Mastodawn

As well, at least some of @wilf’s critiques are valid. Mastodon can feel like the Home Owner’s Association.

That was especially the case when the Twitter migration happened and old timers felt threatened.

However, the culture has changed.

There was a time when journalists were met with hostility. Now people really do want journalists to be on the Fediverse. This is a 180 degree change.

That said, a few of the critiques in @wilf’s article about Mastodon also seem wildly suspect.

One activist complains that they cannot hijack hashtags.

Which isn’t the type of behaviour I endorse, and seems downright toxic and hostile.

The Mastodon detractor that I have most sympathy with is @shengokai. He’s right. Search and discovery is terrible here, and I wish that was fixed.

However, he still continues to use Mastodon due to the Star Trek and cat memes.

I also disagree with @wilf’s assessment that Mastodon isn’t “great”.

Mastodon is a non-profit made by a small team utilizing a technology that’s in its infancy.

Most projects like this never get off the ground. I should know this—I started one.

Judged by those metrics, Mastodon is great.

Here’s the other perspective @wilf should have: Mastodon validated ActivityPub in the eyes of the public. Specifically, the notion that decentralized and federated social media can work.

Now that millions have used the service and it’s proven to scale, more software engineers are iterating on that concept.

Another thing @wilf needs to know is that, in the world of decentralized social media, Mastodon is the market leader.

There’s lots of competing software. Planetary, Nostr, and Bluesky are all competing with it—all made or funded by former Twitter employees to boot.

All those products wish they had Mastodon’s success.

Rob Bos Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf It is, IMO, a silly mindset of the modern Internet that something must be a world-bestriding colossus in order to be a success.

Linux doesn't have to have a monopoly on literally every computing device to be a roaring success. The desktop market is a holdout, so what.

There is room for diversity in the world. Twitter AND ActivityPub AND bluesky AND nostr can all be successes.

Rob Bos Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet
I suppose it would be more accurate to say that it is a symptom of late stage capitalism: if something is successful, the expectation is that it will eat all competition. So the immediate reaction to a competitor is defensive fight response.
@wilf

k cavaliere Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf #Mastodon is great at this early stage in its evolution. I wish I had discovered it earlier.

Wilfred Chan Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet Hey, thanks for the comments and engaging with the piece so closely. Just to clarify, I didn't say that Mastodon wasn't "great" - my usage of that word in the last paragraph was in reference to funding models, which is what Schneider was discussing.

@wilf Understood, and thanks for the clarification.

Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @shengokai it comes down to the basic question "what do you want from Life?"
Star Trek and Cat Memes!

Rob Bos Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @shengokai Pretty much anyplace is going to have its tradeoffs, I expect. Centralized control has some advantages!

smarter than a waffle Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @shengokai as the Prophets foretold...

Morgana Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @shengokai The important things in life….

@atomicpoet @shengokai @charles_ex

msgbi Apr 19, 2023

joel b Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf yet more evidence these people aren’t interested in contributing to a community. They merely want to be the all powerful man-behind-the-curtain who use others as a means to their own ends.

sub_o Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf I mean, 80% of my social media usage is to look at cat pictures.

Les Orchard Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf Hijacking a hashtag sounds like a good way to get yourself muted or blocked or server-limited and find your ability to get any material in front of people degraded altogether (instantly or not)

Cyber Yuki Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf It's not a 180 degree change; journalists were always welcome here. The fact that a lot of journalists who joined last year happened to be self-entitled assholes who did not give a shit about Content Warnings, disabled people or trans folks becoming victims of hate crimes, that's an entirely different matter.

@yuki2501 @wilf There were a few admins that openly said that they would defederate with any journalist-focused instance. I even got DMs asking me to do the same.

Cyber Yuki Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf Oh. Here I thought it only was about that journalist instance.

Oblomov Apr 18, 2023

@yuki2501 @atomicpoet @wilf I don't remember the specifics, but in several other circumstances I've seen people here painting with a very broad brush.

Cyber Yuki Apr 18, 2023

@oblomov @atomicpoet @wilf Yeah, overly broad brushes are not uncommon, unfortunately.

Shadow Heart Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf @fediversenews as Mastodon doesn't manipulate users to spend more time on the app probably has a little to do with it to. Users don't feel obligated to use it nearly as much or as frequently.

Jeff Moe Apr 18, 2023

“It’s definitely the case that it’s slowed down,” says Nathan Schneider, a University of Colorado Boulder professor who researches collective ownership models and runs a small Mastodon server called social.coop. “I think a lot of people came and found it a little hard. Using Mastodon can feel like eating your vegetables.”

Really??!

Blake Leonard Apr 18, 2023

@jebba @atomicpoet @wilf @[email protected] Its something you don't want to do but it's good for you. So yeah. Might make more sense if you picture it with a little kid being told he has to eat his broccoli to be allowed to leave the table.

Northwest Beer Guide Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf @fediversenews Thanks for sharing!
As someone that used the other platform as far back as 2009, we're aware of the 'killer' sentiment, that can be assocaited with an improved platform.

spla Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet HYAU is still that high because it has november's big influx values. So yes, it's the highest of all times @wilf @fediversenews

@spla @wilf @fediversenews The influx started in October, not November.

spla Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet the highest peak was in november @wilf @fediversenews

@spla @wilf @fediversenews Yes, that was the spike. Which is why comparing MAUs of April to November is silly: spikes are rarely sustainable.

It gets more interesting when you compare October-March with November-April.

Durran Durrandon Apr 18, 2023

@atomicpoet @wilf @fediversenews 1.4 would appear to be the correct number for monthly active users and it's been there for 2 months. So I think it is more fair to use than the HYAU of 4.5. That said it doesn't really tell the full story without the mentioning the skyrocketing monthly posts and comments. It is also clear that Mastodon's user active user drop has largely ended and I predict will start ticking back up by the end of May.

Jeff Moe Apr 18, 2023

https://mastodon.social/@mastodonusercount/110221356197921435

This post has updated numbers:

11,126,426 accounts
+1,601 in the last hour
+33,131 in the last day
+222,241 in the last week

Where is The Guardian getting the 1.2 million number from? [CITATION NEEDED]

Adam Apr 18, 2023

@jebba
Monthly active users:
https://fediverse.observer/stats

Fediverse Observer checks all sites in the fediverse and gives you an easy way to find a home from a map or list or automatically.

Fediverse Sites Status. Find a Fediverse server to sign up for, find one close to you!

@breakfastmtn @atomicpoet @wilf @fediversenews

Jeff Moe Apr 18, 2023

That says Average Mastodon Network Total Users Per Month is up, Servers Online Per Month is up, Comments Per Month is WAAAAAY up (hockey stick), Posts Per Month is up, but active users monthly has tanked. I'm skeptical of these numbers.

Of course, The Guardian chose the "active users monthly" as their metric, the only one that has (dubiously) gone down.

Adam Apr 18, 2023

@jebba
I agree the story is much more complicated than MAU, although "active users" is a pretty common metric. Really, those numbers were always skewed though since many were only active in creating an account in case Twitter disappeared. So the narrative of users leaving is false since many weren't ever really here. Lots of them could return as Twitter continues to degrade.

The fact that user activity has continued to increase at an insane pace definitely deserves more coverage!
@atomicpoet

Adam Dalliance Apr 18, 2023

"Mastodon’s diminutive size has turned off digital marketers, who have mostly shunned it and other Twitter alternatives as niche “distractions” that would be a waste of ad dollars. "

🍾 🤞

Here's hoping that doesn't change.