Mastodawn

The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️Dec 26

Please stop offering mastodon.social as the default instance for new Mastodon sign-ups. Thanks for listening,

Seth of the Fediverse Dec 26

@Mastodon I agree with @TheEddieShow

@phillycodehound @Mastodon @TheEddieShow

william.maggos Dec 26

if we had 100% portability, we could have a starter instance that forced you to move after like 3 months.

@wjmaggos @phillycodehound @Mastodon @TheEddieShow

el Celio 🇪🇺 🇺🇦Dec 26

💯 💯 💯 💯 💯

But we don't have it.
😞

Nico Dec 26

@TheEddieShow
What should be the default one, then?

People don't tend to want to search for an instance before registering.
They are used to just clicking "register".

So not having a default option would also be bad.

The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️Dec 26

@KazuShuSora

Just because I don't know the answer doesn't mean there isn't a good one. 🤷

Nico Dec 26

@TheEddieShow
Didn't say that :D
Just thought you might have an opinion, you didn't voice.

Santiago Rhenals Dec 26

@KazuShuSora @TheEddieShow
I agree with Nico here. You can always migrate, but suggesting an instance allows the registration process to be easier. And, what better instance than the one operated by Mastodon itself?

@imadeaplaylist @KazuShuSora @TheEddieShow

el Celio 🇪🇺 🇺🇦Dec 26

How does a new user migrate?
Where can they find the button to migrate on the Mastodon interface?

And what will move with them?
Will all the posts they have written and the media they uploaded migrate with them?

Let's stay serious...

The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️Dec 27

@elCelio

I have switched instances three times in 3 years, and am home at beige.party.

Users can take their followers with them, but not old content.

It's simple and easy, and if someone looks up your old @ they'll see you've moved instances and can click through to the new one.

It works. 🙂

@imadeaplaylist @KazuShuSora

@TheEddieShow @imadeaplaylist @KazuShuSora

el Celio 🇪🇺 🇺🇦Dec 27

Sorry but are we still talking about new users?
Those people who find difficult to pick a server if there isn't a big button saying: "Join" on the homepage?
Because I don't see them migrating once a year with the current system.

ikuturso 🇪🇺Dec 26

@KazuShuSora @TheEddieShow there doesn't have to be just one that is offered. Other projects have a rotating list that a visitor gets assigned to an item of.

Nico Dec 26

@ikuturso @TheEddieShow
Yeah, I already saw @h3artbl33d's reply and think that's a good idea 👍🏻

jeremy // making Star Spark Dec 26

@KazuShuSora @TheEddieShow Yeah, I recall this being a big hurdle for onboarding when people were leaving Twitter. There was also an “it’s like Twitter + Discord” analogy going around (just because of the word “server” 🫠) which only caused further confusion.

I’d think if the average person and their friends signed up and all of their server handles were different they’d be confused by that too.

Better to have a low barrier of entry with the ability to switch later imo.

@KazuShuSora @TheEddieShow

• Łącze Dec 26

There should be information about a list of others to choose from, or the option to choose between, for example 10 servers.

James Baillie Dec 26

@KazuShuSora @TheEddieShow It'd be perfectly technically viable to a) random-assign each new user to one of a smallish pool of larger defaults rather than direct them all to the same default and b) ensure that sign up pages have a "explore other servers" button that's unobtrusive but visible.

PursuitOfElysia Dec 27

@KazuShuSora @TheEddieShow the onboarding kept me away for months. Having a regular "sign up" button at a Mastodon domain leading to an all in one way instance browser followed by simple signup and go would be great. We're pretty close there.

ALSO! Manual signup approvals are fine, but disclosed front and centre alongside a blurb with average approval time. It took *weeks* for me to get approved, I thought it was broken. Almost missed the welcome email a month later and gave up.

Everyday.Human Derek Dec 26

@TheEddieShow @[email protected]

Is there any new mastodon project lately ?

Paul Chambers🚧Dec 26

@EVDHmn They can rotate onboarding from the many instances that are part of The Mastodon Covenant, or even setup stronger requirements for instances to be in the onboarding rotation. There are several, 225, that meet criteria of trust and durability.

@TheEddieShow

@paul @EVDHmn @TheEddieShow indeed, we have some ideas to improve this. We're going to work on it over the coming months.

Everyday.Human Derek Dec 27

@Mastodon @paul @TheEddieShow
Makes sense I mean couldn’t people theoretically float in between resources I mean that would be super nice. Load balancing!

Paul Chambers🚧Dec 27

@Mastodon Awesome to hear you are discussing options like this.

@EVDHmn @TheEddieShow

Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈Dec 30

@paul @Mastodon @EVDHmn @TheEddieShow
Reminder that we, as people bringing people into the Fediverse, can also help by helping them pick a server from the list at JoinMastodon.org/servers, and by making sure people on all servers know that moving is an option.

I've been throwing a lot of people to CyberFurs lately, for example, because that's a good instance for furries in VR.

Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈Dec 29

@Mastodon @paul @EVDHmn @TheEddieShow
Glad to hear this! Mastodon.Social being so much of the network is a major concern for avoiding the problems that Centralization brings, but we're still light-years ahead of closed networks like Twitter and Bluesky.

TechHub, as usual, is always ready to take on new signups, to try and build the userbase outside of the largest instance.

https://mastodon.social/@Mastodon/115989801184595302@[email protected] @TheEddieShow

Paul Chambers🚧Jan 31

@Mastodon Thank you.

Max Leibman Dec 26

@TheEddieShow @Mastodon has recently said they have plans to address their size. Not sure what that means yet, but 🤞.

The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️Dec 26

@maxleibman

Reduction surgery?

Ba-dum tss!

Max Leibman Dec 26

@TheEddieShow Maybe a lift while they’re at it. @Mastodon

everton137 Dec 26

@TheEddieShow @Mastodon I didn't mind.

@TheEddieShow we're working on this - stay tuned for more on this in early 2026.

The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️Dec 27

thank you.

william.maggos Dec 26

this post is confusing but I think I completely agree with what it's trying to say. The fedi or #SocialWeb is the network. Mastodon is an important part of it. Not sure what term describes it best.

Melroy van den Berg Dec 26

@wjmaggos @Mastodon it's called the fediverse

william.maggos Dec 26

@melroy

I mean what is mastodon? it's not the network, but a service on it? the org runs a few instances but it also develops an app and the server software. they are doing a ton of great work and should be supported for it, but we also lose the plot if we don't make these distinctions.

Melroy van den Berg Dec 27

@wjmaggos ah Mastodon can best be explained as software for the fediverse. It's a software platform for connecting to the fediverse.

Alternatives like Mbin, Lemmy or piefed exists as well. Which are also software for the fediverse.

@melroy @wjmaggos we are proudly part of the Fediverse, yes - and we are fans of Mbin and other software as well. 🙏🏻

Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈Dec 30

@wjmaggos @melroy
Mastodon is the interface, the program that runs on the server to give you a way to read, post, and interact on the Fediverse. The Fediverse is the actual network, which has more interfaces than Mastodon: Misskey, Sharkey, Friendica, etc are also part of the Social Network here.

zm Dec 26

@Mastodon Mastodon is not the only social network that answers to users. Mastodon is an important part of the Fediverse, which is the social network.

If you’re saying that the fediverse is just mastodon, you’re ignoring the work of countless other people and projects, like Akkoma, Pleroma, Lemmy, and many more.

Please don’t call Mastodon the social network; use the correct, fair wording, like “the Fediverse” or such. Please don’t imply that you’re the only important part of the Fediverse.

Melroy van den Berg Dec 26

@zm @Mastodon agreed. As a creator of Mbin myself, it's pretty misleading.

Domo 🦇

Dec 26

@Mastodon I love the art for these posts. Can you start adding the artist at least to the alt text so they get more exposure?

@domo that's a good idea. For the record, our amazing artist is @dopatwo - we will make a note to add their handle in future.

Damia Dec 27

@Mastodon @domo @dopatwo No. You don't put credits in the ALT field, it's not its purpose. Its purpose is to describe images. Credits should be in the text of the toot (which you can edit BTW).

@DamiaB @dopatwo @domo thanks for this clarification!

Kackfresh Dec 26

the only? even stating that seems antithetical to the fediverse...

G🦡Monkey Dec 26

@MastodonMastodon is the only major social network that answers to you.Oooh, does that mean you're going to raise the character limit to something usable like 5,000 characters like everyone else?

Israa 🌿🇵🇸Dec 26

@Mastodon
🇵🇸🇵🇸 We love you because you support Palestinian content.

el Celio 🇪🇺 🇺🇦Dec 26

I'm not good at communication, but:
on December 19th on your site you published the 2024 Annual Report and here you didn't publish a post about it !😵‍💫

On the other hand the only things you post on this official account are generic posts praising yourselves and asking for money.
Mah. 🤔

#Mastodon

@elCelio thanks for the feedback. We're currently running a series of posts to point people towards our new donation page as we transition to a new structure.

We also post about new releases and other blog posts related to the overall project here. No, we did not share the annual report link here; we hope to publish the 2025 report in just a few months, and the blog post is available.

You've also made some points about choice of server, and we plan to improve this in the coming months.

el Celio 🇪🇺 🇺🇦Dec 30

@Mastodon
Thank you for your reply!

I missed the annual report because it was not published here. 😅

Take into consideration that if you show what you have done and then you say what you want to do next, I think people will be more inclined to donate.
In the annual report you write this stuff.

Exactly…

@Mastodon as an admin of mountains.social and my own single user instance I'm not interested in supporting the hardware costs of the (too large) flagship instances. I'm however very much interested in supporting the development of Mastodon in general. Please decouple these type of donations.