The Mastodon social network information thread

Lysander

Lysander

Lysander

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Soldato
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I'm creating a separate topic for this since Mastodon is in the news a lot at the moment with all the goings-on at Twitter, and people may have one or two questions about it or just want to chat about it. Before I start, I should say I am not an expert by any stretch, but I do know one or two things about it. So this is an attempt to keep any such discussion in one place.

  • What is Mastodon? It's a social network that focuses on short "microblogging" posts of 500 characters called "toots", which has been around since 2016.
  • So it's like Twitter then? You'll hear this a lot. Mastodon is similar in format to Twitter but not in how it operates. It is not 'Twitter without Elon Musk'.
  • How is it different from Twitter? Mastodon was set up in 2016 by the FOSS community [Free Open-Source Software]. Its main difference to Twitter is that it is decentralised. You do not sign up for Mastodon and "wash and go", you sign up for a server [or an "instance"] which meets your interests. If you want to join another server you must open another Mastodon account. You can follow people from other servers, but you cannot follow a server.
  • What's the point of that, then? You have to remember that Mastodon was set up by the FOSS community, so the key words are "privacy" and "control". Also this form of decentralisation reduces abuse, and it's far more likely that you'll find people being nice to each other.
  • Can I start a server/instance if I don't see one I like? Of course you can, but you need some knowledge of coding and you must host it locally 24/7. It's not like Discord whereby you can click a "create server" button and it does everything for you. You need to know something about programming, or at least hire someone who does.
  • Can I find people on Twitter who are on Mastodon? Not with ease, no. That's kind of the point of it. You'll probably need to contact the person directly and ask them for their Mastodon account. You can use search terms to find people of common interests, but this has to be enabled per server, and some servers will not have this enabled.
  • Will people leave Twitter for Mastodon in a "mass exodus"? This is purely a point of speculation but in my opinion it's unlikely. A lot of regular users will not understand how Mastodon works and will find it confusing. I personally imagine that many will join but then revert to Twitter, but that is my own opinion.
  • Is signing up easy? Yes and no. At the moment a lot of the servers are getting hammered. And many have closed their registrations. Some servers you have to apply for. But if you find an open one, you should be able to join easily, though things may be a bit glitchy while they try to cope with the current load. But I imagine things will ease up in the next few days.

More info:

joinmastodon.org

Mastodon - Decentralized social media

Learn more about Mastodon, the radically different, free and open-source decentralized social media platform.
joinmastodon.org joinmastodon.org

Hopefully this helps anyone who's curious. I don't know if this topic will go anywhere, but hopefully someone will find it useful.

Above all, please keep any discussion here about Mastodon and not Twitter, that can go in the other thread.
 
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GaryTheSnail said:
No. I just been on the website.

Pick a topic > Apply for an account for that topic > Join it.

Bit like TwitCord?
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Look, the OP answers these questions. Honestly, you would not be asking these questions if you had read it. Stop being lazy and read the OP. If you continue to clog this thread I'll just report your posts.
 
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GaryTheSnail said:
ha ha ha what a great start. Look at all those suspended servers.

mastodon.social

Mastodon

The original server operated by the Mastodon gGmbH non-profit
mastodon.social mastodon.social
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That link just goes to the main mastodon.social page. I don't know what you mean about suspended servers. Also, what do you mean "start"? It's been around since 2016.

GaryTheSnail said:
No. I'll make my own mind up about what it is.

It's Twitter and Discord.
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It's neither.
 
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sigma said:
How do they accommodate the scummy posters such as the ones we have on here? Mods condone?
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Servers are generally much smaller communities so there's more accountability, I suppose. If a poster causes problems I'm sure they'd be removed quicker than on other larger platforms.
 
sigma said:
I guess you could still have communites of scumbags. Like we have on here.
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I suppose so, though more contained. Which is a good thing. Like Telegram, you could end up with servers full of conspiracy theorists, but I imagine one gets that everywhere.
 
