[na85]

>The author seems under to be under the wrong impression that Mastodon servers are isolated communities (and therefore compares them to subreddits). This is incorrect. Mastodon is a platform where a server of your choosing hosts your account, like an e-mail provider hosting your inbox. From that account, you follow any other account on the network, regardless of which server hosts that account. Everyone you follow appears in your home feed, and everyone who follows you receives your posts in their home feed.

I've been aware of Mastodon pretty much since its inception and I had no idea that this was the case. The messaging really needs improved.

[glenstein]

>I've been aware of Mastodon pretty much since its inception

You must be part of an exceptionally small minority then. I, too, have known about Mastodon since it's inception, and this was not news to me. As another commenter said, a debate during that time was that users were beaten over the head with too much discussion of federation and instances.

This is always how it's worked, and it's nearly impossible to join any instance without following & interacting with people from other instances on a daily basis. It's like the one thing about Mastodon you can't escape knowing about even if you actively try.

[na85]

>This is always how it's worked, and it's nearly impossible to join any instance without following & interacting with people from other instances on a daily basis. It's like the one thing about Mastodon you can't escape knowing about even if you actively try.

I don't use Mastodon, so perhaps that's why. It always seemed like a Twitter clone except with fewer people and, importantly for this particular discussion, where you can't interact with anyone.

Guess I was mistaken, but that's why I never bothered to learn anything further about it.

[shadowfacts]

The sixth sentence on the project homepage: "Joining a server on Mastodon provides you with the power to communicate with any server across the globe."

Not sure how much clearer it gets.

[gargron]

To be fair, that sentence has only been there for a couple days. We redesigned our project homepage completely. Some of the copy is still in flux.

[kevinmgranger]

I remember early mastodon marketing being criticized for emphasizing federation _too much_, and that it would confuse new users.

[ekianjo]

> I've been aware of Mastodon pretty much since its inception and I had no idea that this was the case. The messaging really needs improved.

How can you not know, since it's clearly "decentralized" in every claim made about its service. That's the textbook definition of decentralized.