Jonah Aragon 
I think my favorite part about Mastodon is how many people are on servers other than mastodon.social, you can’t say that for a lot of other federated services like this (Matrix)
Nov 17, 2022 at 1:41amWeb
Show threadtaco Nov 17, 2022
@jonah I had issues even figuring out what to self-host for Matrix, let alone how. I’ve never felt stupider when looking into setting something up.
Show threadJonah Aragon Nov 17, 2022

@tacoman_x86 if you’re actually interested in setting one up I found the scripts at https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy to be by far the easiest way to get one going while being sure everything was done correctly.

But yes, it’s needlessly complex I feel like. Mastodon has really got the setup process, admin tools, and documentation down which is a huge benefit.

GitHub - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy: 🐳 Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker

🐳 Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy

GitHub
Show threadtaco Nov 17, 2022
@jonah I was interested a few years ago, but realistically until Discord shits the bed I won’t be able to get a critical mass of my friends over.
Show threadNour Agha Nov 17, 2022

@jonah This mostly has to do with matrix.org being the default option on Matrix where you're not presented with a list of servers, compared to Mastodon's pick-and-choose, open buffet approach.

That said, there is a significant advantage to Matrix's approach, since one of the biggest barriers to entry is picking a server. If Mastodon made mastodon.social the default server, it would've made sign up a lot easier and people would eventually slowly disperse across the fediverse.

Show threadHenry FisherNov 17, 2022
@Nour @jonah
The other layer to this is mastodon allows you to switch instances super easily!
Show threadNour Agha Nov 17, 2022
@hen @jonah Very true, I forgot about that as well. Makes dispersion a lot easier, which also somewhat exposes a downside in Matrix's default server approach when migration over there isn't easy.
Show threadLuigi de GuzmanNov 17, 2022

@jonah that may have something to do with the fact that during the big spike in migrations mastodon.social stopped processing new accounts.

I imagine there'll be a lot of server churn for a while as people get on the network first, and then migrate to servers that suit them

Show threadThe Dreaded ChalupacabraNov 17, 2022
@jonah It feels like what Diaspora was promised to be, but done perfectly.