it, I think a really solid option to help this issue is to bring in my partner at the least, her follows will help build the instance network and increase federation footprint as well.