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There's a recent video by @canadiancivil about why people should join Mastodon and the Fediverse.

It takes a VERY different approach to other vids you may have seen.

It's, um... very straight-talking with some strong language 😱 and written by someone who found Mastodon too confusing. This is possibly video's strength though, as it may reach people that others cannot.

Anyway, see what you think, and if you know someone who might find it useful share it with them:

➡️ urbanists.video/w/aaf9d24b-d53

@feditips @paigesaunders I ultimately dig that this is done in a way that’s more tonally diverse (this kind of video sure appeals to a different crowd than most I’ve seen), but I wish the advice wasn’t to just sign up for mastodon.social. I feel like if that continues to get bigger they’re going to have the same kind of moderation and content problems that traditional, non-fedi socials have.

@guitargabe @feditips @paigesaunders

"I don't know which server to sign up on" is the very first "WTF this is confusing" that potential Mastodoners face.

If you have better, less confusing advice, than "just use mastodon.social", please share it.

@jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders

Suggesting a server at signup is fine! 👍

The only danger is if it's always the same server being suggested, and if it's the largest server being suggested.

If they could rotate the suggested server occasionally, from a pool of reliable servers with good track records stretching back years, that would do a lot to protect the Fediverse without complicating things for new people.

FediTips has moved!

@jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders

The danger of everyone being on one server, is that it then becomes extremely easy for some rich nasty person to buy the server and take over the network.

If we're spread out on multiple servers, that's a lot harder for anyone to take over, and the network would stay in the hands of the community.

@feditips @jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders Sure. Though the danger of that is minimized by how easy it is to switch to a different server.

@arensb @jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders

You can at the moment, but if someone nasty took over a server, they could switch off that server's ability to migrate its accounts elsewhere.

@feditips @jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders Yes. Though I suspect it's not at easy as flicking a switch, and there'd be warning signs that people could use to jump ship while it's still easy.

@arensb @jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders

There's a little-used admin feature on Mastodon called "limited federation mode" which cuts off connections to other servers, wonder if that might be a potential switch?

But yeah, hopefully would be some kind of warning sign that makes people leave while still possible! 🤞

@feditips @jztusk @guitargabe @paigesaunders In the meantime, maybe the advice to give to new members should be "pick any server. It doesn't matter a whole lot. If you find you don't like it, you can always switch and keep your followers."