"Wish the sun to stand still.." 🌞📉 #Fediverse is looking stagnant... Newcomers tolerate the bad UX for a while and then leave.
veroandi_brWhy the bad UX? Mastodon is almost a copy of X/Bluesky.
Strypey@veroandi
> Why the bad UX? Mastodon is almost a copy of X/Bluesky.
@tchambers lays out the major UX fails pretty well here;
https://www.timothychambers.net/2025/06/24/the-seven-deadly-fediverse-ux.html
My experience of the fediverse is akin to my experience of living in rotting old rental houses. They're big and cheap and the landlord mostly leaves you alone, as long as you don't bug the neighbours. If that matters more than living in comfort, you're golden.
But in the longer term most people care more about comfort.
The Seven Deadly Fediverse UX Sins Part 2: The Road To Redemption
So you made it through the first fiery sermon in this series. Trust me—I didn’t enjoy preaching it any more than you enjoyed reading it. But every word came from a place of love—for the Fediverse, and for what it still could become. But fear not, dear reader: as the preacher once said, salvation is within your reach. And to reward you for slogging through that earlier wall of hard truths, here’s your moment of grace.
A Matt with a Dog@strypey @veroandi @tchambers @tasket
Not sure why I was mentioned into this thread (in error?), but an interesting, if long read (I skimmed it TBH). My experience of Fediverse FWIW is it has the values and vibe I want, but it’s almost impossible to get engagement or followers. I do not want a place with algorithms optimising for engagement (that never works out well), but it has to be easier to join communities of interest and have authentic interactions with people. Might be that I’m doing it wrong?
Not sure why I was mentioned into this thread (in error?), but an interesting, if long read (I skimmed it TBH). My experience of Fediverse FWIW is it has the values and vibe I want, but it’s almost impossible to get engagement or followers. I do not want a place with algorithms optimising for engagement (that never works out well), but it has to be easier to join communities of interest and have authentic interactions with people. Might be that I’m doing it wrong?
(1/3)
@mattjhayes
> Not sure why I was mentioned into this thread
You probably boosted a post, then I saw your boost and replied, which included your address in my post.
> it’s almost impossible to get engagement or followers
There's people here with thousands of follows and regular Replies/ Boosts/ Favourites, so ...
> Might be that I’m doing it wrong?
"Wrong" is a strong word I prefer to avoid, but there are probably things you could do differently.
(2/3)
When I joined the fediverse (more than a decade ago before Mastodon or ActivityPub existed), I just posted links to my blog posts. No one followed my account or otherwise acknowledged me. It was a bit disappointing.
After a while, I changed strategy. I started searching tags and following people, replying to their posts and getting into conversations. This seemed to lead to some follows, which meant people started seeing my posts, and I started to get some replies, etc.
(3/3)
My theory is that this is how all social media works. Because it's kind of how social life works; people are interested in us to the degree we show interest in them.
People eventually figure this out on the first social media space we use (as I did on the fediverse), then stay there for so long we forget how we got started there. So when we move to a new social media space we either figure it out again from scratch, or drift back to the space where we've already established connections.
@strypey
Thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive reply. Yes, I came for the click-through (didn't work) but stayed for the interesting discussions and the lolz.
Getting engagement here is interesting - I can spend ages researching and writing a post on a tech topic and it disappears into the void unseen. However, a photo of my dog running through a field of dandelions causes notifications to go wild. I get it, we're exhausted from stressful lives and want something in the Fediverse that lightens the mood. Hopefully this place is here to stay as it is wonderful to not feel like a product 😃
Thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive reply. Yes, I came for the click-through (didn't work) but stayed for the interesting discussions and the lolz.
Getting engagement here is interesting - I can spend ages researching and writing a post on a tech topic and it disappears into the void unseen. However, a photo of my dog running through a field of dandelions causes notifications to go wild. I get it, we're exhausted from stressful lives and want something in the Fediverse that lightens the mood. Hopefully this place is here to stay as it is wonderful to not feel like a product 😃