Mastodawn

A few days ago I posted an open Google Doc here and encouraged folks to jump in to brainstorm feature ideas for Mastodon/Fediverse social apps. There are now 6 pages of smart, good ideas, and growing... check it out and add if you have a good one! And pls boost/share with others as you see fit. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EnkjkSW14hR_uTdwEW7vqRaaIXDMlNQ4WRNoPmnn_z0/edit?pli=1#

Mastodon Feature Brainstorm

TOC TOC About this Document Add Feature Ideas Below Here – Don’t Be Shy! Template and Example Bolded Concept In A Few Words in Heading 3. Built in block list tools. Browsing Posts Ability to come back to where you left off reading and not have jumped around in the timeline. The ability to see al...

Google Docs

tikistitch⁷ has moved Jan 23, 2023

Some great ideas! I love the bookmarking proposal. Don't know how many times I scroll up to see new posts and then can't find where I'd left off.

Halcek Jan 23, 2023

@tikistitch @elipariser Personally better display of thread subordination (maybe like on @lemmy would be interesting to me...

Tommi 🤯Feb 2, 2023

@tikistitch @elipariser

Mastodon has bookmarking capabilities already!

Jeff Moe Jan 23, 2023

But why on Google?

I long for the day when Google links are abhorred as much as Twitter links.

Tommi 🤯Feb 2, 2023

@jebba @elipariser +1! A nice and simple #Etherpad would work wonderfully.

John Gordon Jan 23, 2023

In 1995 absolutely nobody predicted the power of faxing in 2023. (We assumed it would be dead by 2000.)

There are so many lessons from this, not least in making predictions about the future.

I think I understand some of why faxing persists.

jeSuisatire neindochohh ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ Jan 23, 2023

Serious questions, I appreciate answers:

Why would I do that?

Why would I use a centralized setup of the worst kind like the number one monopolist to brainstorm things I can brainstorm right here in the fediverse or other alternatives available?

Why do you want me to hand my IP over to "them"?

Maybe you should ask yourself:
"Do you work for big brother?"
"Have you been brainwashed or programmed?"

#fediVers #fediAsk #journalism

Eli Pariser Jan 23, 2023

@jesuisatire @jlori I respect that. I think that's a reasonable position. Personally I haven't found a more open-source way to view and collaborate that works well from a UX POV, and I'm not a purist... but I think it's fair.

jeSuisatire neindochohh ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ Jan 23, 2023

Sound like you should open and poste an open Google Doc to encourage folks to jump in to brainstorm on how to build an alternative to open Google Doc's.
😇

#fediVerse #fediAsk'ing for #fediHelp

maegul Jan 24, 2023

@jesuisatire @elipariser @jlori I thought exactly the same thing. Why not a thread of posts right here that we can favourite/upvote?!

jeSuisatire neindochohh ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ Jan 24, 2023

> I thought exactly the same thing. Why not a ..

The real, sincere answer?

Because we are used to ..
😮

@elipariser @jlori

Aaron Huslage Jan 23, 2023

@elipariser There's a whole github for this....

Eli Pariser Jan 23, 2023

@aaron I know! (Linked to it in the do ). But I think a lot of folks are intimidated by GitHub so trying something a little more freeform.

Brendan Jones Jan 23, 2023

@elipariser @aaron it’s definitely intimidating, plus it’s not really fit for use as a feature request platform because issues (often) contain a mix of feature and solution (code) discussion. The Mastodon repo is also a mess right now so there’s that. I fear your document may also become that soon 😬

What’d be grand to sort out popularity would be if it’s an ordered list based on upvotes, and each person can only vote on one thing. Or maybe three things.

Brendan Jones Jan 23, 2023

@elipariser @aaron if I could only vote on one thing, it’d be fully featured lists (okay, it’s an epic). Follow hashtags and keywords in lists, and include AND/OR/NOT rules for those hashtags and keywords. And the option to hide people you follow from your home timeline, so you can only see them in a list.

Et voila! Supercharged lists! Not much to ask, right? 😅

Anil Dash Jan 23, 2023

@elipariser I'm glad to see these kinds of convenings, but one of the big misses here is in framing this as being about "mastodon". I doubt that mastodon will be (or wants to be) the platform that does a lot of these more consumerized things; part of what we should be doing is teaching people that other tools might arise to meet these needs.

