 How to use Mastodon: Step 1: Sign up. Step 2: Do regular social media stuff. Journalists: Only those with advanced degrees in computer science should even attempt to navigate Mastodon, the frustrations of its complexities will drive the average user to a state of hysteria. 133 comments
 @lowqualityfacts i can't help but feel that you straight up copypasta'd that last part from an actual article lmfao. @lowqualityfacts That moment when media are more elitist about some piece of software than software enthusiast communities @rail @lowqualityfacts it's truly a sight to see when a community that isn't arch linux acts more insufferable tha everyone else online.
You donโt, but apparently journalists do, otherwise Mastodon is just too complex for them! @MargotB @lowqualityfacts signing up was the final exam, congrats! expect your diploma any day now @lowqualityfacts @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social Yeah but it requires the effort of finding an instance you like and thatโs new and scary and super hard and totally not worth the trade off of having admins and mods who actually give a shit about making sure the community theyโre creating is not overrun with Nazis. ๐ @lowqualityfacts @fkamiah17 @lowqualityfacts what an abysmal article this is โAs we saw with the failure of Mastodonโฆโ ๐คฆ @zudo @lowqualityfacts Oh, I didn't read it. The title alone was enough to wind me up.  @fkamiah17 @lowqualityfacts Yeah stopped reading at "As we saw with the failure of Mastodon," I'm so tired of hearing that, while happily using it every day. If only these people would give it a chance, but they are apparently too addicted to Twitter or some other right wing platform. Ah well. @bazkie @fkamiah17 @lowqualityfacts I suspect that they have โDaddyโ issues, & only a billionaire daddy will do. @donhawkins @bazkie @lowqualityfacts LQF did a really good TL;DR of Mastodon v Bluesky v Threads last week. Summed the whole thing up perfectly in about 50 words.  @fkamiah17 @lowqualityfacts Iโm slightly surprised they havenโt figured they could have their own instances with their own servers under their own control, in an alternative universe they value their independence and have done just that rather than feed off of Twitter, Meta, and each other @fkamiah17 @lowqualityfacts Ah, another "failure of mastodon" article. Am I not where I think I am? I'm not sure whether to be flattered that I found Mastodon's interface easy and smooth, or I should be horrified at the ineptitude of the "journalists" that are left in the media, in this news age. @lowqualityfacts honestly, the fact that journalists and the bunch of people who just didnโt want to give it a chance so they went back to Twitter ready to make Contentโข about their experience tried to make themselves sound clever by describing Mastodon as so complicated almost scared me off. Itโs so strange! Why do that! ๐ @k_kwasniewska @lowqualityfacts @ReneeWestberry @lowqualityfacts exactly the same on my end, this is how I felt about it too! The way theyโre describing it, you end up thinking itโs some technical process when itโs just register and go and everyone would manage! @animesocialist @lowqualityfacts Exactly. Iโm no computer science genius, but Linux is just about all I use these days & Mastodon seems superior to the bird-site too. Oh, I still own a Windoz 10 laptop, but it sits idle, collecting dust. And, I havenโt yet deleted my bird-site account just outta curiosity for how it ends, & to annoy others still there, with Mastodon promoting Tweets, etc.  @donhawkins @animesocialist @lowqualityfacts I wonder how many tech journalists use an #Android device to file their stories about how hard it is to use #Linux. ๐ @david_megginson @animesocialist @lowqualityfacts even if they file from their iPhones โฆ BSD Unix based / derivative O/S. And if they are filing across the โinter-websโ 95% of the top one million domains are powered by Linux, etc, etc, etc. I have been using debian based Linux distributions for almost 10 years and they are by no meand less inconvenient than Windows. And don't get me started on apple, it is the exact opposite of convenient. @animesocialist @lowqualityfacts Iโm so long with Linux, Iโm like the Twitter users who canโt grasp Mastodon โฆ fooking Windoz seems like a PITA to me these days. Linux just fooking works (my first taste / flavor was a Linux-precursor, of sorts, SCO Xenix on a 386). ๐ I keep meaning to unfollow because so many of these are so dumb. But then you make it all worth it with the best facts out there.  @lowqualityfacts @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social @lowqualityfacts @ZeirosLion @lowqualityfacts should start posting "Can use Mastodon" on my resume since apparently it's such an advanced skill @lowqualityfacts I should be worried that the people were supposed to rely on for keeping authority to account can't figure out something slightly more advanced than WordPress. @lowqualityfacts I am not a tech person or very computer savvy at all but I have had no problem navigating Mastodon and even managed an instance change.  @lowqualityfacts a journalist cannot make a decision. They can only do what they're told and there's no one to do that on fedi unless you're being told to kys
