Gregory's Server
@rauschma @seb I’m very #2 yet I distinctly remember trying to join up and giving up, repeatedly for a few days in 2021. It wasn’t until the kitchen sink got carried into Twitter HQ that I tried “harder” — or had it got easier?
(I got in on the final days of “toots”)
I’m serious though — did something get easier between 2020 and 2022? Or did I just begin understanding the concept of “instances” better?
Bottom line: It’s a “fail” if a human has to manually engage each person to explain “it’s like email”, “you know how it’s lots of servers” or how I had the advantage of comparing to BBSs and FidoNet (even that revelation came to me later on)
OK, I’m steadfast. Mastodon really needs:
1. A central portal to sign up to ANYONE (any2?)
2. Repost / reply should be WAY more automatic and fewer steps, for a complete stranger who only had a URL, seeing a random website “out there”
For better or for worse, the centralised chat site paradigm is well known — unlearning is even harder than learning
Yes, we need to pretend superficially, to be not uncentralised … during onboarding at least … for the next decade at least
Sub-points to above, nice to have, but urgent tbh:
1.1. The central sign-up portal needs a very good “Yellow Pages” function, but not just a sparkly colourful catalogue, full of images, like a Netflix home screen … yes that, but also …
1.2. in my experience, the best way to judge a server is by its policies but especially its blocked servers … honestly? Compare this prominently. Let’s help people see who is the IN GROUP, the OUT GROUP, and the SAFE SPACE.
1.3. Let’s make “mastodon.social” impossible again … it should never have existed as it does … it shouldn’t even have become as coveted as it is … in fact I’d shut it down once the cross-posting wishlist is available.
and
2.1. the websites need what my favourite app has — a repost button that lets you repost to another account
2.2. ditto for reply button. The federation’s advantages depend on more instances being used.
@rauschma @seb A central single authority on inclusion and exclusion CANNOT function as a safe space. It undermines every advantage of the federation — but most of all, it confuses the fk out of normal people.
3. Big shiny centralised search, yep, the whole thing not just hashtags. But opt-in please. Yet the fact that I can’t reliably search my own replies — even now, I have to use a search engine — is undermining the key advantage of “permanance”
Twitter really — unwisely — had the “repository of all knowledge” vibe about it for a time. Reddit too. They were both unsuitable but they still achieved it.
Mastodon IS the suitable place for it. Let’s enable that.
@rauschma @seb A central single authority on inclusion and exclusion CANNOT function as a safe space. It undermines every advantage of the federation — but most of all, it confuses the fk out of normal people.
3. Big shiny centralised search, yep, the whole thing not just hashtags. But opt-in please. Yet the fact that I can’t reliably search my own replies — even now, I have to use a search engine — is undermining the key advantage of “permanance”