Completely unrelated but I've been slightly frustrated with how tech-oriented mastodon and everything-activitypub is. Not only the people and hubs themselves, which is quite annoying by itself,...
Completely unrelated but I've been slightly frustrated with how tech-oriented mastodon and everything-activitypub is.
Not only the people and hubs themselves, which is quite annoying by itself, but also how you're forced to understand technicall details to end up having a subpar experience.
In the end though, it boils down to my wish more niche communities without so many tech people.
Yeah, this is a problem with tildes too. I feel like the majority of the conversation always revolves around tech or us politics. I've gradually been reading here less and less due to this reason,...
Yeah, this is a problem with tildes too. I feel like the majority of the conversation always revolves around tech or us politics. I've gradually been reading here less and less due to this reason, though it's nobody's fault that it is this way, and I guess it kind of is the nature of the platform.
Would be nice to have a more diverse community with plenty of people who are not primarily "tech-people", but I don't really know how that could be encouraged.
Yeah, it can be a bit repetitive here at times. That said, I really do love seeing the community come together for events and such, and the posts that are all about conversation rather than just...
Yeah, it can be a bit repetitive here at times. That said, I really do love seeing the community come together for events and such, and the posts that are all about conversation rather than just links. The community here really is great when it gets a chance to shine.
I think the main way to change all that is to just make posts that can initiate conversation, or start posting more non-tech/political content yourself. And maybe give invites to those outside those niches who you think would make a lot of interesting contributions.
I think it's because mostly only libre software enthusiasts are interested in using this decentralized libre software, which is in, I'd say, very beginning stage. It's kind of first of its kind....
I think it's because mostly only libre software enthusiasts are interested in using this decentralized libre software, which is in, I'd say, very beginning stage. It's kind of first of its kind. And doesn't have amount of money corporations have, which limits everything. Which also may be a good thing for those tech-oriented people, they don't need normies in their sandbox.
Non-tech people have no interest in going there, they feel comfortable enough on corporate-owned media where there are more non-tech-oriented people and probably some of their friends. Why would they change it?
Another things is that, well.. I kind of like the fact that for me fediverse is not as addictive as corporate media were. The reasons don't matter for me, it may be too few people, too monothematic content, doesn't matter, it's just less addictive and I like it. More time to spend outside or with real people.
Agree with you on the last part - the biggest evidence imo for this is lack of feed manipulation as mastodon instance let you sort how you want without reverting it to what they want the next time...
Agree with you on the last part - the biggest evidence imo for this is lack of feed manipulation as mastodon instance let you sort how you want without reverting it to what they want the next time you log in.
Pretty much, we've seen from some 2 decades of social media is that it can be extremely sticky once you establish a daily norm. And most people either don't know nor care when some inconveniences...
Pretty much, we've seen from some 2 decades of social media is that it can be extremely sticky once you establish a daily norm. And most people either don't know nor care when some inconveniences get pushed in as long as their core routine remains the same. You see here how bluesky seems to be rising as the best Twitter competitor and a part of is that it just feels like Twitter at its core.
Fairly boring as an opportunity to really rethink such a website, but I guess this is the "faster horses" mentality of consumers. And admittedly it is very difficult to really innovate in a way that makes people "want" to switch.
It's a tough problem, because the people doing this need to have either the free time to just create and throw something out there, or an aggressive monetization model to make their time worth it....
my wish more niche communities without so many tech people.
It's a tough problem, because the people doing this need to have either the free time to just create and throw something out there, or an aggressive monetization model to make their time worth it. Tech is basically the only creative sector with a lot of the former.
Getting an artist or designer on board suddenly skyrocketes costs, becsuse those industries are traditionally abused for free labor. And there aren't a lot of people who can do tech and art simultaneously.
I’m one of those people. At some point during the pandemic I left FB, Instagram, etc. and gave Mastodon a shot. It took a while to figure out. It got to a point where I’d say it was working, but...
I’m one of those people. At some point during the pandemic I left FB, Instagram, etc. and gave Mastodon a shot. It took a while to figure out. It got to a point where I’d say it was working, but something was missing. The server was running into issues and needed donations to survive an improve (fair, but makes one consider just how much one needs the service, once it starts costing money). My most engaged content was dog pictures. I avoid most politics so I was filtering stuff a lot to get my feed right. Anyway after a while I just kinda gave up on it. None of my real life friends were on there. None are likely on here either, but I don’t see Tildes the same way. And overall the technicality of it, while I did finally customize it to my needs likely keeps less techy audiences at bay for sure.
