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       n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦 (n8@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Apr-2026 01:53:18 JST     n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦

   RE: https://social.coop/@scottjenson/116352522288234148

   Huh; I didn't realize it was possible to *not know* that Mastodon is and has always been an echo chamber.

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         n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦 (n8@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Apr-2026 01:53:17 JST     n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     For context: to me, the value of participating in Mastodon as a social network is that there are a lot of people here who discuss (intelligently and with a sense of humor) subjects that I'm interested in , like FOSS and type design.

     But that's also true of many other online services, like web-based discussion forums, which are also very bubble-ish. I use those, too.

     But the notion that Mastodon itself was not going to operate in that same manner, frankly, fully evaporated super quickly.

     Evan Prodromou repeated this.
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         n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦 (n8@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Apr-2026 01:53:17 JST     n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     That having been said, the underlying goal of things like ActivityPub are still genuinely interesting and incredibly worthwhile, specifically because they are a lot more powerful than Mastodon itself is. If AP was just the Mastodon source code, that would be meh.

     So, more power to the smart people like Evan who see a lot more ambitious things out there — and do the work to bring them within reach.

     But Mastodon itself is a group of people, and it is what it is. It's not some other group.

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         n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦 (n8@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Apr-2026 01:53:18 JST     n8   Doesn't follow you 🇺🇦

     in reply to

     Personally, I might use the term "bubble" rather than "echo chamber," because so much of Mastodon's design focuses on giving server administrators tools to block things they don't want to see, and "bubble" emphasizes the barrier-forming aspect.

     "Echo chamber" IMO put more emphasis on the "other people will tell me I'm correct and we'll all convince ourselves there are no significant divergent viewpoints" and I don't really think that's true. It's certainly not dominant.

     Hashtag nuance.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Apr-2026 01:54:27 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     @n8 That's very nice to say! Thank you.