cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/6792877
TL;DR: The current Mastodon-signup is only removing the confusion of users on first glance, because it either hides the server-choice altogether, or leaves them with a choice that is impossible to make at this point of their Mastodon-journey. Instead, it should introduce them to decentrality on a lower scale, with a handful of handpicked servers to choose from, such that the decision makes sense to them and shows them the merits and fun of the concept instead of scaring them away. Ideal would be to give them a sense of agency. Then, chances are higher that they consider migrating again in the future and eventually internalize it as a permanent option of the digital world.
I would argue that maybe news is a reasonable analogy. By living in a certain community you will mostly consume local news. However that does not stop you from checking other towns’ newspapers. This is why I think the default client and web interface should have a federated tab so as to make it every obvious how easy it is to interact with other servers.
Using the word “server” is super confusing to me. My kid has a rack of servers in his room. Can I join one of those? No. They’re not Mastodon or Lemmy servers. But I’m not joining the specific piece of hardware in some storage locker owned by Lemmy or Mastodon, either. Everything on the Internet is on a server. So what’s different, here?
I think your analogy is a good one, well, a better one. If you’re reading a newspaper, I think people have a better, inherent, understanding that the news might be different from paper to paper. But that’s less the case on TV or the Internet. It’s just news, regardless of source – it’s so monopolized.
Lemmy and Mastodon are “just the internet” to most people. A lot of them don’t even distinguish social media as a separate category. They only see the presentation format of, say, Facebook or Twitter as different, and that’s less and less the case all the time, as companies compete for each other’s users. They don’t really see them as different services, just different brands.
Source: I’m the person who teaches them to reset their passwords, how to print their paystubs, and how to get on Facebook.
You could even have other more accurate analogies: for example, you can use the telephone analogy. You can be on Verizon and still call people that are on AT&T, joining different providers. Heck, mastodon is a more realistic digital townsquare. You can join and be in any town, but that does not stop you from going into other towns to hear what they are talking about over there
I feel heard. I’m not sure the recommendation is a good one, but at least someone is trying to solve my problem.