EDIT: I do like supporting the services I like, financially, because I hate ads. But with Mastodon it seemed like the server needed funds constantly, and a lot, because I guess it was not a huge server and the poor guy was doing all the work in his spare time. I helped for a while, but eventually I stopped using the service. I found that if you dug enough you found some cool things and community “events” or activities. However, to maximize the enjoyment and engagement with these, I felt I needed to check the app often, and be there often. Less screen time was one of the reasons I left FB and the likes to begin with, so then I was coming full circle and the difference was that none of the people were people I knew in real life, there were no ads but I was paying via donations. I have mixed feelings about it. I really wanted it to be my digital home. And it can kinda be that, with enough spare time and customization. Sorry to put it this way but I ended up seriously thinking: this is a platform for when I retire. When time is plenty and I want something light: pics of dogs, microblog about my walks, etc. While I have a full time job it just didn’t fit in my life.
Hmm have you tried to ask any of your friend to check it out? To invite them, tell them what it is and why it could be cool to use it, especially that you're already there. It's not a sin, I'd...
None of my real life friends were on there. None are likely on here either, but I don’t see Tildes the same way.
Hmm have you tried to ask any of your friend to check it out? To invite them, tell them what it is and why it could be cool to use it, especially that you're already there.
Sorry to put it this way but I ended up seriously thinking: this is a platform for when I retire. When time is plenty and I want something light: pics of dogs, microblog about my walks, etc. While I have a full time job it just didn’t fit in my life.
It's not a sin, I'd say. I also don't use any corporate social media because, as you've written „less screen time was one of the reasons I left FB and the likes to begin with,”. Also I use very rarely any other social media too. I'm very happy that fediverse exists, but don't have time and energy to use it, I prefer real life connections.
Yes, that has been my focus too: real life connections. For screen time I prefer something like Tildes (and Reddit, before it got bad), to exchange some ideas on specific topics of my choice. I...
Yes, that has been my focus too: real life connections. For screen time I prefer something like Tildes (and Reddit, before it got bad), to exchange some ideas on specific topics of my choice. I hate the algorithms and ads that drive platforms like FB, Instagram, and so on. I never got into the Twitter approach even though I tried several times; never found it rewarding or even entertaining enough.
These days I have a handful of friends where I live, not that many, but enough to fill that social need. Go for dinner or coffee to catch up every few weeks, give or take. Sometimes a bike ride, a hike in the summer, some other physical activity. Sometimes someone will host a dinner.
I, too, am happy the fediverse exists and I do still have an account. It's just been dormant lately. If I ramp up my online presence or start generating more creative content, I would definitely use that avenue to share it with the world, versus, say, creating an account on a manistream socual media platform.
No, I did not tell friends about it. I don't really want to be an ambassador for that kind of thing becuase then I'd feel guilty if I decided to stop using the platform after "converting" them to it.
Completely unrelated but I've been slightly frustrated with how tech-oriented mastodon and everything-activitypub is.
Not only the people and hubs themselves, which is quite annoying by itself, but also how you're forced to understand technicall details to end up having a subpar experience.
In the end though, it boils down to my wish more niche communities without so many tech people.
Yeah, this is a problem with tildes too. I feel like the majority of the conversation always revolves around tech or us politics. I've gradually been reading here less and less due to this reason, though it's nobody's fault that it is this way, and I guess it kind of is the nature of the platform.
Would be nice to have a more diverse community with plenty of people who are not primarily "tech-people", but I don't really know how that could be encouraged.
Maybe more niche posts? It feels like pre-2023 exodus there were more discussions on hobbies and the like.
Yeah, it can be a bit repetitive here at times. That said, I really do love seeing the community come together for events and such, and the posts that are all about conversation rather than just links. The community here really is great when it gets a chance to shine.
I think the main way to change all that is to just make posts that can initiate conversation, or start posting more non-tech/political content yourself. And maybe give invites to those outside those niches who you think would make a lot of interesting contributions.
I think it's because mostly only libre software enthusiasts are interested in using this decentralized libre software, which is in, I'd say, very beginning stage. It's kind of first of its kind. And doesn't have amount of money corporations have, which limits everything. Which also may be a good thing for those tech-oriented people, they don't need normies in their sandbox.
