No to both, and while I don't have any problem with someone keeping an eye on their own count if it is somehow helpful for them, I think publishing counts publicly is misleading at best and harmful for the ecosystem at large.
I have my own single-user instance, and am not a public figure outside social media. It is going to be literally impossible for me to ever reach five-digit followers, and even mid-to-high three digits would be difficult (luckily that's not what drives me). Pretending like my follower count measures the same surface area as that of someone on dot-social is an abuse of the numbers. And because a lot of software tries to do so anyway, people use that misleading signal as if it actually meant something -- for example, some people once tried to shut me out of a conversation because I don't publish my counts.
The reason we're all on Fedi is because we don't want to be beholden to an algorithm deciding what posts to show us. Why should we hold on to a mentality which was designed to foster clout-chasing and engagement over meaningful interaction?
re: @altlazybear@mas.to
I have my own single-user instance, and am not a public figure outside social media. It is going to be literally impossible for me to ever reach five-digit followers, and even mid-to-high three digits would be difficult (luckily that's not what drives me). Pretending like my follower count measures the same surface area as that of someone on dot-social is an abuse of the numbers. And because a lot of software tries to do so anyway, people use that misleading signal as if it actually meant something -- for example, some people once tried to shut me out of a conversation because I don't publish my counts.
The reason we're all on Fedi is because we don't want to be beholden to an algorithm deciding what posts to show us. Why should we hold on to a mentality which was designed to foster clout-chasing and engagement over meaningful interaction?
re: @altlazybear@mas.to