Kevin RussellMastodon isnt just a life-raft, mastodon is how we win.
The next big thing is not corporate apps. Not corporate anything.
We arent running away from elon, we're replacing him.
seeteegee@kevinrns great, so what’s the funding model and plan to get billions of people on here? Also, how to deal with all the sociological and legal issues at that scale? Who’s going to work out the deal with Twitter that allows us to use one app that works with both systems during the transition period?
Brendan Jones@seeteegee @kevinrns the funding model is simple, you pay to be on your instance. It doesn’t even cost much - fosstodon has I believe 50K+ people on it and monthly costs are currently $2110 (source: https://hub.fosstodon.org/about/ ). Even if only 10K of those people pay, it’s 20c per person. That doesn’t pay the admins or moderators, but charge $2/month and their wages are covered. These are not unreasonable fees to ask people to pay.
@Brendanjones @kevinrns I'm not sure if this funding model is sustainable over the long term.
At what point do the admins decide that they need money to pay their rent/mortgage while dealing with all of the social issues on social media? Not to mention the possibility of large legal costs and costs associated with law enforcement compliance.
Besides, how does this money get spent strategically to position Mastodon as the Twitter alternative? I'm thinking advertising, outreach, marketing, deal making with other companies.
@kevinrns @seeteegee
> At what point do the admins decide that they need money to pay their rent/mortgage
That’s the entire point of paying them?
> Not to mention the possibility of large legal costs and costs associated with law enforcement compliance.
I don’t know enough about this to meaningfully discuss it. Someone else welcome to jump in.
@kevinrns @seeteegee
> how does this money get spent strategically to position Mastodon as the Twitter alternative? I'm thinking advertising, outreach, marketing, deal making with other companies.
I refute the framing of this question. Why does Mastodon need to be or do any of this? It’s growing magnificently already using zero of what you speak. And what deals does it need to make with other companies?
@kevinrns @Brendanjones From my perspective there are a great many people on Twitter with no plan to switch to Mastodon. Some will never ever switch due to the harassment they faced here and troubles getting set up. These are strategic problems that need addressing lest it become another fidonet. Sure, people still use it but barely anybody notices.
I use both because some communities chose to switch while most others are staying put. That friction is high, and if I need to budget my time I’m more likely to drop Mastodon because of the lesser content and engagement.
Also, the smug level here is quite high and annoying at times. The CW issues need to be addressed. This client I use still calls posts “toots.” It’s a real mess with no obvious roadmap.
@kevinrns @Brendanjones I think that one of the most salient comments I've heard on this topic is that Mastodon feels like a kind of exodus from the city core to the suburbs, with all the metaphorical imagery that it implies.
More like the reverse, this is people abandoning the Plantations and are looking for work, and all that that implies
@kevinrns @Brendanjones that wasn’t how one woman felt who wrote an article in a US newspaper about it. She was the victim of immediate descrimination here.
Scott Huff@Brendanjones @kevinrns @seeteegee
This is nothing more than one of probably a dozen social media platforms. It's been around a while and most users are happy with it the way it is. People can wander in and stay if they like our move on to Post, Counter Social, or Instagram.
Mastodon isn't the beginning or the end it's just more social media. And we don't have to do anything but use it or not!
Everybody have a great weekend, and try not to stress too hard.
RNRatched@Brendanjones @kevinrns @seeteegee My favorite things about Mastodon… No algorithms… no advertisements! I get a little nervous when they start talking about making deals with big companies. What exactly does that mean?
@SEGarrettRN @Brendanjones @seeteegee
Mastodon isnt a company. Mastodon doesnt own instances of Mastodon. Mastodon at bottom is software written by volunteers and fans. Anyone can install it, open a server, begin to associate with others running Mastodon. Thats Mastodon.
@kevinrns @SEGarrettRN @seeteegee mastodon definitely is a company (Mastodon GmbH) and definitely owns instances of Mastodon (mastodon.social), and the code is not entirely written by volunteers. But the rest you wrote is correct.
@Brendanjones @SEGarrettRN @seeteegee
OK, thank you. Your help is appreciated. You have made your point. I will make the several clarifications.Then Ill explain Red Hat.
@kevinrns @SEGarrettRN @Brendanjones so, it’s just another fidonet then with better mobile apps? They love how anyone can install that software too, along with their benevolent dictator for life. The smugness level is high there too. That’s fidonet. Take it of leave it.
@SEGarrettRN @Brendanjones @kevinrns I value these things also, but there are costs. How do we get adequate funding so that we can properly staff this platform moving forward to a billion users with processes to deal with the social ills that will come with it? Otherwise we end up with a platform that unjustly discriminates, and bans people with no appeals process (no resources for that) as one woman has written about. Or, people get creative about monetization, such as ads. Or, the platform remains obscure.
@Brendanjones @kevinrns For example, Canada has laws regarding what we consider hate speech. RCMP will from time to time require compliance from server ops. There’s also issues associated with copyright and defamation.
So, are instance admins getting competitive compensation, benefits, etc.? Or is it just “gig work” where if they get sick and/or tired there’s another greater fool to step in? What happens when that ends and my instance goes dark?
Freedom based Democracies change, the nice part about democracies changing is freedom based democracy.
There is no arguing or remedy when microsoft cancels
MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger (1999-2012)
for example. But Mastodon is free software. Anyone can set up, you can set up an instance.
No more
@kevinrns @Brendanjones if there’s a viable funding model then somebody might buy one of those services knowing that they are able to keep things running, pay people to maintain it. What I’m concerned about here on Mastodon is whether there are actual viable funding models that don’t rely on people’s good will alone as fleeting as that will be. So, no, over the long term running a Mastodon is not actually easy for anyone to make it an enduring system at scale.