Fedi.TipsJun 27, 2024

Okay, this is possibly going to be controversial in some quarters, but it has to be said for the good of the Fediverse:

Mastodon.social is not a good way to join Mastodon. If you're already on mastodon.social, you might want to move your account to another server. I've done an article about this topic at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/its-a-really-bad-idea-to-join-a-big-server

If you want to move your account, there's a complete step-by-step guide to how to do it here:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server

#FediTips #Mastodon #MastodonSocial

Mastodon.social is not a good way to join Mastodon. If you’re already on it, you might want to move your account to a different Mastodon server. | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

Show threadAnna Nicholson

@FediTips I basically agree with this, but …

Considering that the Fediverse is fashioned after Internet email to an extent, isn’t it almost inevitable that mastodon.social (or some other dominant server in future, with enough users and a slightly tweaked feature set) will become the gmail of the Fediverse?

I wouldn’t recommend either mastodon.social or gmail to anyone, but most people (and I’m not totally immune to this) love the feeling of ‘safety in numbers’ (among other reasons for going with a popular choice)

Jun 27, 2024 at 6:02pmWeb
Show threadScienJun 27, 2024

@transponderings @FediTips

Rather than "safety in numbers", one of the largest reasons there are so few mail providers is in actuality spam and abuse. And also ease of use of services like Gmail & Outlook's free nature, of course.

This isn't something that the Fediverse is immune to either, so it's something I worry about constantly.

We need moderation solutions that scale (perhaps mutualistic blocking, of some form?), otherwise we're going to get screwed over.

Show threadScienJun 27, 2024

@transponderings @FediTips

In fact, Outlook, Gmail, and co. all block unknown email providers on principle. It's tough running your own mail server - the big names care not for your troubles.

Show threadAndrocatJun 28, 2024

@transponderings

The whole point of federation is that no particular instance is central.

That point becomes lost if any particular instance becomes central by default.

Like, look at Twitter. There are still people on there because all the people they know are on there.

Same with Facebook.

A default instance is anathema to federation.

@FediTips

Show threadFedi.TipsJun 28, 2024

@transponderings

I don't think it's as inevitable as it seems.

The fact that the Fediverse exists despite the network effect of Twitter etc shows that there's always hope for alternatives to be created.

It would be especially helpful if there were some good stable alternatives to Mastodon's software, either a hard fork or something totally different. (GoToSocial looks particularly nice but it's still in alpha testing and the devs aren't advising its use yet.)