I don't want to think about what server I'm on. I want the whole thing to just work. The fact that there is only one Twitter and only one Facebook are actually advantages in the marketplace for those services.
This is what freedom looks like, vs going to a defacto centralized megacorp and having them tell you where to live so that they can most efficiently manipulate and spy on you for profit.
Everyone has become far too accustomed with exploitative corpos telling them what to do on the internet. Choices are harder, but healthier.
Just make a choice, and you can make a different one later.
This, to me, is the central problem in the Fediverse.
You use the built-in[0] migration feature. Create an account on your new instance, point it at your old one. Then point your old account to your new one.
[0] Built in to Mastodon, anyway. YMMV with other Fediverse software.
Yes, of course. That involves a mortgage, location, the logistics of moving...
Yes! Doesn’t everyone to some degree? That’s a huge decision that takes me days to decide.
Just make a choice, and you can make a different one later.
If we’re going with a housing analogy, this is pretty terrible advice. But I don’t think the housing analogy really applies. Where someone lives says (in my mind) a lot less about them - but is also a much more important personal decision.
You’ve implied a few times in this thread that complaints about Mastodon are because people are somehow accustomed to being told what to do by corporations. That is quite hyperbolic, and I also don’t really think it’s true.
I don’t see how caring about what a public choice appears to say about me has anything to do with that.
That is indeed something I've applied to buying an apartment in the past. I bought an apartment and ended up not liking it too much, so I sold it and bought a different one a few years later. Now I'm thinking about selling it again and buying something in a different part of the world. I don't see why making a choice and making a different one later is bad advice here.
Of course, there are choices that are difficult to reverse. Then some hesitation makes sense in my opinion.
Mastodon could probably use a directory service independent of the network service.
It is a bit like snail mail forwarding address.
I agree a directory server is probably a good call. It proved to be useful in Matrix.
When I was ready to buy a home, I looked at one, made an offer, and bought it.
Life is a lot easier when you know your practical success criteria and are decisive when something meets it.
I truly think most people today are too accustomed to letting algorithms live their lives for them.
Opine:
The "tell me what to think" motivation is frustrating from multiple perspectives:
- overt bias of the Tellers is rife with unethical potential
- low engagement of the Users is a part of communication, it's reality and why the style of Exciting Content (insert emojis) has become popular in modern communication vs the 'respectably formatted and spell-checked' of yesteryear
Maybe I’m the exception but for me almost without exception the answer is that I want to run my own instance.
What’s the point of leaving a centralized system for a decentralized one if you still let someone else own your data?
Think of it like your phone number, it's a service and you need a provider. Choose one by location https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/mastodon-near-me_828094 makes no difference, they all talk to each other and you can move servers at any time
And it's curated for servers that are open for registration so hopefully no dead ends
This is especially true now that there is an official system to change/move servers.