Jesse Jan 23, 2023

@anildash @elipariser I disagree - not in the broad sense, but about whether Eli "missed" in framing this spreadsheet this way. If our goal is to broaden the base of people participating in building the future of all this, it makes sense to use the vernacular, to collect their notes and ideas about the product they think they're using. Also, we can have multiple lenses. Frankly, it would be interesting to me to see a conversation just focused on the same question for Mastodon mobile clients!

Jesse Jan 23, 2023

@anildash @elipariser Btw, I mean no condescension in the words "think they're using" - I think of myself as using Mastodon myself - as well as the specific client I use at any time, and the fediverse. And I think my observations about any of those layers could be rolled into new Fediverse things that are completely separate from Mastodon.

Connected Places Jan 23, 2023

@anildash @elipariser I think part of it is that we havent really found a word yet that describes the microblogging platform side of the #fediverse, that easily groups things like mastodon/pleroma/misskey/etc together. Fediverse isnt the right term either, because a lot of the conversation isnt particularly relevant lets say owncast or peertube. I've been using microblogging platforms for the time being, but using that term makes me feel like a pretty big dork tbh

Connected Places Jan 23, 2023

@anildash @elipariser Ive been tempted to start using the word zone to describe the entire group of federated microblogging platforms, taken from elk.zone. Gives the feeling of a digital space for me pretty well

Ada Jan 24, 2023

@fediversereport @anildash @elipariser I've been using #microfedi for that particular niche

Jan Jan 23, 2023

@elipariser Great - maybe make two lists, one for Mastodon and the second one for Fediverse/ActivityPub app.

calc.exe Jan 23, 2023

@elipariser issue trackers and email lists exist for this exact purpose.

Eli Pariser Jan 23, 2023

@thatonecalculator which exact purpose?

calc.exe Jan 23, 2023

@elipariser

- coming up with and discussing new features/ideas
- reporting bugs
- discussions

Hal Jan 23, 2023

I just made a thread of some of my favourites!

https://eldritch.cafe/@zzz/109739803292670947

Hal (@[email protected])

Content warning: Fediverse feature requests

Eldritch Café

Paranoid Factoid Jan 24, 2023

Kerberos single sign on. Every ActivityPub service on the same server, Mastodon, Peertube, PixelFed, Lemmy, WordPress w/ActivityPub, and Diaspora via Hubzilla. One sign on gets you all these services, and your data unified in a single home directory.

You should be able to embed your blog entry in your Mastodon post and have it just all work. Just like a link to a peertube video just works.

We should use the popularity of Mastodon to populate other Federated services w/new users.

Janet Vertesi Jan 24, 2023

@elipariser I'd love to participate but I don't use Google products. :(

I can recommend https://cryptpad.fr/ as an alternative, if not an etherpad instance.

CryptPad: end-to-end encrypted collaboration suite

CryptPad: end-to-end encrypted collaboration suite

maegul Jan 24, 2023

@elipariser My main idea is to provide a full curation filtering/sitting interface so that the firehouse can be easily navigated.

See my comment here: https://mas.to/@maegul/109736158238551290

maegul (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] How about a fully customisable filtering and sorting interface that enables one to creat multiple “views/feeds”, each with their own independent (or maybe optionally dependent?) settings? Eg: “All unique posts from lists A,B or C sorted by n boosts with hashtag “xyz” where posts are written by people I follow” Or, in keeping with the anti-viral ethos: “least boosted posts from those I follow”

mas.to

Vincent 🌻🇪🇺 en 🌹☘️Jan 24, 2023

@elipariser A Google doc. Ironic, not?

Jeff Moe Jan 24, 2023

One of my most likely comments in my weeks long Mastodon experience is:

"But why on Google?"

Any response? I does seem to be something other people besides me care about.

Aquiel ‘Aqi’ Draco Jan 24, 2023

@elipariser @supernovae did you see this? Also, interesting the part about the Google tracking in the toot thread. It’s in German but I’m sure you can get a Google translate… ups I’m sure there are alternatives. It is so easy to fall into what one is used to…