Post 2339286 by VioletPixel@mastodon.social
 (DIR) More posts by VioletPixel@mastodon.social
 (DIR) Post #2339225 by chartier@mastodon.cloud
       2018-08-11T19:04:22Z
       
       0 likes, 2 repeats
       
       After sleeping on it, I think #Mastodon should rename ‘instances’ to ‘Communities.’Instances feels too technical and I see even savvy people struggling to understand it.I argue communities would make much more sense. It denotes much of the purpose behind _why_ this service has different instances, and many people will already be familiar with the concept from Reddit (the, what, sixth most popular site on the net?).
       
 (DIR) Post #2339286 by VioletPixel@mastodon.social
       2018-08-11T19:06:15Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       @chartier "Communities" is good except for one thing: it makes it sound like none of the instances are connected to each other, which is one of the key aspects.  It's not just a bunch of seperate communities, it's one big interconnected federation.
       
 (DIR) Post #2339300 by chartier@mastodon.cloud
       2018-08-11T19:08:35Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @VioletPixel Sure, but real world communities interact with each other, and members frequently participate in multiple or uproot and move between them.
       
 (DIR) Post #2339301 by VioletPixel@mastodon.social
       2018-08-11T19:12:35Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @chartier True, but this place is even more connected than that.  You and I are effortlessly talking to each other even though we're using different instances; it's not like I had to go over to your building or even pick up the phone, you're just immediately accessible.  "Communities" implies barriers that don't exist here.Don't get me wrong; I agree that "instances" is a very technical and opaque term, and I'm all for finding a better name, I just don't think "communities" is quite right.
       
 (DIR) Post #2339302 by robotspacer@mastodon.social
       2018-08-11T19:45:55Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @VioletPixel @chartier I don't agree that there aren't barriers. If I follow a web link to a different instance it's not at all clear how to interact with anything on that instance. I also think we're well past the point where people think of separate communities as a significant barrier to communication—there are so many ways different communities flow together constantly, especially on other social media sites.
       
 (DIR) Post #2339303 by danvpeterson@mastodon.social
       2018-08-11T19:54:22Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @robotspacer @VioletPixel @chartier definitely dislike “instances”. I worry a bit about “communities” as well for similar reasons as Justin. So far the easiest way to explain to others has been comparing to email and they just call those “providers”.  Same as ISPs. I really don’t like that term either but maybe the easiest to grok?
       
 (DIR) Post #2339304 by robotspacer@mastodon.social
       2018-08-11T19:58:37Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       @danvpeterson @VioletPixel @chartier I think "servers" is a better word choice if you're trying to explain the service from a more technical standpoint. Web servers and email servers are familiar concepts; people get that they're run separately but communicate with each other. Sure you could have more than one instance running on a server, but if you're not a person running an instance then… who cares 🤷🏻‍♂️
       
 (DIR) Post #APLphimUbOzDy5j9Vo by tchambers@indieweb.social
       2022-11-07T05:53:20Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @chartier Completely agree. "Instance" is somewhat cold and analytic of a term, almost as bad as "Server." "Communities" would be far better.#Mastodev
       
 (DIR) Post #APLpp1oyD78J2xN1lY by realcaseyrollins@social.teci.world
       2022-11-07T05:54:54.195439Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       I just call them “social media websites” to folks IRL