@feditips There is an obvious solution that strikes me that would keep the clear "Give Only One Big Featured Choice to Users" - that I agree with, *AND* that distributes users away from one centralized server alone. Which I also empathize wiith.

That would be to round-robin which server gets that central place every X days. And set the standard for quality of service, clear branding, etc, to get that spot.

@feditips

Does it propose the same server no matter what language you have your phone in, @Gargron?

@feditips I stopped trying to join mastodon 3 times because there weren't any easy defaults

@feditips You're right that it's a risk of centralization, but OTOH it's hard to expect users to make a decision about their server before even knowing what that is and what are the implications.

Maybe the app could suggest one of 3-5 top servers at random?

@feditips That's very strange, he said recently in the interview with The Verge that he doesnt want to be in that situation "where a single node is much, much bigger than the other ones" explaining the nature of decentralized social network and the process of sing up..Some changes like the possibility to even register in mastodon.social are for a brief period of time, lets hope this is the case. Maybe a strategy to accelerate the growth in front of the new options to the birdsite.

@feditips

I follow mastodon.social / public / local in a browser tab, along with several other instances

I have not seen a higher quantity of very XXX homo- and hetero-erotic spam on any other server, all with out CW warnings

I muted and blocked, but that only does something if somehow those posters show up in my Home feed -- which I doubt they ever will

I've reported every one and the issue seems to have improved, but only somewhat

Someone's not enforcing their own stated Server Covenants

@feditips Had I not heard @Gargron talk about this with Nilay Patel, I'd go straight to agreeing. I agree with his belief this'll ease people getting in the door, after which they'll be inclined to transfer elsewhere.

@feditips

@noondlyt insurance you'll see this.

@feditips When the oligarchs decide it's time to destroy the "fediverse" they might try to do it through the apps.

@feditips I also saw this indeed

And only thing I wondered was..

Why…

@feditips I would also tell them to sign up on the desktop it still easier to pick your own server there

@feditips i think that this move could be a good way for people to join the app/ site off rip. We, as a larger community, should encourage users to make more accounts on different servers.

Overall, the more people that join the app would be best for everyone involved

I definitely see the concerns though. And I also agree that this move kind of goes against the idea of mastodon, but the platform still gotta grow somehow

@feditips nononononono @Gargron why???
I understand that this makes it easier for people to join for people who don't know what the fediverse is and how it works, but come on. Why mastodon.social?
Why not show a random server that complies with some rules like the ones you have on joinmastodon.org?
Or why not make a contest, or a voting or something else?
mastodon.social already is big and this will just harm the fediverse in the long term

@feditips Bad take, making signing up easier will only make mastodon grow.

@feditips
New people should have the option of being randomly assigned from a curated list by default, determined by locale (eg Canadians get send to social.coop or mstdn.ca). Promote mastodon.social as a secondary option from their app, sure.

@feditips This is a good thing!!! One of the biggest complaints of new users is how confusing it is to pick a server. There should be one, or a handful, of "official" servers that people can join and expect to receive the "standard" mastodon experience.
Anyone who is against this is detrimental to the platform as a whole. They are the people who would be fired from their jobs due to incompetence, which is why their "input" only gains traction in free technologies.

@feditips

I understand the concern, but so long as the option for instances to exist within Mastodon it shouldn't be a problem. I hope this is just a way to make things easier for tech illiterate people. Once Mastodon makes it harder for new Instances to exist with it THEN the alarms should go off.

@feditips secondary issue: I think “pick my own server” is really poor wording because it sounds like you need your own server that you host.

“Pick another server” would be better

@feditips I understand the plight, but everyone I know tries Mastadon, sees they need to choose a server and give up. It’s lacks clarity and it’s a step that doesn’t provide clarity as to why it exists. It’s where I paused and searched to figure out what I should choose, only to timidly choose the most common option as I don’t know any better. Perhaps improving ways to migrate servers would ease issues later on.

@feditips

I guess I wonder why small-instance admins aren't seeking out and inviting people they think would be good fits for their instance's culture. From among the already-signed-up I mean.