Mike Masnick ✅It remains mindboggling to me how many people on the other site feel the need to constantly bash Mastodon. I didn't join a bunch of other social media sites, but I didn't feel the desire to mock them either. It's kinda weird, because it includes people I normally get along with as well.
Aaron Williamson 🍄@mmasnick they are feeling abandoned and defensive, I’d wager
Ed Zollars, CPA@copiesofcopies @mmasnick I think this is the key for much of it. Change is generally resisted, and whatever they might feel about the chaos that is the current "rules" on Twitter, they are looking at losing the network they built up if Twitter fails or just enough people leave. If they move to Mastodon they know that they won't get that entire network to come with them. So the only possible future where they (kind of) keep what they had is if everyone stays on Twitter.
@copiesofcopies @mmasnick And then hopes that Twitter management doesn't otherwise destroy the platform via simply breaking the underlying technology. Thus, those fleeing to Mastodon are a problem to them, since enough of that and it doesn't matter if the software keeps running.
Ashley Porciuncula@mmasnick Yeah I'm seeing some weird sides of people that I wouldn't have expected. 😬
Alexander Doria@mmasnick From my experience it frequently comes from people with a rather sizable following on Twitter and who do not want to restart in a space without the same legitimacy (at least for a while). Normally they would just avoid the issue entirely but it’s getting harder to ignore now that a significant part of Twitter has moved here.
Freya the Ferret@Dorialexander @mmasnick That's what I've noticed too; I've been really surprised & disappointed by a few people who I've read & respected on twitter
@TheferretFreya @mmasnick Same. In my own circle, some have fortunately changed their stances, as repulsion for Elno has become markedly stronger than any lingering attachment to microcelebrity.
Yerdua22 ♧☆
Lukas Simonis@mmasnick
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
jeSuisatire neindochohh ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ
Chance The Lawyer ⚡︎@mmasnick I just saw one like that and realized it's just the new misinformation train rolling through town, and people are getting sucked in by it because Mastodon does have a learning curve, and it is a bit of most of the things that are being said about it, but as usual, they are being said without context or cure options. it's weird but just—to me—further evidence of the metastasis.
k_salberta
Ben Wheeler@chancerydaily @mmasnick
I see some that look like valid criticisms, though. Like this
https://twitter.com/rahaeli/status/1593819064161665024?s=20&t=XxxsCfTByQZjROnxEPj6bA
@bentwhee @chancerydaily i didn't see raheli's thread as a "criticism" but rather some advice from someone's who's truly been there, done that (I even added some advice to that thread as well).
The thread says only 2 instances have DMCA set up properly. That sounds like a criticism to me.
@bentwhee @chancerydaily it's not a criticism. It's a warning that others should do so in order not to run into legal problems as an admin. The risk is to the admin.
@mmasnick @chancerydaily
Rahaeli says it’s a criticism and I read it that way, too. The admin does run a huge risk, but what do you think happens to the users when that admin realizes the cost of the risky behavior? The instance ends up nuked and the users have to find a new instance - not exactly risk free.
https://twitter.com/rahaeli/status/1594724708309553152?s=20&t=MnZGhSMHRGwD5Q2CyFmfZw
@bentwhee @chancerydaily can you point out where i suggested any of this was "risk free"?
@mmasnick @chancerydaily
You said, “the risk is to the admin.” Seems pretty clear that you are not acknowledging risk to the user.
You said, “the risk is to the admin.” Seems pretty clear that you are not acknowledging risk to the user.
@mmasnick @chancerydaily I mean, throughout this thread you have been downplaying everything Rahaeli said - even to the point of insisting it wasn’t a criticism of Mastodon.
@bentwhee @chancerydaily i know rahaeli and talk to her often. I'm not "downlplaying." I'm putting it in context. I'm going to exit this conversation now. You seem to want something specific out of it and I apologize that I cannot give it to you.
diphenhydramine@chancerydaily @mmasnick this is a problem i noticed back in the day during the great tumblr-twitter migration too. i was shilling mastodon but was met with things like "well anybody can run it," which is true, followed by "so there's no way to stop [insert hate group]," which is false. the issue is just that people are so willing to write off open source software as insecure and dangerous
director@mmasnick i guess its because they mastodon as a direct replacement for Twitter rather than its own social media?
LynnBrenner
That Anonymous Coward@mmasnick
Human nature.
I need to keep saying how bad the other thing is so it remains okay for me to stay where I am.
If I keep telling others how much their choice sucks, I can remain secure in my choice.
Human nature.
I need to keep saying how bad the other thing is so it remains okay for me to stay where I am.
If I keep telling others how much their choice sucks, I can remain secure in my choice.
