Mastodon makes a major move amid Musk's multiple messes
- Reference: 1695357128
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/09/22/mastodon_4_2_major_update/
- Source link:
Version 4.2 – [1]released Thursday , the first release Mastodon has deemed worthy of a [2]blogged announcement since March 2022's version 3.5 – is billed as a "massive update" by CEO and founder Eugen Rochko.
Anyone can run a Mastodon server, and operators can choose to network them to other Mastodon servers. Users can see whatever servers their Mastodon host chooses to expose. One way to understand Mastodon is to consider each instance as an email server that can talk to other email servers – all of them if an admin wants to, or a select set if that's preferred.
[3]
The result is what's come to be known as "the Fediverse" – a federated universe of content that feels a lot like using pre-Musk Twitter, but in fact touches multiple Mastodon instances run by different operators.
[4]
[5]
The big addition in this edition is a rebuilt search facility. That matters, because it's something users expect to just work. Mastodon 4.2 has therefore made it possible to search for users using by words in their bio and their names. "The most exciting news is that for the first time, you can now search for posts," Rochko wrote.
If the Fediverse sounds a little confusing, you're not alone – and Mastodon’s developers know it. Version 4.2 has reworked its sign-up flows to make sure newbies don't struggle in their first Mastodon moments.
[6]
"User tests have helped us to identify areas where people lose their way during sign-up, so we've added progress indicators to guide people through the multi-step sign-up process and rewrote copy and labels to be more intuitive," Rochko's post reads.
"Upon login, you are pointed to recommended first steps that include filling our your profile, following people, making your first post, and sharing your profile outside Mastodon," he continues, before pointing out that Mastodon's tests of these changes on its own servers delivered "an increase in the average number of profiles a new user follows from 2.6 to 6.8.
"This number is one of primary indicators of a successful onboarding, as the home feed is the center point of Mastodon."
[7]
It's also an important number in the context of Metcalfe's Law, which states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users. More users, making more connections, gives Mastodon and other social networks momentum.
[8]Zuck uses India visit to increase Meta's transactional traction
[9]With Mastodon, decentralization strikes back
[10]Social media is too much for most of us to handle
[11]Bombshell biography: Fearing nuclear war, Musk blocked Starlink to stymie Ukraine attack on Russia
Now is a fine time for a social network to be in position to gather momentum, because Elon Musk's oversight of X (formerly Twitter) has changed the nature of the microblogging service in ways that have many users considering alternatives. Musk this week [12]suggested making X pay to play, arguing it may be the only way to deter creation of bots on the service. Yes, the man who says he plans to colonize Mars can't find a way to stop obviously dodgy social media signups.
Musk's own use of the platform is also often contentious. Journalism advocacy group Poynter this week [13]detailed how Musk boosted misinformation, with one consequence being unwarranted harassment of a reporter.
In Australia – which is three weeks away from voting on constitutional reform that would recognize its indigenous people – electoral authorities have [14]struggled to have X take down misinformation about the issues the poll considers.
If Mastodon's upgrades make it more friendly, and grow user numbers, it may come to represent a better alternative to X and other social networks.
Yet Mastodon's federated nature complicates matters – each server operator needs to make the upgrade to the new release. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases
[2] https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2022/03/mastodon-3.5/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZQ1lxBN1mjUZQsmFBEdrLQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQ1lxBN1mjUZQsmFBEdrLQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZQ1lxBN1mjUZQsmFBEdrLQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQ1lxBN1mjUZQsmFBEdrLQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZQ1lxBN1mjUZQsmFBEdrLQAAAEI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/21/meta_verified_accounts_for_business/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/01/mastodon_activitypub/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/20/social_overload/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/07/musk_biography_excerpt/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/19/small_monthly_payment_x/
[13] https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2023/a-reporter-made-sure-a-retired-police-chiefs-death-didnt-go-uncovered-then-social-media-attacked-her/?fbclid=IwAR0Xkv4_1O1My_eIYivMJerbl32k5j3Klj9nOyVDgccmOTagU4nG8LdyxLY
[14] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/21/aec-twitter-x-struggles-posts-violence-disinformation-removal
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Shame about Mastodon
Lovely idea, but it's never gonna fly - too clunky as noted above. The X migration is heading to Bluesky. I note The Register has already built a nest there.
