It's unfortunatley really, really hard to get noticed whatsoever as an artist without social media these days if you don't have any industry connections.

When I switched to Substack it was just a Mailchimp alternative (I don't think Mailchimp moderates what they send out either). They were a service, not a platform. But since then Substack has added a lot of social elements. And now that I've been made aware of their stance, I'm planning my exit ASAP.

I and a few other people kinda chatted with him a while and the reality kinda seemed to click with him? He was very stuck on "it is a product and I am the customer" mindset that is very ingrained into so many people. He said filing a bug report felt "dehumanizing" and we tried to illustrate that it can actually feel empowering if you view yourself as a collaborator, not a customer. I think he's coming around.

At least I hope he is because (opinion on FOSS aside) he really is one of the all-time best creators on YouTube right now.

Exactly! I actually talked back and forth with him a bit and eventually said that "complaining about a missing FOSS feature is like complaining to the volunteer ladeler at a soup kitchen about the lack of a gluten-free option. It's just not the path to getting the change you want."

In the end he seemed to get what I was saying, but was still irritated. I've been really learning lately how hard it is for some people not to see themselves as customers in FOSS land.

Yeah, I think it's important to keep in mind that the Fediverse doesn't solve any of the problems that come up when a bunch of people talk about stuff they're passionate about. The problems Federation solves is the incentivizing and spotlighting of the sorts of toxic behavior we see on corporate social media.

The key word here is "large". From the article:

"[Fediverse] instances don’t generally have any unwanted guests because there’s zero incentive to grow beyond an ability to self-moderate. If an instance were to become known for hosting Nazis —either via malice or an incompetent owner— other more responsible instances would simply de-federate (cut themselves off) from the Nazi instance until they got their shit together. Problem solved, no 'trust and safety' required"

Absolutely. The essay does actually address that towards the end:

There’s no shame in turning to the internet for supplementing socialization when doing it “better” isn’t feasible. It’s easy to imagine situations where someone might not have access to a community that keeps them sane. A gay teenager stuck in rural Alabama. A woman born into a controlled religious society. A New York sports fan in Boston. Some days in life, the best we can hope for is making it until tomorrow in one piece.

You can just click "no thanks" to the subscription box, but I've copy-pasted the full guide (short version) here for you:

1. Download the Mastodon app from the Apple app store or Play store.

2. Create an account (just like Twitter or any other social media)

3. Follow people, and get posting.

It's a bit of a joke post because a lot of the coverage around Mastodon gets really into the weeds with Federation, ActivityPub, etc. and journalists often describe it as "too techie" for "normal" users.

Well, "normal" users don't care about the technical backend of Twitter or Facebook so it always felt a bit disingenuous to me it was presented this way. Hopefully my post can dispell some of the confusion!

Exactly. From the article:

As far as Reddit’s fate is concerned I predict that what will happen to it is the same thing that is happening to Twitter and has already happened to Facebook and frankly, actual shopping malls. The business side of things will churn along divorced from the content which will become ever more generic and culturally irrelevant. The users who stay on Reddit will be of the unadventurous variety, not inclined to make waves or analyze their habits.

Lemmy devs actually publish their goals/methods for "hot" and "active" sorting here. You may find it of value!

The important difference, imo, is that Fediverse users have final say over the sorting of their own feeds. Reddit/Twitter/etc prioritize engagement, not actual value added to the user.

The essay is not about suggesting a dichotomy. The article is about how corporations sort their content feeds based on maximizing profitability, and the subsequent consequences that result for the end user (humans) in the form of endless distractions.