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Geordie Pordy Puddin’ n’ Pie's posts Post Back to profile
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llrd4

@geordie I mean the concept of federation is literally used in email, but some people still find it difficult.

14 Jun 2023 at 7:26 | Wall-to-wall | Open on noc.social
7 comments
Natalie Romana

@llrd4 @geordie Which sort of proves the point? The internal workings of email that make sure mail gets to where it needs to go are sufficiently complex that most IT people don't know how it actually works.
Managing an email server is high on my list of "please outsource to experts". And I've been working as a sysop for 25 years.

14 Jun 2023 at 8:27 | Open on mastodon.nz
Geordie Pordy Puddin’ n’ Pie

@natalie_romana @llrd4 I don't think anyone was advocating the administration of a Mastodon server, just knowing perhaps how to use Mastodon.

14 Jun 2023 at 8:30 | Open on aus.social
Natalie Romana

@geordie @llrd4
I realise there is an order of magnitude difference in complexity, but the process of finding people to follow on Masterdon, and finding existing friends is complicated by the server model in a way that email isn't? It means extra steps to "make it work"

14 Jun 2023 at 8:35 | Open on mastodon.nz
llrd4

@natalie_romana @geordie Not really, if your friends name is John then you follow his Mastodon: john@thisisjohns.instance

If you need Johns email:
john@thisisjohnsemail.provider

It's the exact same idea, just people are more used to email.

If anything, finding people to follow on Mastodon is easier than email, as there are hashtags and feeds to feed you new users. Email is more of a direct communication with little discovery.

14 Jun 2023 at 8:42 | Open on noc.social
Natalie Romana

@llrd4 @geordie Yeah, but to do that, you first need to do a person search on your instance, then go to his to follow him. The process is not transparent and confuses the heck out of people coming from other social media systems.

14 Jun 2023 at 8:46 | Open on mastodon.nz
llrd4

@natalie_romana @geordie I wasn't saying to administer a server or understand how the internal workings of mastodon function. I was saying that the concept of federation as it relates to an end-user on Mastodon is not difficult to understand, and comparing that to email, which everyone understands (conceptually, as it relates to the end-user). So no, I think if anything that proves that because people understand the concept of email, learning the concept of federation is easy.

14 Jun 2023 at 8:38 | Open on noc.social
Natalie Romana

@llrd4 @geordie
I get that, my point is that to get some stuff to work in mastodon, you need to explicity work with the internals. Like in the very old days of email you might need to specify bang paths to get a mail to route correctly.
Understanding the difference between the home, local and federated feeds, and finding and registering people to follow are more complcated for low-tech skill users than they need to be.

14 Jun 2023 at 8:44 | Open on mastodon.nz
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