Re: Shame about Mastodon
Why would everyone go to Bluesky if their moderation is as much of a bin fire as Musk's Xitter is?
Re: Shame about Mastodon
Well, it isn't. The moderation is like how Twitter used to be before the Musk ego landed. So that makes it a fairly easy choice.
Re: Shame about Mastodon
I've thought about giving BlueSky a try - but it seems invites to join are a commodity (just check eBay!)
Re: Shame about Mastodon
Each to their own.
The loose and flexible nature of the fediverse means that surely some instances will come, fail and go. Others will expand and thrive, not to become the dominant, and only, king beast owned by some detestable billionaire of a dubious nature.
If the instance I am on becomes hosted or occupied by unpleasant people of malintent then I can go somewhere else and block them out, just like a town pub or meeting place that I no longer enjoy. This is the strength of the underlying design where migration is easy and optional which the commercial beasts put up road blocks and walled gardens to prevent.
As a side note I also _like_ the lack (by design) of encrypted DMs. I don't need this and would use something else if I wanted to send you my bank details, also I presume it discourages perverts and insurectionists using the system.
Re: Shame about Mastodon
Same principles coming from Bluesky though right? It's a protocol, or at least aiming to be, that enables all kinds of platforms to plug in and cohabit. Difference is, your mum can figure it out and she won't need us to troubleshoot if every week. Mastodon doesn't tick them boxes. For me, that's why Mastodon stays niche.
Re: Shame about Mastodon
The key point is "aiming to be". And to be honest, I would bet against that federated protocol being quietly forgotten as soon as their investors demand a return.
Re: Shame about Mastodon
And all the same dreadful people who basically turned Twitter into a trash fire - grifters, homophobes, racists - are now landing on Bluesky and turning it into Twitter Mk 2. Where it's easy to block an entire instance full of Nazis with Mastodon, Bluesky makes it a one by one process (and if you think they are ever going to do federation, I have a bridge to sell to you).
"making X pay to play"
Oh yes, please ! Brilliant idea, Your Muskiness !
Would you like a noose with that ?
Re: Brilliant idea, Your Muskiness !
The cult of Musk will lap it up just like they are going to lap up this cybertruck thing. If those bozo's think that it will be bullet proof straight from the factory then I have this bridge in the middle of the Saudi 'empty quarter' to sell you.
I can't wait for the first cult member to test this feature out. Duck Elon.... there will be a gazillion class actions on their way to you by drone.
None of my work colleagues would now be seen dead on Twatter... (It will never be X to the majority of users.) The content is so vile that our network people have listed it as NSFW and blocked it.
I guess that if you are a White Supremacist/KKK member, then it is the place for you but since Elon started cozying up to El Putin, it is not a safe place to be.
Federation does work
I've been on Masto for a while now. I've opted to register on three servers, a generic one, a Jewish one and a local one, but I didn't need to. The switch between them is seamless so I chose to do it that way. But I could just have kept to one and used the federated (I.e. most Twitter like) feed.
The only drawback is the lack of institutional presence. I can't go to, say, Virgin Media's feed if they've messed up and publicly shame them. But then that long since ceased to be useful in Twitter anyway, Once the companies worked out how to cover that in corporate BS..
"One way to understand Mastodon is to consider each instance as an email server that can talk to other email servers!
Like Usenet?
Nothing new under the sun.
I think it's fair to say that the past forty years have refined the concept a tad.
A home for the locals?
I feel like Mastodon would be a pretty good home for the small subset of Reg community members who don't snort huffily at the very concept of social media, being social at all, accessing the internet with anything newer than a dialup modem, and computers smaller than an IBM mainframe. The "complicated" nature of having to decide which server(s) to sign up to has resulted in a fairly tech-savvy community and if you search around there are plenty of funny and interesting people on there and interesting conversations.
In the post-twitter world it might be the social media I have most fun with.
Fedi fun
I’ve used Mastodon as a self-hosted fedi server for several years now and, while I wish the installation process was simpler, each update, including this one, has been smooth. Mine is a single-user instance, and it ran fine on a Raspberry Pi 4 for ages; now, it is on an Intel NUC and is coping better with the volume of traffic.
I used both the fediverse and Twitter for several years, but I stopped using Twitter a few months back - for both fun and work stuff, the fediverse works really well for me.