Andre ElijahJan 31, 2025
Doug Bowman
As much as I want to support and encourage a migration off Meta-run platforms, putting up gates like this and forcing people to choose as the very first step is not the answer. This screen causes immediate confusion and doubt. The fediverse experience needs and deserves better onboarding than this elitist “you need to know what you’re doing” bs.
Jan 29, 2025 at 11:32pmWeb
Show threadDoug BowmanJan 30, 2025

And then, let’s just say new users clue into the most popular choice, temporarily ignore the fact that they don’t yet have an account to “login” with, and tap the first “pixelfed.social” option to see what happens.

Think getting this error is going to do anything other than permanently turn someone off?

Show threadBruno PhilipeJan 29, 2025
@stop I think this oversimplifies the problem. Email has worked exactly like this for almost half a century and people of all levels of expertise have been able to figure it out.
Show threadDoug BowmanJan 29, 2025
@brunoph Comparison is not equivalent. If a standard user goes to sign up for brand new Gmail, in what world would Google ever make them choose which server they want to use?
Show threadBruno PhilipeJan 29, 2025
@stop These are not equivalent. This is more akin to installing a 3p mail client, which you have to set up to talk to your mail server. The fact the Gmail app only talks to Gmail is actually a negative aspect of it. SMTP is universal and every email client should be able to talk to any email server, even if some features particular to Gmail wouldn't work with other servers.
Show threadDoug BowmanJan 30, 2025
@brunoph Hey, *you* brought up email. 😉 I just pointed to the most common use case and how it works. Not commenting good or bad. But to gain widespread adoption, the fediverse can’t put gates up like this that only geeks like you and I know how to move past. The problem has to be solved, and this lazy solution of forcing users to choose servers as a first step ain’t it.
Show threadJohn AllsoppJan 30, 2025

@stop this is partly an onboarding/UX challenge.

It focusses on implementation details not the user story.

What if it started with ‘let’s find the best home in the pixel verse for you’ (offer to choose some things like location and interests or a ‘just let me on’ that defaults to one server?

This just off the top of my head.

Show threadtriswebJan 30, 2025
@johnallsopp @stop agree. The Server is a foundational concept, but it’s not introduced, explained, eased into at all. The concept itself isn’t necessarily the problem, but the experience is.
Show threadJohn AllsoppJan 30, 2025
@trisweb @stop even a name like ‘community’, ‘home’ or ‘hub’ in place of the technical ‘server’
Show threadtriswebJan 30, 2025
@johnallsopp @stop exactly. Your “Home Community” is straightforward and successfully communicates the purpose. Analogies help bridge.
Show threadtriswebJan 30, 2025
@johnallsopp @stop @dansup some great constructive feedback and suggestions here.
Show threadNoah Mittman Jan 30, 2025

@stop Every Fediverse service needs a "starter" server where people can chill minimum effort and only when they want more can they go research where to go next (and easily migrate their account)

I understand the politics of not wanting a single server wielding that much power but time after time we see this is just what the average user wants. So figure out how to design this starter server with only just enough to get familiar: limited uploads, low retention (like free Slack), I dunno

Show threadJames J MalcolmJan 30, 2025

@stop

Yup! And the creator thinks so too, so he’s going to change it soon along the following lines:

https://mastodon.social/@pixelfed/113899381356985584