Chris KendallWhen I moved here from Twitter in November last year, four things were key to keeping me here: (1) following decent accounts to keep my timeline worth checking, (2) finding the right client to keep the experience high quality (in my case @ivory), (3) building new muscle memory (ie getting used to and accepting the differences), and (4) flat refusing to give Musk my custom. (1/2)
The single biggest obstacle to keeping me here was the absence of certain people I followed on Twitter and who hadn’t crossed over, or who had but then didn’t stick around. Ultimately, my reasons for staying outweighed the reasons to go back, and the more of you who come, stay, and participate, the more that equation tilts in favour of staying as part of this (imo) fundamentally better platform. (2/2)
Dr Lindsay MaxwellIn case I’m not making myself clear here, please don’t come (back) here and complain about the content (or lack of it). WE ARE the content. YOU are the content. Be the Mastodon you want Mastodon to be.
As usual at this point in the cycle, 90% of Mastodon content is a navel-gazing circle jerk (this thread included) but that will settle.
One more… We really *need* this to work. It is worth investing time and effort and patience in this platform. Our experience over at Twitter showed us how important and useful a ‘global town hall’ 🤢 is but also how we can’t afford to leave it in the hands of individuals. The #Fediverse is a genuine global commons. If we believe in public ownership of essential utilities then we have to make this work. And it’s easy: all that’s required is for us to turn up and use it.
Usually we’re sat here on Mastodon saying these things to each other, preaching to the converted, while the people who need to hear it are back on Twitter. Which is why normally I don’t bother. But here’s a rare opportunity to get that message in front of the right people.
Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️🌈@ottocrat
I think there is a piece missing from your model here.
I've been on Mastodon for years, and there was plenty of content on here that had nothing to do with the migration before November 2022, just with less volume, obviously. Even after the migration, the people who are here to talk about things other than social media are still talking, it's just if you fill your feed with people you knew from Twitter, people who are part of that migration, that's what they're going to be talking about. This happens in waves as Elon keeps doing stupid things that make people come here from there, which is good, because people coming here and people discussing the billionaire problem is good, but there is more to see.
Whenever I see someone say that there isn't content here, I explain to them how their feed is populated, suggest they start searching for things they like, then follow the people/hashtags with that content. That populates the feed with something other than Twitter.
Sten@ottocrat the most interesting question is how many levels of meta we reach before the chatter settles
matsimpsk@ottocrat tbh, the navel-gazing stuff is the kind of Mastodon content I enjoy the most.
Avogadro's Constant@ottocrat hi, is Moog on here?
@AvogadrosConstant He was but he’s been absent for a while now, I need to check in with him, thanks for the reminder.
Kim Spence-Jones 🇬🇧😷@ottocrat iirc, Moog said he wanted to take a break from social media.
Tony Yates@ottocrat I see the point; but complaining is still valid. In a litter strewn park it’s valid to pick up the litter and also marvel at all the litter.
@t0nyyates @ottocrat
Yes but on a long road trip with children one can marvel at their excitement but one equally say STFU at the 100th ‘are we nearly there yet’ 🤣
Yes but on a long road trip with children one can marvel at their excitement but one equally say STFU at the 100th ‘are we nearly there yet’ 🤣
@t0nyyates Yes, true, but there is no council here to install bins and enforce litter by-laws, if we rock up at this park, moan about the litter, and then piss off back to the gated private playground owned and run by the local fascist then that’s on us.
Stephanie Harris@ottocrat The reason I skulked back to Twitter was that I (a person with low follower count on both platforms) kept running out of things to read. Though ironically I’ve tended to have more direct interaction here.
@ottocrat @t0nyyates I found you on mastodon first 😃
DeepBlue V7.X@ottocrat I think you wanted to say:
Mastodo instead of Mastodon't!
(Fine, no need to use perfectly fine vegetables as flying objects...)
PJ "Vote Green" CoffeyI'd go further and say we are the algorithm.
Organic tagging, boosting and replying drives the timeline forward.
Tagging is forever but doesn't feed to all servers.
Boosting helps but is time zone sensitive.
Replying means that people might see an interesting conversation.
Worth thinking about. 😀
@Homebrewandhacking Yes. I need to make more of a effort to reply rather than just using a favourite as acknowledgment.
It depends what you want to do.
If it's something you care deeply about, then the not-for-profit gup.pe group provide boost only groups. You make them by @noun @a.gup.pe and omitting the space. They're permanent records (as long as gup.pe is funded) so if people follow them that can help.
Favourites are still important and valid. I can not reply to or boost all the things I like because that would flood my timeline.
What I do is like to show some love, I like it! :)
ferricoxide@ottocrat
Was going to reply to the first part, "a community is what you make of it" but then there was a part 2. :)
Was going to reply to the first part, "a community is what you make of it" but then there was a part 2. :)
@ottocrat The key thing one has to understand about Mastodon is that you have to craft your own algorithm. Sadly, learning how to do that is not as easy as it could be (you need to understand lists (and how to pin them), hashtags, filters, and choices of client, amongst other things, before you can approach the level of algorithmic engagement that the Birdsite offers. But when you do, suddenly you realise you’re in control in a way you never were on Twitter.