Non-tech people have no interest in going there, they feel comfortable enough on corporate-owned media where there are more non-tech-oriented people and probably some of their friends. Why would they change it?
Another things is that, well.. I kind of like the fact that for me fediverse is not as addictive as corporate media were. The reasons don't matter for me, it may be too few people, too monothematic content, doesn't matter, it's just less addictive and I like it. More time to spend outside or with real people.
Agree with you on the last part - the biggest evidence imo for this is lack of feed manipulation as mastodon instance let you sort how you want without reverting it to what they want the next time you log in.
Pretty much, we've seen from some 2 decades of social media is that it can be extremely sticky once you establish a daily norm. And most people either don't know nor care when some inconveniences get pushed in as long as their core routine remains the same. You see here how bluesky seems to be rising as the best Twitter competitor and a part of is that it just feels like Twitter at its core.
Fairly boring as an opportunity to really rethink such a website, but I guess this is the "faster horses" mentality of consumers. And admittedly it is very difficult to really innovate in a way that makes people "want" to switch.
It's a tough problem, because the people doing this need to have either the free time to just create and throw something out there, or an aggressive monetization model to make their time worth it. Tech is basically the only creative sector with a lot of the former.
Getting an artist or designer on board suddenly skyrocketes costs, becsuse those industries are traditionally abused for free labor. And there aren't a lot of people who can do tech and art simultaneously.
I’m one of those people. At some point during the pandemic I left FB, Instagram, etc. and gave Mastodon a shot. It took a while to figure out. It got to a point where I’d say it was working, but something was missing. The server was running into issues and needed donations to survive an improve (fair, but makes one consider just how much one needs the service, once it starts costing money). My most engaged content was dog pictures. I avoid most politics so I was filtering stuff a lot to get my feed right. Anyway after a while I just kinda gave up on it. None of my real life friends were on there. None are likely on here either, but I don’t see Tildes the same way. And overall the technicality of it, while I did finally customize it to my needs likely keeps less techy audiences at bay for sure.
EDIT: I do like supporting the services I like, financially, because I hate ads. But with Mastodon it seemed like the server needed funds constantly, and a lot, because I guess it was not a huge server and the poor guy was doing all the work in his spare time. I helped for a while, but eventually I stopped using the service. I found that if you dug enough you found some cool things and community “events” or activities. However, to maximize the enjoyment and engagement with these, I felt I needed to check the app often, and be there often. Less screen time was one of the reasons I left FB and the likes to begin with, so then I was coming full circle and the difference was that none of the people were people I knew in real life, there were no ads but I was paying via donations. I have mixed feelings about it. I really wanted it to be my digital home. And it can kinda be that, with enough spare time and customization. Sorry to put it this way but I ended up seriously thinking: this is a platform for when I retire. When time is plenty and I want something light: pics of dogs, microblog about my walks, etc. While I have a full time job it just didn’t fit in my life.
Hmm have you tried to ask any of your friend to check it out? To invite them, tell them what it is and why it could be cool to use it, especially that you're already there.
It's not a sin, I'd say. I also don't use any corporate social media because, as you've written „less screen time was one of the reasons I left FB and the likes to begin with,”. Also I use very rarely any other social media too. I'm very happy that fediverse exists, but don't have time and energy to use it, I prefer real life connections.
Yes, that has been my focus too: real life connections. For screen time I prefer something like Tildes (and Reddit, before it got bad), to exchange some ideas on specific topics of my choice. I hate the algorithms and ads that drive platforms like FB, Instagram, and so on. I never got into the Twitter approach even though I tried several times; never found it rewarding or even entertaining enough.
These days I have a handful of friends where I live, not that many, but enough to fill that social need. Go for dinner or coffee to catch up every few weeks, give or take. Sometimes a bike ride, a hike in the summer, some other physical activity. Sometimes someone will host a dinner.
I, too, am happy the fediverse exists and I do still have an account. It's just been dormant lately. If I ramp up my online presence or start generating more creative content, I would definitely use that avenue to share it with the world, versus, say, creating an account on a manistream socual media platform.
No, I did not tell friends about it. I don't really want to be an ambassador for that kind of thing becuase then I'd feel guilty if I decided to stop using the platform after "converting" them to it.