BananabobNov 14, 2022
blaine

The reason Mastodon names are like email addresses is because email addresses "won" over a lot of other options that I won't mention here because most people have never heard of them.

Why did email addresses win? Because they match how we think of community, at a deep cognitive and arguably biological level.

Need evidence? "Jesus of Nazareth" is basically an email address and, now, a Mastodon account name.

Nov 14, 2022 at 3:55pmMastodon for Android
Show threadDave Troy Nov 14, 2022
@blaine over on FB, Dave Crocker (one of the actual inventors of email) explained to a friend how the Mastodon naming convention worked. “It’s just like email” he said, and gosh, I figure he’d know. 😀
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@davetroy amazing. I should very much like to meet Dave some day and shake his hand. ❤️
Show threadDave Troy Nov 14, 2022
@blaine we met at an email conference probably 10 years ago or so and talked some. That’s how we ended up as FB friends. Good guy.
Show threadSebastian LasseNov 14, 2022

@blaine

Well, no difference to jesus.nazareth (except it is shorter) - you see?

Sorry but there was really a reason to not include webfinger in the ActivityPub spec. which is a W3C Recommendation.

Show threadMark Shane HaydenNov 14, 2022
@blaine actually @jesus first signed up at Nazareth but has since moved to librepunk.club
Show threadLuzifuchsNov 14, 2022
@blaine “149361 Dutch people like this toot.” 🤓
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@luzifuchs 👀 I've spent a fair bit of time in the Netherlands, and have many wonderful Dutch friends, but I think this one's too deep a cut for me! 😅
Show threadLuzifuchsNov 14, 2022
@blaine Me too actually 😅 But that has nothing to do with their culture, more with the fact that many Dutch people carry a surname with “van” in it which originates from what you just described; where their ancestors come from. You can also find many examples for this in Old High German authors like “Hartman von Aue”, therefore also in many noble families until this day.
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@luzifuchs ahhh! Yes! 💯 Nice insight! 😅
Show threadLuzifuchsNov 14, 2022
@blaine Yeah sorry for the exclusiveness 🫠😅 Next time I add a CW: Philologist joke! 😀
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@luzifuchs 😂😂😂 usually explaining the joke ruins it, but I love it so much! I've been thinking about this stuff for a looooong time and I don't think I've ever made that particular connection. 🙏🙏
Show threadTill WestermayerNov 14, 2022
@blaine !
Show threadJocelynephiliac Nov 14, 2022

@blaine the worst problem lies in most apps seeing [email protected] and going "oh that's an email, the only thing you could want to do with that is write an email.

So many times I try to copy a user name to follow it and iOS just goes "oh, here's an email prompt"

Show threadComfortably NumbNov 14, 2022
@twipped @blaine I think if I type @[email protected] it remains plain text in most apps, and still is visibly a Mastodon handle.
Show threadNorihide FurukawaNov 14, 2022
@blaine Whoa how interesting!
Show threadturminderxNov 14, 2022
@blaine but it makes searching for people (even friends!) kind of hard! And you can have people with the same name over different servers!!
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@turminderx it's not an easy problem, yes! But search-based approaches fail miserably over time (cf facebook) and email is the only name-like addressing system that preserves global uniqueness that I'm aware of. There are many "Blaine Cook"s in the world, but only one "[email protected]" and that's a really important property to have when building these systems. 😊
Show threadturminderxNov 16, 2022
@blaine we will learn to deal with the server tag 😁
Show threadMichal Migurski 🍉Nov 14, 2022
@blaine traveling churchy/merchant people had Dude von Placename type names; peasants were more like Dude the Miller or Dude the Jerk 😂
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@migurski 😂 and somehow ... 😂 this place is not different. 😂
Show threadMichal Migurski 🍉Nov 14, 2022
@blaine my Mastodon server marks me as Mike the Normie
Show threadDarius KazemiNov 14, 2022
@migurski @blaine sadkjksadjhkjsd
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@darius @migurski you are way too famous on the internet, so I can't even find out what "Migurski" means in Polish. Clearly you need your own instance, so you can be "Mike, of Migurski fame"
Show threadMichal Migurski 🍉Nov 14, 2022

@blaine @darius I think it means something like “of the mountain?” (Or hill)

tbh I haven’t dug too far to learn more. My mom’s side is an ultra-common Polish last name.

Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@migurski @darius heh, my mom's side also means roughly "of the mountain" (and I'm not falling for your trickery here! You'll never access my United account!)
Show threadDarius KazemiNov 14, 2022
@blaine @migurski my name means "I am a patrilineal descendant of [maybe just followers of] the seventh Imam Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim"
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@darius @migurski I sincerely hope that in 1125 years, there are people with the last name "Frencampi."
Show threadMichal Migurski 🍉Nov 15, 2022
@blaine @darius “Elon von Birdsite” 
Show threadNat TorkingtonNov 15, 2022
@migurski @blaine @darius once he's broke he'll be Elon the Birdfucker.
Show threadMarc HedlundNov 15, 2022
@migurski @darius @gnat @blaine but did he fuck the bird or did the bird fuck him?
Show threadMichal Migurski 🍉Nov 15, 2022
@marcprecipice @darius @gnat @blaine “And if thou fuck a bird, the bird will also fuck thee.” —Friedrich Nietzsche
Show threadNelson MinarNov 15, 2022
@migurski @marcprecipice @gnat y'all's Thanksgiving traditions are weird.
Show threadDan HonNov 15, 2022
@nelson @migurski @marcprecipice @gnat They're practicing, they've still got a couple weeks to go.
Show threadblaineNov 15, 2022
@marcprecipice @migurski @darius @gnat
Show threadMarc HedlundNov 15, 2022
@darius @gnat @migurski @blaine lol at the peacock watermark.
Show threadNat TorkingtonNov 15, 2022
@marcprecipice @darius @migurski @blaine In honour of the change in leadership, perhaps the new Twitter logo bird should be a peacock?
Show threadblaineNov 15, 2022
@gnat @marcprecipice @darius @migurski I bet if we send this to the marketing department right now, they'll have it up by bedtime.
Show threadMichal Migurski 🍉Nov 15, 2022
@blaine @gnat @marcprecipice @darius looks fabulous!
Show threadMarc HedlundNov 15, 2022
@migurski @gnat @blaine @darius the bird emerged, fully-formed, from Zeus’ brain…
Show threadBobNov 15, 2022
@gnat @migurski @marcprecipice @blaine @darius in this case wouldn’t it be the bird emerged, fully deformed, from Elon’s a..?
Show threadxianNov 14, 2022
@migurski or like my grandfather's name, Point-nose (but in German)
Show threadDan HonNov 15, 2022
@migurski @blaine You mean like Sun-Earther Iain El-Bonko Banks of North Queensferry?
Show threadrolenthedeepNov 14, 2022
@blaine [email protected]
Show threadShane McKeeNov 14, 2022
@blaine #Nazareth is a real place; we cycled there a couple of weeks ago for the #NazarethChallenge - to raise money for the *amazing* Nazareth Hospital - check out our thrills & spills! :-)
Show threadOssi-AussieNov 14, 2022
@Shanemuk @blaine I did not expect the backpipes at the end. Nice one!
Show threadxianNov 14, 2022
@blaine totally love it but the sequence of ats still throws my brain a little (and a few parsers)
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@mediajunkie (I've never been stoked about the prepended @ - I can see the impetus, but I hope it becomes vestigial)
Show threadJonny AxelssonNov 14, 2022

@blaine The desire for uniqueness has led to name+qualifier(@place). So we got John the Thatcher, Boris son of John, Jack the Ripper. Then as alternatives grow we need to specify Jack the Ripper of London.

While the email format "won", the others haven't gone away. The more structured X.500 reappeared in LDAP, AD, vCard and vCalendar. It is there as much as ever.

Show threadRobey ☠️Nov 14, 2022
@blaine my favorite secular equivalent is "Leonardo da Vinci"
Show threadSpace HoboNov 14, 2022
@blaine UUCP bang-paths for ActivityPub when?
Show threadNealeNov 14, 2022
@blaine I love that I am "Neale of Teh Entarnet"
Show threadToran J. ShawNov 14, 2022
@blaine so it's basically public email?!
Show threadblaineNov 14, 2022
@toran you are ... not wrong. 😂
Show threadpaleszNov 14, 2022
@blaine Do you have a list of those failed other options? Asking for a friend.
Show threadDan TootillNov 14, 2022
@blaine "@jesus" on Twitter, account claiming to be Jesus Christ himself without any mention of the word parody, got a blue tick last week. Says it all really!
Show threadDinoSoarNov 15, 2022
@blaine I've heard of that chap. Can't think where or when, but I swear I have heard the name...
Show threadTim BrayNov 15, 2022
@blaine Well you know, Nazareth is a fair-size place, 77K people, prosperous, no reason it shouldn't have a regional Mastodon server, and there is a .bible TLD. I guess it would be immature to go snap up nazareth.bible…
Show threadblaineNov 15, 2022
@timbray I may have registered nazareth.social earlier today, as a treat.
Show threadTim BrayNov 15, 2022
@blaine Yeah, that Jesus of Hebron was a real asshole, hinted he was that guy who could cure your ills… for a price.
Show threadJan EdenNov 15, 2022
@blaine Amen. That's why it bothers me that Matrix went for a different notation (@user:server).