Hey there! Figured I'd share here since my main instance, Lemmy.ml, seems to be really broken right now. I published an article today focusing on some of the myths and misconceptions Mastodon users have spread over the last few years, with some critical analysis and debunking.

Let me know if you like it!

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[–] biddy@feddit.nl 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Because it matters to the end user that all the instances are cross compatible, that's the federated part. When I first heard of Lemmy and Mastadon as "self hosted social media", I assumed that all the instances were isolated, and dismissed it as pointless. Once I learned what federation was, possibly through the email analogy, I was instantly onboard.

We're not at a stage where you can make full use of these platforms without having a basic understanding of how they work. A disinterested idiot is going to go " WTF is an instance, why is [whatever instance they landed on] so empty" and give up. The email analogy is useful for the interested skeptic and they're the people that are most likely to stick around.

In this thread the email analogy has been criticized for being not technically accurate enough and too technically accurate. That suggests it's about right.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 1 points 11 months ago

Wrong again IMO, I said spin up your own stuff right? Like spin up a twitter. Or a Reddit.

I didn't say spin up your local twitter only you can use and only you. I mean who would think that would be a good idea? Nobody, right?

Maybe you are too tech savvy and reads between the lines so you're the person figuring out all these things we'll need to fix in the future, and that's super cool, but for grandma, I persist and signs, spin up your own FB is most probably meaning just have the power of it for her.

Anyway, It seems it's quite complicated to explain easily, we all have so different ways to see what it is.

Cheers