I wrote about my first two months on Mastodon. I was a Mastodon hater because I thought it would be weird, complicated, or dead. It's been none of those things.
I'm ashamed I didn't join earlier and I'm ashamed I haven't been telling people to join it, because it's a version of the internet and social media I've long advocated for with my reporting: decentralized, portable, user controlled, not corporate:
@Lazarou @jasonkoebler it's funny on the other socials if I got some notifications I was filled with feelings of dread. Like oh no what went wrong.
Here it's like oh good, positive healthy interactions and affirmation from others.
Long may it stay positive.
@jdst258 @jasonkoebler yep, I expect everyone not on fedi to keep shit talking it forever, as it keeps growing at a frankly unacceptably slow rate no investor would tolerate, while various redditors keep trying to "help" by proposing ways we could be more like twitter because we "have to" if we want to "beat them."
By the time a few more diggs/reddits rise and fall, we might end up being the plurality of active users?
> I had also convinced myself that people on Mastodon would be mad at me if I made jokes, which has (mostly) not been the case.
@jasonkoebler if anything, Mastodon needs more shitposting. Please continue!
"I am going to move on with my life. But letโs say that I didnโt want to, and wanted to die on this goatse hill." ๐
@jasonkoebler couldn't agree more.
Helping people get onto a server is the best way to reduce friction for those you encourage to join IMO. Curious to see what a Mozilla server will mean for the ecosystem. Hopefully every other platform is pushed towards interoperability.
Also some really cool experiments happening around community governance and moderation like this: https://cosocial.ca/about
@monkeyflower this is cool.
honestly, Elk.Zone, which makes Mastodon look like Twitter, helped me a lot. Also has easy account switching, which is key because I am running the 404 Media Mastodon as well.
The thing I've realized is I can start using the more complicated features as I naturally learn about them, if I want to. Or I can just not.
@thierna @jasonkoebler I used the Old TweetDeck on Twitter before Musk killed it. It was great. Mastodon's UI is awful - it's like if it was designed by someone who looked at TweetDeck once but never actually used it.
There is also MastoDeck but it, too, is nothing like what the Old TweetDeck was.
@bontchev @thierna @jasonkoebler
Have you tried the Ivory client? For me it is an even better Mastodon version of the legacy Tweetbot (same development team).
@thierna It's hard to come up with a complete list quickly because there are simply too many annoyances... Let's see just a few main things:
- UI is wasted. I don't need a complete 3rd column occupied by what should be a collapsible menu. (MastoDeck solves this.)
- I need a column of what I have tooted or boosted. (MastoDeck again solves this).
- I need the ability to clear any column (not just the Notifications) - it's annoying to have to remember what was the last thing you've read and hunt for it.
- No clear indication of how many times a toot has been liked or boosted - only how many replies to it there are (which I don't need) and even that number is often wrong.
- No "quote-tooting" (that's a Mastodon deficiency; not just a UI problem). Yeah, I can post a link to the toot but it's not the same thing and is harder to read.
- No easy way to add people to a list. It should be doable from the menu of their toot or at least from their profile.
- No clear indication of who has boosted a toot - only their avatar as a reduced-size picture, which is often difficult to recognize (MastoDeck solves this).
And many, many other things which I can't recall off the top of my head. Basically, I feel constantly annoyed when using Mastodon while my experience with the old TweetDeck was simply pleasant. (The new one sucks big time and it's only for paid members anyway.)
@bontchev thanks for the list.
Now I got a better understanding from where your statement is coming from.
@jasonkoebler oh cool i haven't tried that app. Love having options! I've been using @megalodon on Android because of the clean beautiful UX and @apps to play with some more advanced features.
Have been exploring bunch of desktop apps but haven't landed on one yet that i love.
@monkeyflower I would recommend checking out @phanpy. I use it on the desktop and as a Progressive Web App on mobile.
@jasonkoebler Ouch. I had to enter Reader View on Firefox to make that article bearable and readable.
Monospaced fonts used for programming and white text on black backgrounds plus huge cluttered neon colored images are for geeks only hurt my eyes and I'm not even 50 yet!
I can't reshare it that way but congrats being converted to Masto.
@jasonkoebler You could also say "thank you for the feedback" as I have almost 25 years experience in building and optimizing websites.
No need to get personally offended.
Just don't give people migraines with your website.
That was indeed mean Tad. The 404 site has a style of its own and needs to stand out in the crowd. There is a css switch to turn it into black text on white. These people put their future on the line going independent. Yes you wouldnโt have designed it like that but the last thing we need is all the websites looking the same.
@jasonkoebler Just a quick side note that I really appreciate the higher contrast on the site which in my case helps a *lot* with readability (though I know everyone has a different use case).
Also, welcome to the Fediverse! I like the way you demonstrated that it's not generally as hard as people think it is to get a handle on it and participate. I know it can be pretty intimidating, especially at first. But I am glad you gave it the chance. There is more- but I figure you will find it. :)
Moderation depends entirely on the instance you join. Every instance has its own admins and staff (or maybe no staff). Every instance has its own rules for what is and is not allowed.
This is an especially important consideration for minorities.
Anti-LGBT and anti-BIPOC posts are perfectly acceptable on some instances.
I agree that Mastodon is still better than the alternatives, but it is not a perfectly safe space.
The nature of federation means there are islands of safety and oceans of doubt.
Just be careful.
@jasonkoebler Mastodon's user interface is awful and it's basically dead compared to the stream of content I had on Twitter.
It's only saving grace is that Twitter's current user interface is even worse, to the point of being totally unusable. Basically, Mastodon is not good but is currently the least bad one of the bunch.
It's great to have you (and @josephcox) here.
@jasonkoebler This is an excellent example of viral mastodon clickbait. And also, I agree with it.
Welcome to the fediverse! I'm enjoying the podcast, and I'm considering subscribing to 404.
@jasonkoebler a quick note, there's a link to your Mastodon account on that post, but it takes you to a 404 on 404's site.
Here is the link in the article https://www.404media.co/mastodon-is-the-good-one/mastodon.social/@jasonkoebler/
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