 The problem with the Fediverse right now isn't technological, or even scale. 🧵 It's knowledge onboarding. Most performance problems with the Fediverse would dissipate if the bulk of users would go to small instance or self-host themselves. Instead, they go to big instances under the mistaken impression that: 1. Big instances have better performance -- nope! 17 comments
So what should be done about these big instances? Well, hopefully more money will give them more resources for their maintenance. But also, I hope more moderators will be hired to assist with all those new users being onboarded. In the meantime, I hope everyone who has *just* joined a large instance considers migrating somewhere smaller. It will likely be a better experience.  @atomicpoet I joined mastodon.social in 2018, when "big" was a relative term and the small instances were in the single digits for members. (I suspect many of those have gone the way of the dodo...) Not planning to leave. Hey, I got a cabin on the mothership in the early days! But I have since joined another instance under my name, one under a pseudonym, and pixey. For now I'm staying flexible, paying close attention to how things evolve. @Karen5Lund I'm not planning on leaving either, but I've created a back-up for when this instance has fits. That said, I've also started several instances for other folks to use. @atomicpoet, that won’t happen. We need a tool to choose the right server for new people. @user8e8f87c What's the "right" server? When people join Mastodon, they don't want to stick to a topic or region. They feel they're multi-faceted individuals with lots to express. So they pick one of the big general instances. @atomicpoet, There should be a website, which asks you a few questions about your location, your interests and then picks a server for you. It should also give you the option to choose a server on your own. @atomicpoet The server list on joinmastodon.org ist really really bad. First thing I see there is this: (I use Fedora btw.) @atomicpoet @user8e8f87c - When I was looking for a server to join, I didn't want to join an activist server or an art server because even tho those thigs are important to me I didn't want to be limited to posting only about those things. But I was very happy to find a regional server for my geographical area (once I was assured that I'd still be able to see other posts). Because that way I knew I had at least that much in common with my "local." That I was talking with neighbors. @atomicpoet theoretically more folks should also be encouraged to create new instances as well, but of course that either takes some know-how or the recruitment of an admin @atomicpoet we’ve got some room on atx.pub for new arrivals… ideally for austin area but you know, if you’d like to visit austin one day that’s probably good enough for government work :)  @atomicpoet in the meantime one can also pin one's interests, then pick out people from these big instances and offer suggestions, or just hashtag assistance. Walking the walk is effort but someone's gotta do it, or people will start leaving. @atomicpoet I am looking into migrating to social.coop and donating to them. It is probably a good idea for instance hosts to report on overhead costs, and then have a fundraiser and suggested donation. @atomicpoet I've considered looking into making my own, but until developers can figure out a decent (even if extremely slow to use) way to *fully* migrate my account (with archived toots moved over to the new one, or a way to import ALL of my exported data) I'm strongly reluctant to move. I would rather keep my toots (outside of exporting them locally) and I understand the monumental task it'd be to make this work, but until I can I am very dissuaded from migrating, unfortunately. @atomicpoet  @atomicpoet I’m already considering moving to a smaller instance, but for now I’m staying put here on Mastodon.social. Most of the smaller instances I see are catered for rather niche purposes; I use Mastodon more as a general-purpose social media platform here.  @atomicpoet Quick and dirty solution of the temporary variant. Don’t feature the big ones when they start to strain. Most people will “just want to start” so giving them a simple path to appropriately sized instances as default would help. Further down the line I’m sure things will even out. |
Gregory's Server
Now the dilemma with the Fediverse is that, for better or worse, instances like mastodon.social and mastodon.online are going to be most new users experience with the Fediverse.
And it's going to be awful. The equivalent of eating dog food. This isn't because they're awful but because the idea of "Hey! Go join a smaller instance or self-host!" is a difficult paradigm shift.
What happens if a first impression is negative? Many people may not try again.