@kissane man I can see a couple of these being client problems but like people need to chill tf out.

Content warnings for like, eye contact or w/e are things I occasionally witness on the federated timeline and boy howdy those people need to touch som fuckin grass.

I'm on blue sky too but sometimes I wonder about the norms we encourage here and elsewhere.

@kissane thank you for your work. I agree with all of the things people said and have had similar experiences or problems. I chose to overcome them and still find some really annoying. But I am still here. I’ll prob test out BlueSky when it opens up. I’ve been on MeWe for quite a while. Nothing is perfect. The “winner” will be a matter of publicity and momentum.

@kissane your writing is so enjoyable and insightful. I hope the people who need to be paying attention are.

@kissane Thanks for doing this work, Erin!

@kissane I found this interesting in that it touches upon a number of points that leave me questioning how welcome I am here on Mastodon. I haven't bailed, and will not be trying any of the Twitter alternatives any time soon but I do find it necessary to filter myself more than I ever did on Twitter.

@kissane That was a lot of work! Thanks for the research. One thing I found recently was better search results and overall functionality using the ice cube app instead of the mastadon app on my phone.

@kissane This is great and thank you for doing it.

I don't have anything else to say but assume that some people will take offense so I thought it was important to let you know that some didn't and appreciate you doing the work. 😊

@kissane it’s funny because I’ve basically never been scolded and never put anything behind a content warning and jeez people want content warnings for things that aren’t relevant to them?

FFS this is the internet.

@kissane This was a great read. So many people in this thread are the embodiment of the problems listed. Signing up is confusing, especially on desktop. I bailed on signing up like twice, and people borderline insulting those who don't get it are part of the problem.

The lack of fun here is likely in part due to the high barrier to entry. If some of that is ironed out, there may be more people to find and more funny posts. Shitposting here feels like wearing sweatpants to a classy event.

@kissane Thank you for this. I've been on Mastodon since November and joined BlueSky 3 weeks ago. I'm staying on both sites for now, but your article captures so much of the reasons I felt the need to try out BlueSky. I've been very happy to find the remains of the Twitter community I had to leave...they are all mostly there, and that's the main reason (for me) for being on any particular social media site. Thanks for such a thorough and thoughtful analysis!

@kissane this absolutely catches my experience so far. I cannot wait for the ability to jump to bluesky (the promised land)

@kissane@mas.to

Very interesting read, and I would think very helpful moving forward for Mastodon. I still have an account there, but for my main account I now use Firefish. FF has implemented a lot of the things masto users want, such as quote posts, full search, very easy to follow anyone (no need to go to their server home). Which is to say that the conversation helps move things forward.

@kissane Thanks for writing this up. It's interesting. As a relatively new Mastadon user with no prior social media experience, I've had a pretty good time. Part of that might be because my instance is geographically-oriented, and some of the local norms probably translate. I also appreciate the giant "not lab research" warning.

@kissane As for discoverability, I found this post by looking at an account linked on an external site, going to the home page of the instance to check it out, and here it was. I think that kind of organic discoverability is healthier, even if it takes longer. And I think the desire to have discoverability be instant is part of the addictive (unhealthy) nature of popular social media apps.

@kissane What a superb article!

Do you have any writing on “… the idea of organizing people into interest-based instances, which I think is fundamentally flawed …”? Because this resonates with me as a person of multiple interests. I REALLY struggled with choosing an instance (nearly moved, but am now happy).

A minor curiosity as well is why you choose to keep your headings as all lowercase. What is your reasoning behind that stylistic choice?

@kissane super interesting. I can see what people mean about being yelled at, but only so much. I know I've been reminded to add alt tags to images. But that's a good thing IMHO.

As for disocoverabiliy. I just discovered you. So yeah. I get it, but like it here :)

@kissane just wanted to say thank you for this 😬🙏

@kissane thanks for this! I was wondering why folks bounced off masto in favour of yet another large company social platform!

@kissane some fascinating insight, well done! 👍🏻

@kissane Thank you for doing this important work, it is indeed very important to hear these kinds of viewpoints and I do agree w/ some of the things said.

The whole CW thing has been quite annoying if a certain group of people come across your post w/out CWs. They come off as etiquette police & quite unwelcoming.

As for broken search, unfortunately not all Mastodon instances have that enabled, either because lack of resource or they don't believe it fits their community.

@kissane Thank you for sharing this. ❤️

@kissane
Really interesting read and useful exercise. I'm not at all surprised about the first point. After about the thirtieth time I saw someone posting about alt text and content warnings, I just gave up and added content filters for those particular incessant scolds.

@Wrecks0

@kissane “It feels like the LinkedIn version of Twitter” - YES.

@kissane this is such an excellent piece of work. Well done and thank you and I totally agree with all of it

@kissane Thank you for the work!

I wonder what was the funniest reply you got?

@kissane

Fascinating insights Erin! Well done!

@kissane @LeviKornelsen
Can confirm that I post far fewer pictures than I would otherwise for the simple reason that writing out alt text sucks. Content warnings don't stress me that much, but they do also contribute to me posting few pictures.

@kissane

What is is what is. All knowledge is power and the wise always seek it.

@kissane how do you even read replies to posts?

@kissane Ah, I wish I could have quote-tooted this! Thank you for pulling this together. I do worry that the tendency to finger-wagging that permeates some of Mastodon’s culture can be off-putting. In our efforts to keep this platform from turning into an X-style dumpster, I fear we sometime over-correct.

@kissane I find everything about Mastodon easy, but it helps to get a reminder that not everyone else does. My experience as a computer programmer is not something everyone has.

@kissane thanks for sharing that info.
Weirdly my experience has been the opposite, not sure what’s important, but, here’s a list
1 I joined a geographically local instance which is lovely as well as many of the things you note regarding demographics
2 I primarily use @ivory which is alike to their Twitter app, so following, hashtags etc was very familiar in the app
3 On joining mastodon.nz there were some great welcome from admins with instance etiquette for context.
4 finding folk was harder

@kissane half the content on Mastodon is about Mastodon.

@kissane that's a really great analysis repository! I hope it is leveraged to improve things, without losing what this place has.

I've persisted with Mastodon because the alternatives were too morally unconscionable for me but, especially in the first 6-8 weeks, it was very tempting to give up.