Fediverse

But once we need our over whatever we’re overly focussed on, we’re back to being the only ones in the computer lab at 3am

We need to bring enough nerds together or bridge the airgap, translate the jargon, find our unifying furry identity

That does come with the unavoidable side effect that the majority of the people will simply not participate. It then follows that sites like Reddit will continue to be the place where the majority of the people will go.

If your goal is to participate in small communities and you are okay with the slow pace of those communities, then that's fine. If your goal is to move people away from corporate-sponsored media for whatever reason, then this won't work.

Hmmm. Actually maybe it can be leveraged.

There should perhaps be a default instance that it funnels everyone into but makes a "power user" option available from a drop down where they can CHOOSE an instance. Make it an opt-in thing instead of a mandatory hurdle.

If they don't like the way the default instance is managed (content moderation, defederation) they can think "oh wait, there's a solution for this! Well, now that I know what I'm getting into it's not intimidating anymore"

Mastodon needs this too.

...

Mastodon needs this ESPECIALLY.

Yeah, that was my first thought when I read this too. There were plenty of people for whom the internet in general, or later social media, was too complex for them to bother with. I think each generation of technology leaves behind a certain % of people who are past the point of being willing or able to learn how to use something new, and that isn't really a bad thing.

Yes, you have to have some notion of what "federated" means and how it works to make full use of federated sites. But it's just asking people to learn a little bit about a couple new terms, and spending a few minutes outside of their comfort zone while they orient to a new environment, just like when the internet itself or social media started. And I think we obviate the entire point of building something new by trying to make it completely familiar and friction-less for people. If that was the best way to build community, then the internet would just be the phone book and social media would just be the personals section of a newspaper.