Orcvader said:
I have no idea which server to sign up to. I see there's a UK one but the site for that seems borked on desktop no matter what browser I try. Even then, looking at the other servers, there's not really any that strongly interests me.
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I just signed up on the main one, mastodon.social, or failing that the Scottish one. A lot of servers are getting absolutely hammered at the moment, because they're not used to this user influx. I imagine this problem will solve itself in a few days, or at least I would hope so.
 
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Orcvader said:
Didn't realise there was a main one, thanks. Oddly enough when I went to sign up on the main Mastodon site linked in OP and it went to the server list, mastodon.social wasn't there.
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Yes, I found this too, not sure why. Maybe so it doesn't get too overloaded? Not sure.

Orcvader said:
If I understand it right, I can follow users on other Mastodon servers, so it shouldn't matter which server I join unless I want to share content on there?
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You're right really. It seems to be that unless you want to be part of a specific focused community, a lot of people are just hopping on whichever server they can and going from there.
 
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Cosimo said:
What a good start "Waiting for e-mail confirmation to be completed." waiting, waiting....
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It took some time for my confirmation email to come. I think it was an hour or two. Things are just really clogged up at the moment, clearly.
 
Sankari said:
Imagine if someone rebuilt Twitter, but without all the features that make it popular, useful, and user friendly.

That's Mastodon.
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It was never built for the masses. It was built for the FOSS community. Now it's seeing an unprecedented surge in popularity due to the happenings with Twitter.

This is why it won't be the new Twitter, it's not made for regular social media users, since they're not used to its methods of operation. But it is very effective as a more private social network which is more regulatable and with no algorithms or ads.
 
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tenofspades said:
if the normals go Mastodon then I will jump ship too.
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Honestly, I think a lot of people will join, then they will leave when they realise it's not for them. It's just not meant to be a mass social network in the way the people are used to.

I made this thread since it's in the news a lot at the moment, and I thought it best that any potential discussion be shepherded into one place.

But I think the kind of person it will work for is the most geeky. Your average Twitter normie will not find anything in it for then, and will find the sign-up and operation process awfully confusing.
 
I would argue that you haven't really absorbed his reasons for such. Maybe it would be clearer if you used the platform.
 
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Angilion said:
His reasons are wrong, though. Pretty much inverted. "replying" to a post without quoting it is much more likely to facilitate speaking at your audience
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It doesn't work like that on Mastodon, it's not like Twitter. When you reply to the person concerned, only that person is able to see the reply, it's not broadcast to everyone. This is to discourage other people chipping in with their twopence worth and starting arguments as so often happens on places like Twitter and OCUK.

One could say, "well, that also means that one is potentially missing out on new information or advice", but clearly they deem that to be the minoritative case, and are willing to dam that flow or redirect it towards 1:1 discussions.
 
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Petty arguments are exactly the kind of thing Mastodon aims to stamp out since when people enter a discussion only those two can initially see it.

When you think about it, this makes a big difference because the whole world is not watching to see who will 'do better'. It diffuses things much quicker.
 
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C Kent said:
I think the point in question is that mastodon isn't a very good alternative, there's always been alternative solutions they just haven't offered what twitter does
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It is an excellent alternative. The problem is that people are so used to Twitter that they will reject how Mastodon operates. They will then just return from whence they came.

It's like people disliking Windows and wanting to move to Linux. Their brains have been "Microsoftened" [haha, what a great term, I just made it up] and even though they like the idea of free software, they can't get their head around actually using it so they go back.

Same with Twitter. People are used to "one login to rule them all" and seeing their tweets broadcast to the masses with each one they make. The majority won't be able to operate any other way and will just go back grudgingly, like the Windows 10 user who hates unscheduled updates and just groans whenever they happen.

It's no coincidence that I'm making a comparison between these thought processes and free software, since Mastodon was made FOR and BY the free software community. Those people who can think outside the box will enjoy it and take the time to learn it. Those who won't, or can't, will go back to Twitter and grit their teeth while doing so.
 
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