@eris there definitely needs to be more accessible onboarding info that isn't just a wall of text. i'm really glad that @DemonMama made one on her YT channel, but there's still a lot of times where the UX is confusing and inconsistent enough that a new user is going to feel like they're going to make a mistake, just by trying to do something a simple as follow someone else.
@eris that's not an indefensible view, i dont entirely disagree, but, the interplay between a federated set of servers, browser caching, and the way activitypub works means that even people who can and do figure it out have to walk through a whole stage of "uhhh okay do i need to make an account on every instance" because they click on someones profile and it opens in a new tab without an immediate ability to follow and stuff like that. it means either trial and error or asking someone who knows.
and even the places which want to mimic the UX of twitter will run into (at least some of) these problems.
In the meantime tho I guess we just chill with the cool peeps here
@exiliaex @eris i mean shit once i created my account i had a friend go "oh no you picked the worst instance because lots of instances just block that one" and i'm like "...but it's the main one?"
yeah, mastodon needs a good streamlined onboarding experience, especially telling people "follow hashtags to get started," that right there is the number 1 piece of advice I give people.
@gayfesh @exiliaex @eris That's frequently misunderstood. Many instances don't *block* mastosoc, they *silence* it, i.e. your posts won't appear in the federated timeline (and your profile has a warning, see pic). But people will still see your posts if they're boosted or if they follow you. I used the account migration feature recently and it made me realize that you shouldn't worry at all what first instance you pick. Mastosoc is OK for starting, but at some point you might want to move 1/2
There are fedi platforms like Soapbox that are meant to fully emulate the UX of Twitter which is why sites that use it like Truth Social are so popular, but then these end up like a quarantine of those people who need it lol