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   Pieter Wuille (pwuille@x0f.org)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 21:50:33 JST Pieter Wuille

   So... this seems like a good time to start experimenting with Mastodon.

   I'm very skeptical about the chances of getting enough network effect to bootstrap a new social media site in general, and even more for distributed/decentralized/non-commercial ones.

   Still, recent events on Twitter make me believe there is a chance, and I'd like to help make that happen.

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     pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 21:57:54 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to

     • fedilist
     @pwuille
     
     > getting enough network effect to bootstrap a new social media site
     
     The best part is that you don't have to care about that. There are people here, you can talk to them. It doesn't cost anything but juice to run the machines, so it's less tenuous than a commercial endeavor where it doesn't just have to break even but it has to capture enough of the market that the investors think it's worth their time.
     
     > recent events on Twitter
     
     "Recent" as in the last decade of events at Twitter, I think, but your mileage may have varied. We really should send Elon a thank-you note for sending so many people this way; there were so many new servers springing up that @fedilist started flooding the timeline.
     twitter_sux.png
   • Embed this notice
     Machismo (zerglingman@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 22:06:05 JST Machismo

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     • fedilist
     @p @fedilist @pwuille >The best part is that you don't have to care about that. There are people here, you can talk to them.
     This continues to be a wildly incomprehensible premise to most of the people I meet here.
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     pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 22:09:31 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to

     • Machismo
     • fedilist
     @Zerglingman @fedilist @pwuille It takes like a year for people to figure this out, like even with tech people the mental model is "achieve viral" and "engagement numbers" and "if this platform does not show progress in the KPIs and start lowering their user acquisition cost then it won't survive".
     
     Also Merry Christmas.
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     Machismo (zerglingman@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 22:11:54 JST Machismo

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     • fedilist
     @p @pwuille @fedilist Merry Christmas! Christ is Lord!
     
     I literally just want the people I used to chat with elsewhere to join, so I can chat with them again. ;_;
     They can bring their friends too if they want.
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     pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 22:14:16 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to

     • Machismo
     • fedilist
     @Zerglingman @fedilist @pwuille
     
     > I literally just want the people I used to chat with elsewhere to join, so I can chat with them again. ;_;
     
     Yeah, signing up is a hump at the moment, people seem to expect a bigger process than "just type in a name". (Anyway, you know my plan for that.)
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     Machismo (zerglingman@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 22:23:32 JST Machismo

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     • fedilist
     @p @pwuille @fedilist I like your plan for that but I honestly don't think it's going to help reach anyone who isn't already somewhere on this side of the internet. I can't get them to do something as simple as "plug in a username and password and tick create account" even with an offer of "you can use a client that supports this AND all your other stuff that is currently separated". They give all manner of excuses and then some; their problem is simply laziness, and a fundamental misunderstanding of network effect. Revolver can basically alleviate one thing they complain about, and that was never their issue to begin with.
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     pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 25-Dec-2023 22:27:20 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to

     • Machismo
     • fedilist
     @Zerglingman @fedilist @pwuille Reasonable. I think there's no solution for people that expect to have to invest more to even get started: there's a lot of stuff where the barrier to entry is way lower than the perceived barrier to entry and it's difficult to communicate that.
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     Machismo (zerglingman@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Dec-2023 08:07:54 JST Machismo

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     • fedilist
     @p @pwuille @fedilist I've definitely met some cases like that, but that's more... They refuse to listen to you. To believe you. And yeah, that's a hopeless case. Maybe they'll listen to someone else and you'll see them again. Many such cases wrt Christianity.
     So it's not necessarily that they are overestimating the barrier but that they refuse to adjust that estimate that's the key.
     
     Thing is, I find that sort are already rare enough; most of them will happily adjust their estimate to something reasonably accurate and then still complain that it's too much because it's still higher than megacorp offering 9001 (even when it isn't). In this case it's an excuse for apathy. They just don't care that they're living in a fundamentally fucked world, as a slave.
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     pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Dec-2023 08:11:00 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to

     • Machismo
     • fedilist
     @Zerglingman @fedilist @pwuille
     
     > an excuse for apathy.
     
     Decisions, apparently without regard to the importance of the decision, consume a fixed amount of blood glucose in the brain. People avoid expending energy when the benefit of the task is unclear, and there's a Catch-22 when the task is "recognize the benefit of the task".
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     laurel (laurel@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Dec-2023 08:20:07 JST laurel

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     • Machismo
     • fedilist
     @p @Zerglingman @fedilist @pwuille
     
     Merry Christmas friends.
     
     >perceived barrier to entry
     But is it really about perceived barrier to entry? People want some things and they gravitate towards the platform that provides those things to them. The vast majority of people this side of the fedi would place quality of conversation and ownership of your identity to the top of their list.
     The people that prefer to use shitter might want to:
     -ride the dopamine train all day
     -be allowed to pile up on others without others being able to pile up on them
     -have algorithimic feeds to maximize the above
     -just watch the digital equivalent of TV. I mean TVrace didn't go extinct, it's just 20 centimeters away from the screen rather than 3 meters.
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     pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist: (p@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Dec-2023 08:22:03 JST pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:

     in reply to

     • Machismo
     • fedilist
     • laurel
     @laurel @Zerglingman @fedilist @pwuille
     
     > Merry Christmas friends.
     
     Heyoooooo, merry Christmas.
     
     > The people that prefer to use shitter might want to:
     
     This was a depressing and accurate list.
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     Machismo (zerglingman@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Dec-2023 08:22:21 JST Machismo

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     • fedilist
     • laurel
     @laurel @pwuille @fedilist @p >People want some things and they gravitate towards the platform that provides those things to them.
     It is morally abhorrent to put anything in the line of "having the most people on it" at the top of this list. It is morally abhorrent to put it anywhere on that list. Sure some people might like their e-gladiatorium or whatever other things that people use communication tools for, but that one thing makes them no better than a beast, fundamentally unfit for society, because it, necessarily, is the one thing that stagnates and refuses any sort of improvement.
     blob
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     laurel (laurel@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Dec-2023 08:22:47 JST laurel

     in reply to

     • pistolero :thispersondoesnotexist:
     • Machismo
     • fedilist
     @Zerglingman @fedilist @p @pwuille
     
     >It is morally abhorrent to put anything in the line of "having the most people on it"
     It is very vulgar and cattle like indeed.
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