Post 1098916 by peter@toot.cafe
(DIR) More posts by peter@toot.cafe
(DIR) Post #1098916 by peter@toot.cafe
2018-11-10T13:00:12Z
1 likes, 3 repeats
I just published: "Why Mastodon is defying the 'critical mass'" https://medium.com/@poshaughnessy/why-mastodon-is-defying-the-critical-mass-de3454109099
(DIR) Post #1099253 by Wolf480pl@niu.moe
2018-11-10T13:25:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter Really nice article, I have one nitpick though:>Mastodon is based around communities. These communities can be specialist networks based on the topic(s) you’re most interested in.Well... not quite.Mastodon is still user-oriented (like Twitter) as opposed to topic-oriented (like forums or Usenet).You follow users, not topics.And the "instance is a topic" doesn't quite work from my experience.
(DIR) Post #1099310 by mmin@scholar.social
2018-11-10T13:29:43Z
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@peter“I understand the attraction of imagining that the fediverse could topple Twitter and Facebook, but I don’t think that’s realistic (at least not any time soon). I think it will always be the underdog, but that’s nice in a way.”Yes! I think it's much more radical to think that we don't need to 'win' over some other platform. It's an alternative vision of communication on the internet.
(DIR) Post #1099352 by peter@toot.cafe
2018-11-10T13:33:37Z
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@Wolf480pl Thanks for the feedback - I'll mull that one over... Glad you liked the rest of it :)
(DIR) Post #1099573 by alexbeck@albin.social
2018-11-10T13:48:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter Good article.A thought. If the problem with Twitter is on a personal level, a small Mastodon is enough to solve it fully. But if the problem is on a national or even global level, Mastodon needs to be big for it to have any positive effect on the problem.
(DIR) Post #1099794 by djsumdog@hitchhiker.social
2018-11-10T14:00:16Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Wolf480pl @peter Yea, an instance is not a subreddit. There are attempts to make Reddit like ActivityPub stuff like Prismo.news. The devs at Lobste.rs have also talked about adding instance Federation as well.
(DIR) Post #1099894 by aral@mastodon.ar.al
2018-11-10T14:11:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter This, basically.If you judge federated or peer networks by centralised standards, they will never appear successful. If, however, such networks adopt Silicon Valley’s success criteria, they will, by definition, be doomed to fail by becoming what they seek to replace if they “succeed”.
(DIR) Post #1099938 by Bzdata@mastodon.technology
2018-11-10T14:14:48Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter great piece! Completely agree and love the perspective of anti Silicon Valley metrics (coking from someone whose job is all about SV “growth”)
(DIR) Post #1100380 by trwnh@mastodon.social
2018-11-10T14:45:31Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter @Wolf480pl I'd say it's a bit of both. Primarily user-based, but instances create a sense of locality and community, especially on the smaller or more niche ones. It's less like using a global Twitter, and more like having several different Twitters that still talk to each other.
(DIR) Post #1100844 by alexjgriffith@mastodon.social
2018-11-10T15:15:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peterThat third point, the federation as a service, is going to be the slayer of traditional social media. I mean, why would a company or individual ever want to be beholden to a platform that has unilateral control over your content with no repricosity? The status quo is nuts.
(DIR) Post #1100936 by drequivalent@mastodonsocial.ru
2018-11-10T15:20:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter Nice article. Didn't convince me though.The primary function of social networks is building and sustaining social bonds. That's their purpose, that's what they are for.A social bond is defined by its participants, which, for all intends and purposes should be (or behave indistinguishable to) two or more people.In other words, they help people get and stay in touch. If two or more people at any given time get and stay in touch, that's a singular success for the said network. If you give a card with your address in that network to a person you just met and they immediately go "Okay" and, without batting a n eye, find and follow you, and then use the network to talk to you, it's a singular success. If not ("Oh, what's this? Some kind of cool hipster thing? Interesting, I'll check it out. Anyway, who are you on Facebook?"), then it's a failure. A failure that must be admitted and considered.
(DIR) Post #1123060 by bjoern@mastodon.social
2018-11-11T14:56:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter Great article I agree with all your arguments on a higher level. But I think it sounds a bit to much like "we don't care about user adoption". I think we should care, for complete different reasons then VC startups. I see here a pattern I know quite well from the Free Software world, where people also felt comfortable in their 1% niche for a long time. Way to long if you ask me. (1/2)
(DIR) Post #1123577 by bjoern@mastodon.social
2018-11-11T15:03:58Z
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@peter These days privacy, security and freedom respecting software/services are way to important in order not to care about the 99%. We should aim to bring freedom, privacy and security without surrendering convenience to as much people as possible. Not for money, not for fame and not to dominate the market but because we can make the world a little bit better this way (2/2)
(DIR) Post #1123578 by peter@toot.cafe
2018-11-11T15:26:24Z
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@bjoern Hi, yeah thanks for your comments. I actually had a sneaky hope that there might be a slight reverse psychology effect with the post - instead of always saying "you must join us, you must join us", for some people it might work better to say "join us or don't, we're doing fine over here already" ;-) Since there have been lots of posts already trying to persuade people of the benefits, I thought I'd put out something different. But yeah I agree that it's important to keep growing :)
(DIR) Post #1142351 by ultimape@mastodon.social
2018-11-12T07:47:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@peter this showed up on my phone's news feed and I went out of my way to find you on the fediverse to retoot it.Used to be the only way I could do that was via Twitter. And now here I am stumbling upon a 100+ retoot for an article that managed to gut thru the noise.
(DIR) Post #1142633 by peter@toot.cafe
2018-11-12T08:18:02Z
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@ultimape That's cool 😎 Thanks for the retoot and for your message! 😁
(DIR) Post #1216563 by 1@tri.cash
2018-11-15T04:23:26.887Z
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@peter@toot.cafe I liked your article! Thanks for sharing. Comparisons to other social networks should stop because the fediverse is a different species and evolving in ways the others are not.
(DIR) Post #1216564 by peter@toot.cafe
2018-11-15T07:13:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@1 Thank you, glad you liked it! 🙏