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1. Embed this notice
   FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 06:33:40 JST FediTips has moved!

   The official Mastodon app is doing something new which is potentially very dangerous to the existence of Mastodon and the Fediverse.

   The official Mastodon app now prompts users to join mastodon.social by default, when previously it prompted them to pick a server. If you're new this may sound harmless, but let me explain.

   The entire point of this place is to be a social network spread out on as many servers as possible (the reasons are here: https://fedi.tips/why-is-the-fediverse-on-so-many-separate-servers/).

   (1/6)

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 06:34:05 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     There is technically still an option on the official app to "pick my own server", but it's much harder to read or notice, and new users will probably click the mastodon.social button without even thinking about the other button.

     Mastodon.social just passed 1 million registered users about a week ago, out of a total network of approx 7 to 11 million users (dependiing on how you count them).

     The official app is by far the most commonly used way to sign up on Mastodon and the Fediverse.

     (2/6)

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 06:34:27 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     For the first time ever, the most common way to sign up on the Fediverse is now directing people to sign up on one specific server, rather than making them choose.

     This will make mastodon.social grow even more quickly than it has before, and future waves of new people may end up mostly there. It's very plausible this one server could become the majority of the Fediverse in the near future.

     If that happens, the Fediverse would no longer be protected from buyouts by nasty people.

     (3/6)

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 06:34:32 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     Yes, signing up on one server is much easier for people who are used to centralised services like Twitter, Facebook etc.

     But as we have seen from Twitter, such a setup leaves you at the mercy of Musk-type takeovers. For-profit social networks do not like federation, they hate it as they see it as competition. It is very likely that a commercial takeover of a majority server would defederate it, to prevent people leaving and simplify its maintenance.

     (4/6)

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 06:35:10 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko

     This is not an attack on Eugen, I don't do those. Most of what @Gargron does is amazing, the Fedi owes him a great deal, and the fact he turned down large sums of VC money recently shows great integrity.

     But eventually most people in that position will crack. Ever larger sums of money can make even the nicest people sell out.

     If most of the Fediverse is on mastodon.social, it WILL receive more takeover bids. If it grows even further, these bids will become even higher.

     (5/6)

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 06:35:28 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     So, what can be done?

     1. Tell new people to use third party apps, they are better anyway and have more features. More info at https://fedi.tips/which-apps-can-i-use-should-i-use-the-official-app-or-a-third-party-app/

     2. Tell people to sign up on the website. Mastodon's official site at https://joinmastodon.org is still asking people to choose a server, and is very professionally laid out. (I've also got my own amateurish effort at https://fedi.garden.)

     3. If you're comfortable using github, give a thumbs up at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/1023

     (6/6)

   • Embed this notice
     Kevin Karhan :verified: (kkarhan@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 07:07:42 JST Kevin Karhan :verified:

     in reply to

     • Tusky
     • F-Droid
     • Mariotaku

     @feditips Personally I can recommend @Tusky as client for #Mastodon on #Android since it's also available on @fdroidorg.

     It really comes close to the ancient #TweetDeck #mobile app and @mariotaku's #Twidere...

   • Embed this notice
     expertmanofficial@mstdn.social's status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 07:08:28 JST expertmanofficial

     in reply to

     @feditips Just did what you said. That sucks.

     Commented on your GitHub issue:

     https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/1023#issuecomment-1517000800

     (why your account is named "FediVideos" instead of "FediTips" or "FediThing", like your personal account linked in your profile?)

   • Embed this notice
     June Blender (juneb@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 09:14:33 JST June Blender

     in reply to

     @feditips One great solution would be a rotating server suggestion based on a dynamic independent list of open servers. Users would get their easy choice, but they'd be distributed. Should be really easy to implement.

   • Embed this notice
     DemocracySpot (democracyspot@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 09:15:57 JST DemocracySpot

     in reply to

     • LAUREN

     @feditips

     @noondlyt insurance you'll see this.

   • Embed this notice
     stux⚡ (stux@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 09:27:38 JST stux⚡

     in reply to

     @feditips I also saw this indeed

     And only thing I wondered was..

     Why…

   • Embed this notice
     yoshimitsu@mstdn.social's status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 09:43:32 JST yoshimitsu

     in reply to

     @feditips This is a good thing!!! One of the biggest complaints of new users is how confusing it is to pick a server. There should be one, or a handful, of "official" servers that people can join and expect to receive the "standard" mastodon experience.
     Anyone who is against this is detrimental to the platform as a whole. They are the people who would be fired from their jobs due to incompetence, which is why their "input" only gains traction in free technologies.

   • Embed this notice
     yoshimitsu@mstdn.social's status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 15:34:42 JST yoshimitsu

     in reply to

     @feditips Never gonna forget getting banned from my first Mastodon instance, which was on the recommendations page, for calling out scammers begging for money.
     I'm just gonna say it: never donate to anyone on Mastodon.
     The overwhelming majority of beggars are just scammers trying to take advantage of people's good will. It's a shame because this ruins it for the 1% of honest cases, but that's what we get for living in a scam society.

