I wonder why people see selecting a server as a hurdle when that’s exactly what they’re asked to do when making an email address
Comment on Mastodon is testing easier ways to get you started in the fediverse
running_system@feddit.org 1 day ago
“Now when new users join Mastodon from the mobile app, they may see a button to “join” a recommended server rather than the default “join mastodon.social” button that’s currently displayed.” Wow. Didn’t know that mentioning a server adds complexity. The bar is very low nowadays with all things digital.
slampisko@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Scrollone@feddit.it 1 day ago
Problem is, younger people don’t even do that when they make an email address.
They just “create a Gmail”.
The internet has become such a sad place.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
not even that. when setting up their first smartphone, either them or their parents just accept to create a google account
running_system@feddit.org 1 day ago
A huge success for Google, I guess?
ICastFist@programming.dev 22 hours ago
People don’t know what choosing a server entails, because it does matter and a lot of people aren’t exactly helpful when they say “just pick any” or “it’s like email”
Server choice matters because:
- Server might federate with a limited number of other servers;
- Server might be blacklisted by some servers which you might want to interact with;
- Servers can be running different versions of software, so people might think about security;
- Servers can go offline
- Server choice can significantly impact how people perceive you. “Oh look, another tankie from ml”
So, server choice matters and people coming in from corporate shit don’t know how much they need to know to make an informed decision, thus giving up.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today 10 hours ago
Yeah, figuring out Instances with Lemmy took several days for me. Lemmy.world simply wasn’t fit for my purposes, and potentially could have made me tune out the entire Lemmy ecosystem. I was like “this is it?”.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
Boy I don’t need the childrape administration to declassify extraterrestrial UFO documents when I can talk to space aliens right here on Lemmy. That’s not how email works and if you were a placental mammal you’d know that.
You don’t go to email.org, click Join and arrive on a page that says “Thank you for your interest in Email: the open, federated, ethical, cage-free non-instant text messaging standard of the web! To continue, select one of these 44 providers based on a badly rendered logo and three almost identical bullet points. Don’t worry, the decision doesn’t matter…well it kinda does, for reasons that aren’t going to be explained to you up front, so pick one at random, get the lay of the land, then come back and join for real.”
No, the majority of people ended up with an email account while signing up for another service, such as gmail accounts for Android users or icloud accounts for iPhone users. You probably have an outlook account if you use Windows (or if you’re a certain age, a hotmail account). If you’re a dad, you have an email account from your ISP, or you got one from work or school. If you sought out something beyond that, like Protonmail or hosting on your own domain, you started looking for a provider with some shopping criteria in mind.
baod_rate@programming.dev 20 hours ago
you’re not wrong but you could’ve delivered that more nicely lmfao
OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
I initially looked up a few servers, then I chose one with decent size and no prohibitive policies. Less than 24 hours after creating the account I got banned without reason. I appealed. No answer.
I guessed I was just unlucky, so I found another decent looking server. After creating an account, it took around 2-3 hours and I was banned. I appealed. No answer.
I guess the username was a bit too random andmaybe looked like it was created by a bot. It had a lot of random letters, but it was my usual username. I would assume an appeal would sort it out. Or atleast lead me to an answer.
So my third attempt, I chose another server which looked fine and created a user with a simpler username. A few months later, the server shut down.
So now I’m on my 4th account.
It’s not like it was a huge hassle to create the accounts, but it’s also not like the system is without issues.
Liketearsinrain@lemmy.ml 10 hours ago
That’s odd (but believable), I think every server I ever used required a sign up to be manually approved so if you use one with open registration they may have stricter moderation for new users.
fierysparrow89@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It is simple: nowadays security awareness is drilled in for most of the online population. If presented by a choice people can’t oversee, the default safest option is not to chose. I mean, how many new Mastodon users know any of these servers?
So, as couter-intuitive or even ironic it may seem, the “problem” is choice. People need to learn that social media is no longer a single entity, but more like email or choosing a bank.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
The email analogy just goes so far, because of mental models.
Yeah, those of us who have opinions on sudo vs doas will get it. Email is a protocol standard that allows different servers to exchange compatible data. Most people don’t conceptualize it like that; they conceptualize it like the postal service. The USPS, Royal Mail and others are one entity that most end users just handwave away as “in the mail” and their only concern is where do I go to send and receive my mail? Your mailbox is at the post office on the corner of Road st. and Boulevard ave. Your email inbox is at gmail.com. Gmail, or hotmail, or whatever, is your local post office for putting things “in the mail.”
Nobody conceptualizes social media like that. Social media is a place you go to be among other people. Back in my day we called them “Sites.” Myspace and Facebook were “sites.” Places you went. Now they call them “apps” but they’re still conceptualized as where the people participating in this culture are. Get it through the average Tiktokker’s head that you get the Loops app, and then you have to pick a server to connect that app to. “Just get me to Loops.”
Some servers are full, some you have to apply for, some are perfectly open to join. They all connect to each other, except they can choose not to, and choosing not to connect to each other is why some servers exist in the first place. We’re going to present you with a list of instances to join, you’ll be presented with the instance’s logo, which half of them left blank so you get a boilerplate image, a blue checkmark on every single one which carries no meaning it just looks social media-y, and the top sentence and a half of a description which is either default text or a description of the platform as a whole because it wasn’t explained to the instance admins what this description field was for.
So, new user who probably still isn’t sure how this works, make a decision about something that feels kind of abstract that we’ve done a really bad job of explaining.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
I don’t think so. way too many people approve sensitive permissions and cookie tracking without a thought, and even more just go for a gmail account no matter what
kutt@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Well I was used to MMOs with different servers and I thought I’d have to create an account for each if I wanted to be with my friends. I didn’t know Mastodon was NOT a mere Twitter alternative, and I wasn’t familiar with the concept of the fediverse.
hanrahan@piefed.social 11 hours ago
The bar is very low nowadays with all things digital
Yes, Apple users be like this.
I don’t know how people ever figured out how to make a phone call to a friend on a different Telco /s :)
running_system@feddit.org 1 hour ago
The most stupid users I come across said are using Windows.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
People won’t read what’s in front of them and then complain when something doesn’t work.
I had someone tell me, people don’t read the things he writes.
That same person then proceeded to not read instructions I had written for something they needed to do and they did it wrong.
Edit: If it’s not a 10s tiktok clip it’s too much nowadays.