bundogi've been hesitant to throw stones because without actual demographic information to back it up i can't tell if masto is incredibly homogeneous or just my circles are, but ime we need more diversity on this site. imho.
i went to a school that was *very* white and university staff would go up to POC and be like “hey what can we do to attract more minorities to campus” and their response would always be like. dude. why would i, a person of color, want to go to a college and be surrounded by white people all the time. why would i want to go to a college where i don't have a voice or decent representation.
and this is a problem mastodon has. again i can't speak for actual demographics, but the impression that i and i think a lot of people have gotten has been one of kinda white, urbanite tech culture. as someone who is white but isn't urban and isn't tech, *i* can get turned off by that sometimes. as you add intersections i can only imagine that effect increases.
we need to start actively elevating diverse voices and we need to carve out spaces for people who don't fit the existing masto mold to fit in. we can't do this “gay communist tech furry” thing forever. or, i mean, we can, but it means some marginalized people will never feel at home using the service.
April@marrus_sh im like maybe a half of one of those things you listed.
@e_Glyde right. and the last thing i wanna do is be like, oh we're all white techies or whatever, bc i KNOW that's not true. i know several POC here and i know people who are artists and teachers and all kinds of things. my fear is that when someone logs into the service for the first time, and what they see is a bunch of anime avatars making tech jokes, they don't see that diversity. i don't want anyone's first impression to be that they don't have a place, or that nobody will back them up.
@e_Glyde more importantly once people are here, i want them to feel like they have a community, or that they are able to make one that reflects them and their background and their interests. and maybe i'm not the best person to speak on how to do that. but i don't want people feeling (or *being*) alone if they don't want to be here.