Tom WalkerI saw a few people on birdsite saying "the trouble with Mastodon is that you have to know what a server is".
That doesn't seem like a high barrier of entry to me. 6 year olds who play Minecraft know what a server is...
"What do you mean I have to pick which email service to sign up for before I can send an email? Ergh, this email thing is too complicated, it'll never catch on."
Alistair Davidson@tomw I think it's code for "I am very attached to twitter / have a high following there / am an expert in its UI and customs"
Discomfort projected onto an imagined user. I do think JoinMastodon.org and the experience on first joining could be a bit clearer and more helpful. But the concept of a server is not the issue.
@moh_kohn Yes I think there is a definite effort at spreading "it's too hard" by people who are worried about losing a big following.
Some people have spent most of the day, every day, for *years*, posting the kind of rubbish the Twitter algorithm rewards in order to "build an audience". You wouldn't want to be in their shoes now.
Pekka Sipilä@moh_kohn @tomw I did a very small poll about it on Twitter, sad that more people didn't answer. Stockholm syndrome came as the top answer of 4 votes. Maybe somebody with more following on Twitter should redo the poll and get direct comments from people there?
And in hindsight, maybe rewording syndrome to attachment would be better. It just feels to me that people are digitally captive by artificial high switching costs.
Pekka Sipilä @[email protected] on Twitter
“The #Slush2022 hashtag seems oddly silent on Mastodon so far. Surely the attendees at Slush would be tech-savvy enough to join the #TwitterExodus movement. So, what is preventing you, yes YOU, from migrating to Mastodon today?”
keyboardcat
Cornelius@tomw I mean there are still people who think GMail and eMail are two different things and you have to have a Gmail account to communicate with someone on Gmail... 🙄
dragfyre
Pomegranate County Irregulars@tomw If someone says they don’t understand, they are having difficulties. I understand the frustration as there are daily waves of new entrants and this is commonly heard. But, to be all in on inclusion, one does not dismiss new people’s confusion.
Server selection was the first thing presented to me. There was no explanation about consequences for choice. I made a sub-optimal one which affected my experience and slammed an overtaxed server. There are onboarding issues.
@pomCountyIrregs Yes, I'm not making fun here of people who are trying, but of people on Twitter who are saying "don't try that, it's too hard". I think the difficulty is being overstated in order to try to discourage people from leaving, especially by people who would lose out from everyone leaving Twitter.
@tomw It’s a real possibility. I saw those comments over at the other place. I’ve been around the block a few times and am veteran of the OS FUD wars two decades back. But I’ve also written internal software for architects and whether it’s resistance to change or a real UX critique, I had to pay attention and fix it or else my project fails for lack of buy-in.
Most of what being said over there is FUD, driven by money. Not all.
Let me add, I like M. and appreciate the effort.
Aris Teon@tomw there are people who have lots of excuses to try to discredit Mastodon. Some are addicted to the rush of constant outrage and drama. Some are afraid to lose their followers (whom they might have paid for). Others don't want to see a decentralized nonprofit social media model succeed.
@aristeon I definitely see a lot of people describing this – not exactly in these terms, but eg. saying that their main use case for Twitter is to post creative insults aimed at powerful people who they dislike. Clearly Mastodon doesn't replace that.
HollieK@tomw I think the hardest part about joining was getting over the idea that it sounds complicated, and then trying to work out which server to join. The rest was just being unfamiliar with a new site.
@HollieK72 Yes definitely! Also the complicated-ness of it is becoming a bit of a meme at this point
Laure-Katrine@tomw like most things in life if you want to put a little bit of effort in, then you get rewarded. If you don't...
@tomw George Takei was just saying he didn't see what all the fuss was about with the different servers...
jtonline@tomw seems like a good analogy, although choosing a server is a definitely a bit of a speedbump even if you don't really care ...and while moving later isn't _too_ bad I wonder if there are ways to help explain why you might care, and which servers would suit you. Getting invited by someone you know who's already got an account might make the whole thing less of an issue before long I guess.
@jtonline Yeah, I'm definitely seeing more people go for the server that their friends are already on, which is a good way to decide.
TechSquidTV@tomw the real problem is they don't see any benefit over Twitter. Twitter gives them the experience they want and it's free. We tell them there's an alternative but we're offering a more complex answer that may even cost money.
@techsquidtv True – there's definitely a section of the userbase that will hold out until Twitter no longer exists. And even then, may go to Instagram instead.
Dave's Dad@tomw Saying "I'm not joining Mastodon because I don't know what a server is".....is a bit like saying..... "I'm not going to a restaurant because I don't know what a waiter is." Kinda silly really
Virtue signal 💉💉💉🇺🇸 🇺🇦IMO, its a dreadful erosion of Internet literacy; like a movement of ppl who are trying to discard the Web in favor of app stores.
Exactly The Same@andtheangel Yes true - this could be solved by making sure that the web interface never links out to other instances, only to view that account from inside your instance. I guess there's some reason why they haven't wanted to do that but it would make things a lot easier
@tomw yep: I suspect that that problem accounts for a good number of the issues people have reported with passwords - they're trying to login to the wrong server.
Natalie Sedacca@tomw I kind of know what it is but don’t fully understand. Not stopping me using Mastodon tho!
@nataliesedacca Yeah, just the basics are enough!
Elbowpatch@tomw I had to google it...
MrJuggles. he/him@elbowpatch22 @tomw
Yep, I've had to look at a YouTube video or two. This and discord really make me feel like an old man. Sort of like my dad must when he calls me up because his Alexa isn't working but he refuses to switch his router on as it wastes electricity.
Yep, I've had to look at a YouTube video or two. This and discord really make me feel like an old man. Sort of like my dad must when he calls me up because his Alexa isn't working but he refuses to switch his router on as it wastes electricity.
@mrjuggles @elbowpatch22 Fair enough, but at least you've managed it!
You've also reminded me that Discord also uses a very similar concept of 'servers' – they are all run by one company in reality but it's roughly the same level of difficulty to understand, and plenty of people get there.
thepoisontart@tomw there is an argument that one of the reasons Twitter was a dumpster fire is the low barrier of entry - download app, spew garbage. Mastodon, for better or worse, has a higher knowledge requirement but it does set the bar for accessibility higher.
Mike Wursta 🇨🇦 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