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Chris Trottier

This take is annoying.

But it's also not entirely @gruber's fault because the media doesn't really talk about the Fediverse, and when they do, it's as a synonym for "Mastodon".

How would @gruber know about the massive development efforts to build more user-friendly alternatives to Mastodon?

No one in the media talks about the growth of *key apps, and how they're now the #2 most used Fediverse platform.

That story isn't being told.

mastodon.social/@gruber/110314

@fediversenews

12 comments
Chris Trottier

Whenever I tell people that Mastodon isn't the Fediverse, the Mastodon stans start saying, "Oh, you sound like a guy who's complains that Linux isn't called GNU/Linux."

No, there's a massive difference.

To most people, whether you call something Linux or GNU/Linux doesn't affect the user experience of using the OS.

Referring to the Fediverse as "Mastodon" definitely affects the user experience of using Mastodon.

Chris Trottier

If Mastodon users don't know about the Fediverse, they don't know why the messages they receive look wonky sometimes.

"Why is this guy allowed to post with more than 500 characters?" they often wonder.

"Why are there links in this post? Why can't I see things that other people can?" they'll ask.

And then they realize, "Hey, that guy can quote post! I thought Mastodon didn't allow that! How is that possible?"

Well, yeah, because those deviations require the context of the Fediverse.

Randy (Bluesbreaker)

@atomicpoet Has anyone written up a comparison of the platforms that have various features (not video or audio, text only)?

Chris Trottier

@randulo I don't know if anyone has written something up, but here's a comparison graph.

Riku Mattila

@atomicpoet Even if you can, it doesn't necessarily mean you should. I think the 500-character limit is good.

si_irini

@atomicpoet @gruber @fediversenews
It is quite simply mainstream....
I don't understand the debate about usability.
Yes it is different, not as easy as Twitter....
But hey who knows, maybe that's just fine and better that some don't understand how it works....
The mainstream promotes mainstream, maybe we should not follow it and be glad that it is so, let others follow the mainstream.

Sbectol :twt:

@atomicpoet I've not used *key but presumably the negatives are similar there as here?

The issues of moderation etc must be similar across the Fediverse.. or have they somehow dealt with the CW issues that POC pointed out were unfriendly to them?

Chris Trottier

@Sbectol Most *key users are Japanese. The culture is inherently different.

But English-speaking *key culture is also different from Mastodon. It's more whimsical and fun.

I haven't seen many CW issues. But then again, *key doesn't have quite the same reach as Mastodon.

Sbectol :twt:

@atomicpoet mm. So that's not so much a technical fix as a difference in culture..

Presumably a POC on a *key instance could still be shut down and silenced by lardarses on mastodon (or anywhere else)

j_bertolotti

@atomicpoet
To be fair, even by specifically googling it, it is not easy to find a decent explanation of what calckey&co are, and why one should bother.
And this is a problem common to a lot of the fediverse: there are a lot of options out there, but for a newcomer it is almost impossible to learn about it (and I am speaking from personal experience).

gr0k

@atomicpoet @fediversenews There's definitely something to what @gruber is saying. With manual account approval on mastodon.social and it being pushed as the default, I'd love to see the abandonment rate... Perhaps it's different when signing up through a phone? But getting someone all excited about trying a new social network is hard enough. Now they have to retain that excitement for an unknown amount of time, and then care enough to engage at some later date... Not much fun...

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