Conversation

Notices

1. Gabe Kangas (gabek@social.gabekangas.com)'s status on Sunday, 23-Apr-2023 16:52:31 JST Gabe Kangas

   • Aral Balkan
   • Nour Agha :popos:
   @aral @Nour Here lies the problem. You think of one server being the “main server”. You have a hierarchy. When there’s a hierarchy it can (will) be abused. Don’t hand over control to anybody. Take it for yourself.
   • Nour Agha :popos: (nour@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 05-May-2023 14:37:45 JST Nour Agha :popos:

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Laurens Hof
     • user

     @gabek @laurenshof @aral I mean in the sense that if I signed up to a randomized instance, I'd tell people my handle is \@user@\this-random-url-I-got-assigned.tld which can cause confusion, compared to one that simply resembles 'Mastodon Social'. As the company and non-profit behind the platform, it will always have official stature associated with it. It gives a higher sense of authenticity because people gravitate towards and trust brands.

   • Gabe Kangas (gabek@social.gabekangas.com)'s status on Friday, 05-May-2023 14:37:46 JST Gabe Kangas

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Nour Agha :popos:
     • Laurens Hof
     @Nour @laurenshof @aral People only think mastodon.social is "official" because Mastodon says it is. The sign up form on almost all Fediverse instances looks exactly the same. But only one is highlighted by the people who write the biggest piece of Fediverse software, leading to conflict of interest and abuse of power. They're looking to grow Mastodon, the company, and their own instance.
   • Nour Agha :popos: (nour@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 05-May-2023 14:37:47 JST Nour Agha :popos:

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Laurens Hof

     @laurenshof @aral @gabek Agree with this. I think practically instance randomization can be a bit confusing or intimidating. It makes sense that when you download the official app, people see a familiar, 'official' looking mastodon.social recommended. The dispersion mainly happens when each app/client/website offers their own default server, and the server people land on would depend on how they joined or were introduced to the fediverse from.

   • Laurens Hof (laurenshof@calckey.social)'s status on Friday, 05-May-2023 14:37:50 JST Laurens Hof

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Nour Agha :popos:

     @gabek@social.gabekangas.com @aral@mastodon.ar.al @Nour@fosstodon.org I fully agree with that idea (otherwise I wouldnt be doing what Im doing obviously), but I think the difficult part is about how and when do you explain this to new people.
     
     Like, is the signup flow from an app really the best place to explain this? I think its hard to say that it is, but at the same time, lock-in and complacency will still mean that lots of people end up on m.s.
     
     Personally, I think the best solution would be to get even more competing easy signup flows. Think this problem will get less relevant when things like mozilla.social launches and people can easily end up on their server with a SSO firefox account.

   • Gabe Kangas (gabek@social.gabekangas.com)'s status on Friday, 05-May-2023 14:38:20 JST Gabe Kangas

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Nour Agha :popos:
     • Laurens Hof
     @Nour @laurenshof @aral If Microsoft Edge hid the address bar behind a button, auto-loaded store.microsoft.biz and called it the “official web site of the internet”, we’d all have problems with it. Having an “official node of the Fediverse” is the same thing. You are giving Mastodon so much control by being ok with this. There is no official on the Fediverse. We’re all equals.