Steven T. DennisMastodon’s limitations mean it relies more on its users to surface good content. Search doesn’t really work. There are far fewer suggested posts. QTs don’t really exist yet. Trending doesn’t really work. So boosting becomes the absolutely critical way for other people to find interesting things. IE, if you see something you like, boost/RT it, tag people who you think might be interested, etc.
Boosts on here are what will make or break Mastodon. If people can find other interesting people and content, they will stay and the site will grow. If its too much of a chore, they won’t. Other sites reward lazier social media grazing, and they surface content designed to maximize engagement, which often = lies, hate, stuff that enrages rather than enlightens. Mastodon just surfaces what imembers boost.
Daryl Bsomething@steventdennis I'm realizing that I'm stuck in my adversarial mindset of not wanting to share too much about what I like or don't like by mashing those buttons. But with Mastodon I'm not the product (and in fact pay directly for the service via donation) so I have to find my way out of that mental space. I hopefully no longer need to balance "helping(?) others via boosting" versus "the harm of feeding an algorithm that monetizes against me what interests I've expressed"