I have been trying to think of ways of making the Fediverse more Friendly and Welcoming.
To people outside the Fediverse.
To people thinking of joining the Fediverse.
To people who recently joined the Fediverse.
And more.
...
What do YOU think could make the Fediverse more Friendly and Welcoming?
(Reply with your answers.)
#Fediverse #FriendlyFediverse #SpreadFediverse #WelcomingFediverse
@reiver Frankly: Shared, default active blocklists of people trying to tell new people how to "correctly behave". This includes but is not limited to "it's called Fediverse", "no alt text, no boost", "why are you even on mastodon.social" and all other "helpful" kind of people.
@reiver host a small instance for your community - whether that means your city, friends, family, interest group, whatever.
Prioritize community interests and act as a reliable onramp to the rest of the Fediverse.
@reiver More participatory culture. That's simultaneously a dilution of sorts, part of what makes Mastodon, Mastodon, is tons of people infodumping continuously about their special interests. But hashtag games, targeted polls, viral chains of meme and variation, and a more visual memetic culture (even though this comes with the cultural overhead of alt text here, which is something I support), would all help make it a more generally enjoyable place for the average person.
@reiver@mastodon.social Honestly it just takes more influencers to come over, people tend to adapt and learn when they WANT to.
Influencers will bring the crowds and breed the interest to learn the platform.
@reiver No technical mumbo jumbo during the onboarding. Keep tech people with no teaching skills away from the tutorials.
Disband the HOA (this one is a tough one).
@David @reiver Tutorials…is there someplace where all these are currently housed? Because I haven’t a clue where that is and I’ve been using Mastodon for about 2 years. But yes, it would be fabulous if there were videos someplace that walked us thru the early experiences of starting.
Also, yes, a lot less tech speak. Use $2 words instead of $10 words. I’m in my 70s and I did sort of figure it out, still learning, but it could have been easier.
@stefan Is he? Under the guise of objectivity, he often gives very skewed advice to push his view of the fediverse, which I don't find very honest (see how views of Threads being part of the Fediverse or the bridge to and from Bluesky)
@David Ah, I will admit I don't follow the project closely enough, I just see it come up a lot, and it seems to cover a wide breadth of topic in a beginner-friendly way.
Although, I will say, the bridge does have some utility, given that it also works with Blacksky and other non-Bluesky communities, as they progress towards independence from Bluesky.
@reiver Improved app-level onboarding and and discovery.
@reiver Encourage a hashtag like Caturday except it’s just positive, funny, and welcoming messages. Maybe #WelcomeWednesday or #Newsday Tuesdays. Also, are follow lists a thing? I agree, if streamlined portability exists, having a staging instance makes sense until users find their people.
@reiver The culture here can be pretty toxic. Too much gate-keeping, tone policing, scolding people instead of leading by example.
And without reply controls, no tools to protect yourself from this.
if we had 100% portability, we should have an intro server. only allow people on there for a couple months but we could give it extra moderation and hand holding. everybody would know to give these folks an extra level of consideration.
