> Want to join Mastodon? First you have to choose an instance...
This is one of the essential problems that frustrates normal users from moving to another social network. We are yet to talk about the mediocre 'search' function, co-ordinated instance-level bans, rouge moderators, instances shutting down / falling over, etc.
Techies love discussing about how complex something is, where as the majority of users do not care especially normal users moving from Twitter to Mastodon which from the looks of it, was no 'mass migration'. As many instances have closed registrations, if the largest instances re-opened them it further defeats the purpose of federation and encourages instance centralization.
We haven't even mentioned the strong network effect of Twitter being the major reason why little to no-one other than the 'screaming techies of the Twitter apocalypse' got angry, packed their bags and moved to Mastodon. The event was as if it was a leaf falling out of a tree.
Want to join Email? First you have to choose a server ...
No wonder email failed to thrive as an open protocol, distributed communication system. It's just too darned hard and unfamiliar to figure out how to join.
In the early days of email, most people got an email account automatically from their work or school. When it went mainstream in the 1990s, most people got an email automatically from their ISP-and a lot of older people (like my parents age, who are in their early-to-mid 70s) still rely on that for their personal email. Then along came independent free email services such as Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail, which either started out being owned by famous mega-corporations, or were taken over by them not long after they got started.
Mastodon isn’t really comparable-how many people get a Mastodon account from their work or school? From their ISP? From a major well-known corporation (whether paid or for free)? Unless the answer to any of those questions becomes “yes” (on average, not obscure exceptions)-onboarding Mastodon is going to remain a lot more difficult for the average non-technical person than onboarding email ever was
In the early days of social media, most people got an account on the nearest BBS. When it went mainstream in the 1990s, most people automatically got a Facebook account and a lot of older people still rely on that for social media. Then along came independent free social media services such as Twitter/Discord/TikTok...
It's exactly comparable, just a few years down the timeline from email.
> In the early days of social media, most people got an account on the nearest BBS.
The majority of people never used “the nearest BBS”, only a relatively small percentage of the population ever did. Even in their heyday, they were mainly popular with computer enthusiasts, who have always been a minority of the population. Many computer enthusiasts find technical complexity intriguing, the average person finds it off-putting
> When it went mainstream in the 1990s, most people automatically got a Facebook account and a lot of older people still rely on that for social media.
Who “automatically” got a Facebook account? The vast majority of users had to go to Facebook.com and sign up. People got an email given to them by their work/school/ISP, I’ve never heard of someone being given a Facebook account by any of those (Workplace doesn’t really count.) And unlike Mastodon, Facebook never asked its users to “choose an instance”
> Then along came independent free social media services such as Twitter/Discord/TikTok...
All of which are big commercial services, and none make you “choose an instance” in the way that Mastodon does when you sign up for them
> It's exactly comparable, just a few years down the timeline from email.
It’s completely different; it’s only “exactly comparable” if you ignore many key details
You say that only a relatively small percentage of the population ever used BBSes, and that's true, but what is also true is that only a relatively small percentage of the population ever used a social microblogging service, whether it was Twitter or not.
You're really leaning in to 'choose an instance', which has only really been a problem for tech experts. Everyone I know on Mastodon just clicked one of the listed instances on joinmastodon.org and never thought about it again.
And no, most people didn't have to go anywhere to sign up for Facebook. For an extremely long time, there was a LinkedIn-like email invitation system, and when you made your account it suggested "people you may know" and generally guessed right. Literally all you needed to do to get a Facebook account was make up a password. I'm not familiar with whatever the current growth hacks are.
Anyway, it's easy to make comparisons by ignoring many key details. You did it too, you just described those key details as "obscure exceptions" or saying they don't "really count." I'm not sure what anyone is supposed to get from your text except that you're really stumped about decentralization.
To this day people have to "choose an instance" to sign up for email, because people use email before they get jobs and they can't hang onto primary-school accounts after they leave school. Sure, most people sign up for GMail or Apple mail, because their phones tell them to. That's still choosing an instance, and Microsoft, Yahoo, Fastmail, and other providers continue to exist and turn profits, even though their users had to battle the indominitable hellscape of having to choose an instance.