Ricardo Harvin@mmasnick Ignorance, fear, and laziness abound everywhere.
@mmasnick Mastodon users are evangelists? When atheists get angry at theists, is rarely Zoroastrians they get angry at.
@mmasnick Jealousy.
Whitney McNamara@mmasnick Do I count as a mocker over there?
Because I don't yet understand how to stumble across interesting people on Mastodon, and I complain about that, but I also think it's a legit concern.
I think I could recreate the Twitter I have today on Mastodon, but I don't know that I'm interested in doing that, you know?
@whitneymcn i found that after i followed maybe half a dozen interesting people, I'd find they boosted lots of other interesting people and just went from there.
Kelerion@whitneymcn @mmasnick it’s good to see this space as different because it really is . I have picked interesting people to follow and used the hashtag to find some and wow my timeline is fascinating. So stick with it . I think it’s ok to complain but if you do it here people will help . Good Luck .
Nemo_bis 🌈@mmasnick I think it's the syndrome Eloquence described at
https://write.as/eloquence/why-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-are-doomed-to-fail
The extra attention doesn't hurt though!
Dan Sugalski@mmasnick I think it’s partly a sunk cost issue — they’ve dropped a lot of time into the other site and people leaving implies either that time was wasted or it was a bad decision, either of which is going to get a negative reaction.
Ernie Smith@mmasnick I have three ideas as to why this might be:
- It reflects the fact that Mastodon technically has no “owner” and therefore nobody to complain to
- It’s not built for pure ease of use and the onboarding process is coloring their view of the whole thing
- I think they resent the fact that from a pure follower standpoint, they have to start over
I think the third for many is the biggest factor.
@mmasnick To some degree I get it! They’ve been trying to build up their audiences for 15 years in some cases. But I also think your TRUE fans are most likely to follow you to a new place.
David Olsen
Eric VeyThat's a good metaphor. A lot of people give up on Linux. I use it for a server and really dread having to fix something when it is broken.
Half the time, when following instructions somebody made up, the thing your supposed to download either isn't there anymore or doesn't apply to a new version or breaks something else when it's run. Makes me crazy.
Josh Sternberg@ernie @mmasnick bingo. social media has trained a generation of reporters to want to be their own brand while the outlets they work for today may not be here tomorrow. So starting from zero is hard. And losing one platform where you’ve spent time building followers taps into both the fear of “what if I lose my job” and the dopamine rush of getting an army of followers. And fragile egos, of course. 😁
@joshsternberg @mmasnick I’m presuming the reason I have found this transition relatively easy is because I have given up a lot of followers in the past and started fresh. I realize it’s not an insurmountable goal, but most people haven’t had to deal with the loss of an important status signal before.
@joshsternberg @mmasnick At some point, getting off the treadmill is not as scary as it looks
@joshsternberg @mmasnick Remember Klout? 😂
bangwin 
@ernie @joshsternberg @mmasnick Yeah I remember Klout....but I never use it cause it looks fake to be honest
Melissa ❎️ 🐝@ernie
Clout-chasers. They are complaining a lot about everything. Several I were following have now been unfollowed.
Clout-chasers. They are complaining a lot about everything. Several I were following have now been unfollowed.
John W. Little@mmasnick A lot of them are folks who have built large followings and a bit of a cult of personality. They see migration as a direct threat to that. They are far more concerned about their influencer status than the issues they claim to support.
joy larkin 🌺✨@john i'd built a decent following there... and I don't much care. But perhaps I'm weird.
1RAOKADAY@1RAOKADAY @john I honestly don't know. I've always kinda been wired this way. I've never paid that much attention to traffic that we get either. I've never tried to play games for more traffic.
@mmasnick Same. I do care about parts of my network that I won't be reaching as quickly or as often (primarily the global government accounts that won't migrate immediately) but not about about any perceived influencer status.
Patrick LaForge
☀️ Keith X ☀️@mmasnick many of the complainers depend on the algorithm & hate a reverse chron timeline
Terje Fjelde@mmasnick So very human, though, isn't it? Mastodon is the weird one out – a clarinet to the brass band nerds.
smays.comI suspect this has something to do with one's identity, sense of self if you will, being tied up with the other place. I am the 'me' that exists on twitter. If twitter ceases to be...
Robert A. Hill@mmasnick It remains the *funniest* when it's like some person that claims to be technical, but their entire experience on here is simply setting up a Twitter cross-post bot and never, ever, interacting with people on this platform. I agree with you that it is very weird when it is someone you respect. I won't tag them here, but a certain Josh acting like he can't grok the differences and faking being confused is very weird and unseemly IMO.