Andy Bell
🔗 Good Link: Mastodon Is Doomed https://justingarrison.com/blog/2023-04-24-mastodon-is-doomed/
Mastodon Is Doomed

Mastodon won't be the next Twitter, and it's not because of Bluesky. The ideals and execution won't scale.

Justin Garrison
Apr 25, 2023 at 5:07pmWeb
Show threadHazel WeaklyApr 25, 2023

@andy I like it!

I found it interesting that I'd consider mastodon "not the future" for reasons other than what Justin points out. Those reasons are valid, but due to the inherent centralization nature, people seem to cluster on large servers anyway.

The issues of untrusted media, lack of trust rings with servers (to share things), and effective moderation tools, all hurt a lot more than the running of mastodon. They also don't go away on other platforms (although they're worse here)

Show threadJanApr 25, 2023
@andy What is the alternative? Go to Bluesky and soon you will see ads, or go to Nostr and see the laser eyes?
Show threadJ.A. Pipes ✅Apr 25, 2023
@andy I think he makes a good point about how weak the volunteer admin model is. There is a non-zero amount of server admins for whom this is not sustainable, and you can't predict who that will be when you choose your Mastodon instance. So every user is rolling the dice when they create an account. I'm not saying that's the wrong way to go, but it's a pretty hard sell for a current Twitter user who is looking for a turnkey solution.
Show threadJonathan HuffmanApr 25, 2023
@andy this is a fairly concerning sentence…
Show threadLIΛMApr 25, 2023
@andy That is an interesting read. Hard to disagree with anything said to be honest.
Show threadSeth GoldsteinApr 26, 2023
@andy I think this is a bit of link bait. I don't think it's doom nor does the author. Is it will be the next Twitter? No, probably not, but will it be someplace special? And remember ActivityPub is much more than just Mastodon. Mastodon is just one of the many flavors in the Fediverse.
Show threadTim NolteApr 26, 2023
@seth @andy yeah, that article is the same sort of talk that has been on for years. It's the same doom and gloom click-bait that has always existed. What is stupid is the whole idea that the people managing Mastodon instances actually want it to become the next Twitter. It's like painting the picture that some Mom & Pop shop that sets up an eCommerce site wants to become the next Amazon and they are doomed because their tiny website can't scale. 🤦‍♂️