Post APABfCLp9vNCCR7LLU by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
(DIR) More posts by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
(DIR) Post #APAAieDptK6JYTShvM by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
2022-11-01T14:34:56Z
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There's a very tl;dr post on the theme of "mastodon.social is bad" and "people join it because it's the biggest" but that misses the fact that being on a small instance that often doesn't federate with many others limits your options for conversation and will make your federated tab (which is the primary discovery mechanism really) look like either a ghost town or repetitive
(DIR) Post #APAAiendkCjzLWDIjQ by bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr
2022-11-01T14:52:21Z
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@bloonface Are there statistics showing that small instances are more often blocked? I'm on a small instance and apparently, there are less federation problems than with mastodon.social.(And I hate the global tab, so I don't miss it.)
(DIR) Post #APAAizv9DUDwqst5qi by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
2022-11-01T14:36:34Z
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.social is perfectly fine as an entity and Eugen could be far more of a dick with it than he actually is (he isn't at all IMO and the constant sneering at him gets very old very quickly). If people don't aspire to the same "everyone sits on a small instance" goal as you then perhaps that speaks to a fundamental difference in values between you and what other people want, and/or an inability to articulate coherently why that's good to someone who likes broad based social networking
(DIR) Post #APAAj79wItDPImrVNQ by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
2022-11-01T14:39:18Z
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Like honestly leave .social users alone, the constant sneering and sniping is getting really tiring. Sorry that we all didn't have the foresight to join Mastodon back when it was like three furries and four SuSE employees each sitting on different instances, everyone has to start somewhere
(DIR) Post #APABXL1R2IhGmApgS8 by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
2022-11-01T14:55:47Z
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@bortzmeyer It's not so much that smaller instances are often blocked (most blocks are going to be against e.g. Nazis/TERFs/Gab type places), it's that if someone on your instance doesn't follow an account on another instance, that other instance simply doesn't exist as far as your instance is concerned. .social's huge number of users = more follows = more instances followed = more obvious activity for new users
(DIR) Post #APABXLZSzlv2TikrUu by bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr
2022-11-01T15:01:33Z
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@bloonface "that other instance simply doesn't exist as far as your instance is concerned" I don't understand. I can certainly follow someone on an instance which is not yet federated with mine.
(DIR) Post #APABXMZVH7Xha7mPC4 by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
2022-11-01T15:00:24Z
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@bortzmeyer Like, you can dislike the global tab, but being on a big instance and looking on it is the best possible way of discovering new people outside of potentially a very small bubble. The only reason I can use my own instance at all is because I started off on .social and was able to use its federated tab to find people to follow; otherwise I'd just be sitting here talking to myself.
(DIR) Post #APABfCLp9vNCCR7LLU by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
2022-11-01T15:02:53Z
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@bortzmeyer You certainly can, but you wouldn't be able to organically discover that person (as opposed to being told about them) unless someone on your instance already followed them and/or boosted one of their posts.The issue isn't "small instance users can't follow people on other instances", the issue is "small instance users might not know that people they might want to follow *even exist*, and vice versa"
(DIR) Post #APABnv1ewXhD4YqNWa by bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr
2022-11-01T15:04:36Z
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@bloonface Well, I discover other users by re-toots, word-of-mouth, mentions, email and blogs, certainly not by reading the global timeline, which is way too talktative and confusing, even on my small instance.
(DIR) Post #APAByp8nAD4K0RNcUi by bloonface@mastodon.bloonface.com
2022-11-01T15:06:30Z
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@bortzmeyer With respect, you're an established user so you aren't the subject of discussion here. The problem doesn't arise for people who already use Mastodon, the problem is for people who have just joined. Re-toots and mentions don't really help much if you already don't follow very many people, and frankly Mastodon is small enough that someone just joining is unusual enough, let alone reading about it on blogs or even being told about it word-of-mouth