@lowqualityfacts  @lowqualityfacts this feels more like an average quality fact. But they probs don't understand mastodon cause of a lack of official onboarding. @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social  @lowqualityfacts literally heard an NPR reporter say โI tried to sign up for mastodon and Iโm still not sure if I did or not.โ Wtf mate. @lowqualityfacts a good friend is a comp Sci guy, a professional software engineer, who "tried mastodon but didn't get it" When pressed for more info, it turns out he had trouble siging in... because he forgot what server he signed up at. I don't know how to help that. @frigginglorious There is no help for that if he hasnโt figured out how to search for the email that Mastodon sends you when you sign up telling you all that information. ๐คฆ๐พโโ๏ธ @lowqualityfacts journalist have difficulties to compete the Cuphead tutorial, don't ask too much Journalist 1st post after being booted from #Twitter: "Well, hello. Follow me here as this is my new online home" * gets unbanned and quickly goes back 2nd post, two months later: "Hello, there" * Followers: "glad you're back" :ablobsadpats: 3rd post, another two months later: "Hello, you can find me on #Threads " @lowqualityfacts @siegi it is probably especially difficult for journalists to understand a social tool cautiously designed to avoid reaching too many people at once @llPK@mastodon.social @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social @siegi@tooting.ch My reaction to that is "Oh, so they'll have to go back to cultivating a readership rather than posting ever-increasing click-bait titles and takes to be noticed in the stream?" @llPK @lowqualityfacts @siegi @howtophil @lowqualityfacts @siegi I can see the appeal of that. But still, it becomes a numbers game, doesnโt it? It's more like modeling the social spaces to fit real-life tendencies of how humans function. It appears to be hard for humans to actively track the lives of more people than that - to "care" in a meanuingful way. @howtophil@mastodon.social @llPK@mastodon.social @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social @siegi@tooting.ch I fell like a lot of old niche forums reached something akin to that number in terms of active users. Coincidentally, a lot of the long time friends that I made on the internet where from that era and it makes me wonder if there's any connection to that.  And yet: "Unlisted has a slightly complicated behaviour pattern in the Home timeline, and this isnโt officially documented for some reason. Hereโs how it works: Unlisted posts and replies from people you follow WILL appear in your Home timeline, unless they are a reply to someone you donโt follow. If theyโre a reply to someone you donโt follow, they WILL NOT appear in your Home timeline."  I can explain why I care: I've been seeing the occasional toot in my timeline (or is it notifications) that is clearly a response to another toot, but I don't and can't see what it's replying to. And then I wonder if I'm doing the same thing, and at the same time feditips drops some info on setting visibilities. As a result I do change my default visibility, but I'm still not sure I'm doing it right ..... ... and that thing I posted was part of the page explaining visibility. It's not like I give much credit to journo's saying "it's too hard". (I suspect the real reason is "my colleagues aren't there, and the audience isn't big enough.) But people who dismiss new users genuine issues aren't helping us much either. Yeah, I see those too sometimes, but I just chalked it up to a quirk of federation and the dissemination of posts. @lowqualityfacts @lowqualityfacts So true, and I think it's because the media can't figure out how to buy followers on here. @lowqualityfacts I agree that the onboarding is messier than, say, Threads, and you have to get used to the idea of picking a server (and possibly moving) and that takes knowledge... but jeez, the idea that once you're settled it'll be nothing but compiling a kernel every time you want to check your timeline... I'm 66. It took a LOT more attention and learning to master the home computer in 1988. Mastodon is not "hard." It just takes attention and intention. Algorithms have made people lazy about creating their own social media community and experience. @YourNeighbor57 @lowqualityfacts - I think people have also heavily shifted their mindset from "computers are a tool" to "computers are magic" (they aren't). Companies have done a good job mystifying how computers work. They've come a long way, but they're not magic. I spend a lot of time hammering into more junior engineers, that with very rare exception, we should be able to explain plainly to customers what we're doing. It shouldn't be magic and they shouldn't have to guess. @lowqualityfacts It's like their billionaire masters are fearful of a social media platform they cannot control.... @lowqualityfacts also journalists: here are 278499 steps to use Threads in Europe, you will love it  "I suspect thousands of other Tooters (blech!) will soon do the same and Mastodon will lay down beside all other other fossilized social media platforms and fade from existence." ~ Lance Ulanoff @lowqualityfacts I don't think journalists are OK. Someone should get them councilling on living in normal society.   @lowqualityfacts @ReneeWestberry @olav @lowqualityfacts It asks a question of which server you want to create your account on. Sometimes it gives you an error if the server you connect to is not available at that moment. That's about the biggest problem during the sign up process I've seen.  @lowqualityfacts "Crucially, it lacks an algorithmic feed which directs social media consumers to my Substack"   @lowqualityfacts Iโm not even that good with tech and I was able to figure out. It shouldnโt be hard for the average user @lowqualityfacts I'm technically inept in every way but even I managed to sign up. The instances are not that difficult of a concept. If I can do it so can others.  @lowqualityfacts @siegi Yeah, sure. Just choose an instance. Any instance. No, not that one, itโs too big. And make sure itโs moderated, otherwise itโs gonna be blocked by other instances. And make sure it blocks nazi instances too, for your safety. And instances that donโt block Facebook, otherwise itโs gonna get blocked too. But make sure the admins are not too quick on the block, because even if they change their mind, you lose your connections. >> @lowqualityfacts @siegi Anyway, itโs easy to move if you choose wrong. You just lose your posts and any conversations you had with people. But none of this matters, because the only important thing is that itโs decentralised. Also, make sure you use it the way John Mastodon intended, otherwise you might get harassed. But itโs with good intentions so itโs not really harassment. EZPZ. @lowqualityfacts @siegi The best advice I saw recently is not to tell your friends to join mastodon, but to tell them to join your instance, or a specific one you think theyโd be at home on. @lowqualityfacts  @lowqualityfacts this I especially funny when you try to use bluesky, which currently requires you to spend several minutes muting and blocking every time you log on bc they refuse to moderate in any way, and where, if you want to get a "feed" with things you like you need to be able to code so you can program one  So, indistinguishable from post-EM Twitter, right? (I used to block on sight just about everything back there. Probably could adapt in a week or so to BS, provided my blood pressure doesn't spike too much.) @angelastella no, it's nowhere near as bad as that. Yet. And most of my muting is just people posting nudes. There's no CW and the filters don't work particularly well. I couldn't have every third post being an erect penis bc I need to be able to scroll at work and in the vicinity of kids. The rest are just constant arguing about moderation (bc the site refuses to act, so there's an uproar every 2 wks). For other reasons, I'm staying away from bluesky for now and sticking just with mastodon. Filters: I suspect typical techbro bullshit: they paid for/developed in-house automatic NSFW "detectors", like Facebook back in the day. Moderation: Two weeks between storms looks definitely not OK. Maybe most of our people are bailing out?  @lowqualityfacts โHow do I make money from this thing?โ Shakes cardboard box with โMastodonโ written on it in crayon. โWhy is it so confusing?โ Starts hitting box with ruler. โ Stupid Mastodon. Dance.โ  If Mastodon is hard to understand I don't get how people learned to use web browsers. All those URLs, bars, nonconsistant design of web pages, thinking about SSL and weird padlocks, so many settings. Only technical people can use it. @lowqualityfacts You can just tell your friends "hey would you.like to join my instance?" And you've taken care of the first step (plus choice paralysis)  The news media's version of what it's like to use Mastodon really gives you perspective on the rest of their reporting.  @lowqualityfacts I see only 1 case of hysteria - "influencers" who used to fap on count of subscribers, likes, and "engagement" discover that Fediverse is not designed to be a source of profit. It is for genuine interaction and communities. @lowqualityfacts I wanted to like, but then there is a whole media server on mastodon, so..journa.host @lowqualityfacts If users report that a piece of software is too difficult to use, the response should be to make that software easier to use. The response from a lot of people on Mastodon seems to be pointing at them and going "hahaha thicky thicky noposts over here can't figure it out!" @lowqualityfacts I am convinced that these articles stem from users who view social media as a broadcast medium - a way one person can reach thousands or millions. Mastodon is geared towards human-scale interactions, which is great for community building, but not for creating a broadcast empire. Thus it's "insanely complicated" to someone trying to use it that way.  @lowqualityfacts BTW #MSM/โ#journalists,โ you know WE know itโs all BS and you cling to your billionaire-owned sites because a) you also are anti-#democracy/pro-#misinformation, elitist #whitesupremacists b) canโt give up your โvaluableโ brand/follower count (btw, we also know you know youโre largely just talking to other โjournalistsโ/bots), and/or c) canโt give up those lazy RTs/embeds that by now you probably even think passes for reporting. Sad.  @lowqualityfacts Unfortunately, a Twitter friend repeated that last part back to me after trying Mastodon. It *is* a little more complex than your average walled garden but I had to learn how to use Twitter and Tumblr too. Just playing around a little will do the trick. @lowqualityfacts tech journalists are like the worlds least techy people i swear to frank @lowqualityfacts I found the onboarding and startup process considerably more difficult than say TikTok or Threads. I know people Iโd have a hard time explaining it to. @lowqualityfacts
Somehow this reminds me of this old video. "Do not attempt to look into this yourselves. It's illegal for you to do it. We can because we're journalists". Husky_1689630261492_Z9A2P0B4GK.jpg @lowqualityfacts I work for a University and I have emailed them to ask them to clarify their social media policy in the wake of the politicisation and security risks of using platforms owned by billionaires. @lowqualityfacts @lowqualityfacts |
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