@taylorlorenz For me it's simple: people are nicer, people are smarter. IDK why, maybe 'cuz there's no algorithm amplifying the most outrageous hot takes, and no billionaire owners shoving their agenda down our throats. IMHO "free expression" means different things to different people. You can spout Nazi garbage on Mastodon if you want, but you probably won't get a wide audience. But if you have a reasonable comment to contribute to a conversation, there's a good chance you'll get heard here.

@taylorlorenz Free edit button 😊 https://bne.social/@phocks/113852656164872270

@taylorlorenz You can meaningfully have a say in content moderation policies.

Reporting bad actors usually leads to a more pro-social outcome.

I think there are many but that feels important.

@taylorlorenz Curious what finally won you over?

For me, it was an opportunity to reboot my relationship with social media in general, approaching it fresh, but having nearly 20 years of knowledge about all the ways it can go wrong.

I don't talk about decentralization. I just focus on my feed showing me only what I choose to follow, and enjoying the interesting people I've met here since 2022.

@taylorlorenz

Do you trust big tech controlled apps then let them divide into their respective camps

@taylorlorenz It comes down to what social behaviors are rewarded. On centralized platforms, we’re seeing algorithm changes that push people you’ve never met, products you don’t need, and news you can’t do anything about over the actual people in your lives, because that keeps eyes on screens, and on ads, and that makes revenue. In a decentralized environment, individual communities without profit incentive just focus on building welcoming spaces, the true goal of social media

@taylorlorenz No ads. I think that's a highly convincing argument for many people & it's directly tied to decentralization: The fediverse is basically social media before algorithms & thanks to decentralization, if anyone wanted to add any kind of algorithmic reach functionality, everyone else would be free to ignore it - and without an algo, there's no business case for advertising in the 'verse.

@taylorlorenz

Ok. An Instagram influencer was complaining about the awful comments she keeps getting and that make her want to stop. I told her it's partly because of the platform. Meta loves drama, it makes people to consume more time there. So they do not have reasons to stop bad behaviour.

On Mastodon people do not harrass others, at least on the Finnish bubble I'm in. If they would, they would be kicked out.

In Finnish school the kids that are being heavely bullied need to changed the school. Here it's the opposite. The bulliers need to find a new instance for themselves and that may be difficult.

@taylorlorenz

My decision to switch was based on the motivations of the people running it. Commercial social media is motivated by commercial priorities. The point of the fediverse is connection for connection's sake.

@taylorlorenz You formulate your own algorithm using hash tags. Nothing is suggested to you. There are no ads. Thus, on your feed, you see only what you want to see and connect only with the people and businesses you want to be connected with. Yet, you can still scroll and snoop around the entire space if you want to.

@taylorlorenz How would you? When your bluesky is 1000% more active

@taylorlorenz
(Part 1)
because believe it or not, groups of people need some isolation from each other. People are angry and want to kill each other because they were all put into the same social forum on facebook, twitter etc. There are simply incompatible world views that if forced to co-exist, people literally they want to kill each other. Also don’t forget what Facebook did in Burma (different topic).

@taylorlorenz It's like the public radio of social networks, user supported social network.

@taylorlorenz No ads
No algorithms
Just people talking to each other

@taylorlorenz as others have said, you control who you see posts from. You only see things that the accounts you follow post or boost.

And zero Nazi tolerance