   • Embed this notice
     Fabian (Bocchi) 🏳️‍🌈 (fabiscafe@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 19:10:43 JST Fabian (Bocchi) 🏳️‍🌈

     in reply to

     @feditips And expected change. That you where forced to choose a server was one of the biggest painpoints in the signup process. So I'm relatively happy that there is a default in place.

     However, yes this creates another drawback as you told here. Hmm

   • Embed this notice
     Mr. Bruno :verified: (mrbruno@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 20:12:48 JST Mr. Bruno :verified:

     in reply to

     @feditips To be fair, it's confusing and intimidating to new users. It's presumptuous to believe they just know what server to join.

   • Embed this notice
     lentrichard@mstdn.social's status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 23:03:27 JST lentrichard

     in reply to

     @feditips Agreed, this is a bad thing. Please don’t do it.

   • Embed this notice
     Tom Veneny :verialt: (tomasveneny@mstdn.social)'s status on Friday, 21-Apr-2023 23:12:56 JST Tom Veneny :verialt:

     in reply to

     @feditips No surprise at all.

     I was banned there (by german mod) because I made comment about global warming with link to wikipedia.

   • Embed this notice
     Marvin Nevarez (stoic@mstdn.social)'s status on Saturday, 22-Apr-2023 00:20:54 JST Marvin Nevarez

     in reply to

     @feditips or just randomly generated server presented as option.

   • Embed this notice
     J.M. Bond (jmbond01@mstdn.social)'s status on Sunday, 23-Apr-2023 17:02:55 JST J.M. Bond

     in reply to

     @feditips I'll be perfectly honest with you, I get what you're saying but as a new user I wish this was there for me. It was very confusing when I first signed up to the point I almost gave up on it. I picked Social because all the big names seemed to be here & I didn't understand how the system works with other servers.

     There needs to be more focus to explain the system & simplify the process or people are going to move past Mastodon. Just my two cents as a newbie, I could be wrong.

   • Embed this notice
     David Slifka (davidslifka@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 06:34:45 JST David Slifka

     in reply to

     • Dimitris Kardarakos
     • Spread Mastodon

     @dimitrisk @feditips @spreadmastodon Here's some background on our thinking behind that decision.

     https://medium.com/@davidslifka_86286/how-to-decentralize-social-media-6ae35a49ac46

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 06:34:45 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     • Dimitris Kardarakos
     • David Slifka
     • Spread Mastodon

     @davidslifka @dimitrisk @spreadmastodon

     I'm sorry, but with all due respect, that "Growing the bars" chart is incredibly misleading. I don't know whether you are doing this deliberately or accidentally, but it's a terrible approach.

     Presenting promotion of mastodon.social as equivalent to promoting Mastodon is just "fediwashing".

     Asking people to choose a server is a goal in itself. It makes them aware of the issues involved. Skipping that step is missing the point completely.

   • Embed this notice
     Dimitris Kardarakos (dimitrisk@floss.social)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 06:34:46 JST Dimitris Kardarakos

     in reply to

     • Spread Mastodon

     @feditips Unfortunately, the same pro-centralization approach has been adopted by the @spreadmastodon campaigners.

     https://floss.social/@dimitrisk/110247540562264634

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 06:35:49 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     • Dimitris Kardarakos
     • David Slifka
     • Spread Mastodon

     @davidslifka @dimitrisk @spreadmastodon

     It would be like an environmental group deciding that lifestyle changes are putting people off the environmental cause, so they drop the lifestyle changes and decide to just "greenwash" what they're doing already.

     You're using the same "let's get the supporters up, damn the cause" logic.

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 06:41:51 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     • Dimitris Kardarakos
     • David Slifka
     • Spread Mastodon

     @davidslifka @dimitrisk @spreadmastodon

     Yes some servers will let you down, but that's why it's important to use curated lists and not just choose something at random. (I've tried to start my own at https://fedi.garden and there's nothing to stop others doing the same.)

     Your suggestion is like saying we should all eat at McDonalds because it has the most consistent standards, and independent restaurants might give you food poisoning.

   • Embed this notice
     FediTips has moved! (feditips@mstdn.social)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 06:48:05 JST FediTips has moved!

     in reply to

     • Dimitris Kardarakos
     • David Slifka
     • Spread Mastodon

     @davidslifka @dimitrisk @spreadmastodon

     Also "If we reach a point where undue centralization became an issue, or seemed even foreseeable to become an issue,"

     Undue centralisation is very foreseeable now.

     Mastodon.social currently has about 14% of the Fediverse both by raw numbers and MAU.

     If there is another wave on a similar scale to last November, that could push mastodon.social over 50%.

     Why?

     Because this time round the official app is telling everyone to just sign up on m.s