@jwildeboer @mcc @chillicampari
But G+ DID have an archive! I downloaded mine, though i never unzipped it, and I'm not even sure i still have it, which is -- sad...

@anantagd @Natanox @Nalyd620
If you look at account growth vs. actual activity and active accounts, it's clear there's a large scale break. It would be best fixed in refining the software, but that's not happening soon. Social support is the obvious short-term fix, and evidence is, our culture here isn't good at it. That's what I'd like to change, at least to encourage enough people to be "ambassadors" here to make them easy to find.

@anantagd @Natanox @Nalyd620
I'm glad your experience was good, but it isn't for everyone. We're mostly an echo-chamber of people who got through here (and welcome to the newbies), but I have to dabble in the outside word, and I keep running into these awful takes on Mastondon from people who DIDN'T get over the hump....

@rwg
If you don't mind, what's the overall subject of your book?

@twoglances @Natanox
Not just you at all! It's not THAT hard, but it requires taking the right steps and having some patience, and by default, Mastodon pretty much just leaves new users flailing around at the dark. Either the software needs to go better, or the community needs to get better (or both), and that's what I've somehow found myself the advocate for this week. But this week I'm a man in need of a mission, and this will do!

@rwg
...and make it feel like wanted, or at least interesting, content. Instead, I look at a lot of writers' profiles, and it's the same badly done ads for the same product over and over ad nauseum, and nothing else to make themselves worth following or paying attention to. That doesn't help themselves or anybody else.
My rule is, your feed has to have a relatable voice (not necessarily your own, though maybe, and certainly not a carnival barker). Build a relationship.

Discussion thread on Facebook (I'm stuck there for family reasons) between writers about the difficulties and drawbacks of establishing on Mastodon. The previous post dismissed Mastodon as not working for them (especially for self promotion and networking) and justified staying on commercial platforms. My response in the screenshot (wish i just could just paste it here, but the character limits). Thoughts? Discussion?
#mastodon #mastodonhelp #socialmedia #facebook #twitter #bluesky #threads

@twoglances @Natanox
I miss a lot of the niche stuff on Twitter too. Things like that to some extent require numbers that Mastodon doesn't necessarily have yet. But it also requires somebody to get it started. If you have an interest or hobby you cant find, make a hashtag, make some posts announce it, and ask people to share. Good luck.

@HannaSiberia @allenstenhaus @Skyrocketocelot
That depends. Are you reading on the web, or a browser? If I browser, click on your profile picture and check the URL of the page that takes you too. Like mine is: https://mastodon.social/@jstevenyork
Where mastodon.social is my instance. If you're on an app, then the answer is probably "it depends." Let folks know which app and on what kind of operating system and device or computer, and hopefully somebody here can help you.

Mastodon is notoriously a difficult place for new users to establish themselves and learn their way around. Now, of all times, it is important for us to throw our doors open and welcome newcomers. Bashing them through transgressions of rules they don't yet understand isn't helpful. Friendly reminders to help them understand may be. And most of all help them find their People. Finding some folks have a very incorrect impression of #Mastodon.

I keep reading about how Mastodon is dying, or at least on the decline. But while it's had some growing pains, and has some inherent (though fixable) flaws that discourage many new users and drive some away, the COMMUNITY here just feels to me like it grows stronger every day!
I don't know if it's real, or if it's just my own experience, but things are feeling vibrant, alive, and interactive in a way that was pretty rare my first year or so here. So thank you all! #mastodon #fediverse