There is a meaningful difference. Right now, we have Twitter. This is more like using a bulletin board now that Reddit exists. Sure some people do; but it’s far more niche than just having a Reddit account.
The friction that prospective Mastadon users have experience is the knowledge that an easier option exists.
before gmail and the like people didn't choose a server.
the majority of email addresses people got from the institutions they were affiliated with. their university, their job, their isp.
and when they switched their isp or their job, they also had to switch email addresses.
it wasn't until gmail and other independent email services that people actually got to choose.
the only exception were those people who got their own domain who either set up their own server or used the email service offered by their registrar.
email was already ubiquitous before people even had a choice, and when those choices came available there were only very few because the majority of servers were and still re restriced to the members of the institutions they belong to. so for email paralysis of choice never was a concern
It's more centralised now after several decades because monopolistic companies saw commercial value in squeezing out the competition. Plenty of technical folk have given up their own servers because the dominant providers ruined the system by blocking their emails.
I think that’s another big issue with Mastodon - poor accountability.
I know some are going to view “accountability” as an oxymoron when it comes to Musk-owned Twitter. But, while Musk positions himself as a maverick who couldn’t care less about what the media thinks (and the “mainstream” media especially), it seems likely that their negative feedback played a significant role in the reversal of some of his dumber decisions. His whole “I don’t care what the media thinks” routine resembles the poop emoji with which he responds to their inquiries-such a juvenile response is a sign he really does care about what they say, even if only to a certain degree-if he completely didn’t care, he’d just ignore them entirely, or even have some intern respond promptly with inane non-committal unquotable PR blather
So yeah, the media provides some accountability for Twitter, however imperfect-even under Musk. By contrast, the media provides very little accountability for Mastodon-it is very fringe, the average person has never heard of it, why would they pay much attention to it? And its decentralised nature makes accountability by the media potentially even harder, since there’s no Musk to ultimately hold account, just an opaque collective of obscure individuals who wield power behind closed doors
Another dimension of accountability is regulatory-for better or worse, social media is an increasing focus of regulatory attention worldwide, and you can guarantee Twitter is near the top of the list. Musk may try to dodge them, but he can only dodge so much, and in many cases (especially those regulatory requests which don’t appear to be associated with his political opponents) he may just comply from the start. By contrast, most regulators are going to ignore Mastodon, because it is too small to merit their attention, and its decentralised nature makes it much harder to regulate.
Of course “if you are unfairly banned on one instance you can always move to another”-but that’s at the minimum a major inconvenience, and what about the problem of cross-instance bans? I know they are claimed to be only against the far-right; but even if that’s true, what’s to stop “ban the far-right” from evolving into “ban the moderate right” and then eventually even “ban lefties who deviate too much from the party line”? Yes, that’s a slippery slope argument-but accountability mechanisms play a big role in stopping people slipping too far down life’s many slopes
If you trust the average Mastodon administrator is on roughly the same page as you, maybe you don’t have much to worry about; if you lack that confidence, is it still worth investing your time in it? With Twitter, even if you don’t trust Musk to do the right thing, at least you know there are real (however imperfect) mechanisms to hold him to account. The same mechanisms for Mastodon are arguably a lot weaker
This is one of the essential problems that frustrates normal users from moving to another social network. We are yet to talk about the mediocre 'search' function, co-ordinated instance-level bans, rouge moderators, instances shutting down / falling over, etc.
Techies love discussing about how complex something is, where as the majority of users do not care especially normal users moving from Twitter to Mastodon which from the looks of it, was no 'mass migration'. As many instances have closed registrations, if the largest instances re-opened them it further defeats the purpose of federation and encourages instance centralization.
We haven't even mentioned the strong network effect of Twitter being the major reason why little to no-one other than the 'screaming techies of the Twitter apocalypse' got angry, packed their bags and moved to Mastodon. The event was as if it was a leaf falling out of a tree.