vis4valentineIs not that god damn hard.
seansandTo be fair, if you want content on Mastodon, you have to actively go out, find people, and follow them. After you get past that Step 1 of signing up, your home page is empty. There’s no algorithm that automatically deposits content on the main page. You have to do a little bit of work to get anything. As you say, doing this work is not that god damn hard, but sadly for about 80% of people (maybe more), this is an impassible barrier.
On the bright side, once you do get past this barrier, none of the Mastodon content that you are getting is from that bottom eighty percent.
ioraleAlso the first barrier of picking a server (how it works, the rules of every instance, checking who they federate with) and an app (the will to test multiple apps, learning that to login you have to input the server url manually since most aren’t listed in the apps), to the people who read all the things it’s tedious but doable, for the rest it’s “Which one is the RIGHT choice?” and just stay at the door.
These kind of posts don’t help either, because it makes people feel like they are too stupid to join and rather stick to the known services, but omit all the actual process that someone has to go through.
blivetto the people who read all the things it’s tedious but doable, for the rest it’s “Which one is the RIGHT choice?” and just stay at the door
Exactly. I'm a programmer and I do server administration on a small scale, but when I went to sign up for Mastodon my first reaction was, "How the hell am I supposed to know what instance I want my account to be on?" and I left. After a couple of weeks of absorbing random bits of information about how federation works I went back and completed the account creation process, but I really doubt that the average user who just wants to sign up for a service and use it is going to get past that step.
OtakuAltairApps need to automatically assign users randomly to one of the non-controversial general instances, and letting them change it if they want.
Lemmy and other fediverse clients need to do this too imo
I agree. The information should be easily available if they are interested, but end users shouldn't be required to know about the underlying mechanics of the fediverse simply in order to create an account and browse.
Great thing about lemmy and most of the apps being open source is we users can add those features in ourselves. I’m sure they will be later, the fediverse is only now starting to grow after all.
Hmm, maybe if an app’s creator hosted their own instance just for accounts (i.e. with no posts of its own). That way, a new user can download an app, set up an account on that app’s dedicated accounts server, and start browsing all the other instances from there.
Miakoda 
I hate this idea... But I have a better one - Apps with "guides choice". (Actually, " Pick for me" could be a 3rd option)
A database of instances, and a few questions, via la, an instance is selected.
IE - I'd have picked that local is important to me. Since my city has an instance, It would have offered me PDX.social.
Also, the fact one can move later needs to be pushed more. Then there is no worry of picking "the wrong one".
JimboI really don’t understand what’s so difficult about picking an instance you like. Find an instance- Like the content? Rules look okay to you? Boom, done.
the will to test multiple apps, learning that to login you have to input the server url manually since most aren’t listed in the apps
I don’t get why everything needs to be an app. Mastodon’s (and Lemmy’s) web UI works perfectly well in a mobile browser.
At the laziest level an app stores my login info.
gamermanhSo does a mobile browser?
Maybe handling multiple accounts is easier with an app but that’s beyond basic use
Not if your browser is set to incognito and/or you close the tab.
Azzu“If I take deliberate steps to inconvenience myself, I feel inconveniended! Grrrr I’m so angry at this thing I used to inconvenience myself!”
If someone explaining why they use an app instead of a website (in a literal comment thread about why people would prefer an app to the mobile site) triggers you in such a way that your only response is to make up an irate strawman… it might be time to log off, step outside and practice interacting with people like an functioning adult.
But they were talking about setting their browser to incognito and/or closing their tab, both things which an app just don’t have. Nevermind that closing a tab does not log you out of your account, both things are things that he just couldn’t do and are not entirely normal to do when using a browser, so he did actually go out of the way to inconvenience himself in the case of the browser, it is not a strawman.
I find it hilarious to watch people struggling with doing things on their phone… while sitting in front of their desktop computer. My phone is for taking calls, sending texts, and playing solitaire. Anything else can wait until I have a real screen available to read it on.
I mean… That’s certainly a take. A “real” screen? What on earth lol
I just mean a screen big enough to display a decent amount of information. Trying to browse websites on a phone when you can only see a little bit of text at a time, or you have to keep swiping to see different products because they can only show one image at a time… I honestly don’t know how anyone deals with the incredible waste of time. You figure a typical computer screen is at least 2-4 times larger than a cell phone screen, and many of us are running two or more monitors on their computer, and using a cell phone screen starts to feel like looking at the world through a ten foot length of pipe.
jelloeater85I disagree, majority of my interaction with Lemmy and Mastodon is on a app on my phone. The mobile site is just okay. Let people choose their interface on how they want their content.
sure, but they listed testing multiple apps as a step people have to take.