Mastodon is an incredibly rare opportunity for open-source, non-profit, advertising-free, decentralised software to be a real contender in a category – and, if it continues to grow, even to pull many other social networks into being part of (or interoperable with) the fediverse.

It's strange to me that this isn't mentioned more in the endless opinions about features, onboarding, UX, "vibes" etc.

The UX is just terrible - all of the software out there, Mastodon included. If you need to explain a user how to use it, it goes to show the developers have not empathized with users well. I agree that they don’t have the funds and are doing it for the love of it.

The level of users being comfortable to using your software is directly proportional to engagement.

@Deus I agree, pretty much all software sucks, it does need better UX. But at the same time, people happily use stuff like Discord, which is 10x more difficult than Mastodon.

which is 10x more difficult than Mastodon.

lol That’s pretty much why I have NEVER used it. Just couldn’t get the hang of it. It’s the same with people in my circle. The young ones use it and I know they teach other - which should not be needed.