Kathryn TewsonDec 12, 2022

The different Twitter-exodus social-media platforms as if they were neighborhoods, so far:

Mastodon/the Fediverse: the neighborhood around a university with a ton of cool houses full of cool people, but half of them are out of milk or toilet paper or both

Post: giant gleaming planned community with nothing walkable and a dubious HOA

Hive: initially-kickass converted warehouse that turns out to have two toilets and one exit and no fire suppression

Show threadDanDec 12, 2022
@kathryntewson or in internet terms:
Mastadon: a PHPbb forum that most of your friends are on, with strange rules that befuddles newcomers but has a friendly group of kids who help people get through it.
Post: Your ISP tries to setup an AOL competitor
Hive: That guy in ‘99 who still runs a dial-up only BBS and has some very specific feelings on aluminum fil and it’s ability to protect from EM waves.
Show threadKathryn TewsonDec 12, 2022
@Danielsand I worry about volunteer-only moderation and scaling. Moderation at scale is hard, punitive work that nobody can do without risking permanent trauma (not kidding) and that’s not something we can institutionally expect people to do for free.
Show threadDanDec 12, 2022
@kathryntewson absolutely. It’s why this really does feel like a Forum to me (or Reddit for today’s kids). Some federations are doing a great job, others…not so much. But in any way it only works for small communities.
If Mastadon wants to grow to truly be a big player, it needs to centralize moderation and built a T&S team of true experts. Hopefully by poaching the fired Twitter people.
Show threadKathryn TewsonDec 12, 2022
@Danielsand the problem is that the federated nature of the service means that “Mastodon” can’t do that; one specific instance is going to have to do that. And that will cost money — a LOT of money.
Show threadDan
@kathryntewson yup. By far this will be the biggest limiter to the growth of Mastadon. I hope they figure it out. Or decide to be more selective going forward with who can join.
Dec 12, 2022 at 4:27pmWeb
Show threadAthie_GnomeDec 12, 2022
@Danielsand @kathryntewson But, with things being decentralized and open and everything, they actually can't be selective. The design principles of this software create some lock-in to openness, which in turn generates some real risks. It's better than being on Twitter right now, but it's worth being clear-eyed about it.