This is not an attack on Eugen, I don't do those. Most of what @Gargron does is amazing, the Fedi owes him a great deal, and the fact he turned down large sums of VC money recently shows great integrity.
But eventually most people in that position will crack. Ever larger sums of money can make even the nicest people sell out.
If most of the Fediverse is on mastodon.social, it WILL receive more takeover bids. If it grows even further, these bids will become even higher.
(5/6)
So, what can be done?
1. Tell new people to use third party apps, they are better anyway and have more features. More info at https://fedi.tips/which-apps-can-i-use-should-i-use-the-official-app-or-a-third-party-app/
2. Tell people to sign up on the website. Mastodon's official site at https://joinmastodon.org is still asking people to choose a server, and is very professionally laid out. (I've also got my own amateurish effort at https://fedi.garden.)
3. If you're comfortable using github, give a thumbs up at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/1023
(6/6)
@feditips This is not that big of a deal.
Coming from 25+ years of using email, usenet, IRC-- all things where you have to "pick a server"-- that part of joining Mastodon didn't phase me.
BUT I really picked the wrong server for me the first time around, then went through two more before finding the one I really feel at home on.
Get people in the door. They can worry about picking a server after they get their feet wet.
And while they won't be able to port all their posts (because of AP), they will be able to move their accounts to new servers if/when Eugen finally sees enough zeroes on the check.
@feditips @Gargron I do think this could be easily mitigated by just using the nasty trick some websites do with the cookie consent notification and make the “Pick my own server” button the one that’s on top and more visible.
It still would leave the option for a simple solution for those who want it but makes picking a server the default and the first thing people see.
@feditips no no please do attack him, he's been twitterifying Mastodon for too long and people needs to oust him and stop treating upstream Mastodon as the holy bible of ActivityPub before he ruins it completely.
