Can Mastodon’s culture adapt to welcome the Twitter masses?
This article was adapted from the MidRange newsletter, which published tips on the Mastodon social media network in a pop-up newsletter format called How to Mastodon.
There are a lot of things I could tell you about Mastodon, the social network that has seen an uptake by millions of people in the three or so weeks since Elon Musk officially bought Twitter. The technical differences are significant, and so too is the mindset about things like search.
As someone who has been keeping an eye on Mastodon basically since the beginning, I’ve been aiming to give people a way to get the most out of this discussion—so that they feel like they are well-equipped to enter this strange new world. In many ways, I think understanding its culture is the way to go.
The technical parts are the technical parts, but the culture of Mastodon is the element that requires some adjustment. With that in mind, I’d like to highlight one of the most common refrains about the elephant site: that it’s in the midst of an Eternal September.
I don’t agree, but there are some elements that are worth discussing, so let’s get to it.
The case that Mastodon isn’t really facing an Eternal September but something entirely different
For those not familiar, “Eternal September” refers to the days of Usenet (what we now know as the internet), which was primarily accessed through universities. After years of new students stinking up the place in the fall, at the beginning of each school year, the order of the ecosystem was forever broken when AOL connected its member base to Usenet.
It makes sense that this conversation is coming up now. After all, when a flood of new people come in, it can threaten to change the makeup of a given community no matter what steps that community might take to protect its norms. (Additionally, Mastodon is structured very similarly to Usenet, which at its core is a list of discussion groups, often without moderation.)
I have researched and thought about the topic of the Eternal September a lot in the past. I’m honestly of the opinion that there was only one of those, and the exact circumstances were unique to its moment, and that ultimately those reverberations were felt across the entire internet, even decades later.
In effect, Eternal September was a form of gatekeeping. It discouraged new users from getting too close or from learning too much about the more technical aspects of the internet. It created a dynamic in which people unfamiliar with a topic were uncomfortable asking questions; that dynamic persists on technology forums to this day.
There are a few key differences, however, with Mastodon/the broader fediverse. In 1993, Usenet had no way to batten down the hatches, because most of the groups were unmoderated. But in the case of Mastodon, there are much more powerful controls at play that create a significantly different experience. If you want to block a user’s entire domain, it is possible to do so in Mastodon from the notifications menu. You could, technically speaking, shut off your instance from the entire world, re-creating an effect not dissimilar to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. (Sorry, I just spoiled that movie, but it’s been out for 18 years, so hopefully it didn’t hurt too much.)
The differentiator here, I believe, is that the new users coming to Mastodon are by and large coming here by choice, and the various communities, for the most part (as the fediverse is not a singular hive mind), aren’t necessarily opposed to the addition of new users. After all, Mastodon was specifically built to be an alternative version of Twitter, which means that in some sense, getting people to come from Twitter to an alternate platform was the goal.
Kye Fox, one of the users I’ve gotten to know in recent weeks, came up with a new phrase to describe this state of affairs at Mastodon: It’s an “Infernal September.” Generally, the old-timers aren’t opposed to having you on the site—as long as you maintain room for them. But because of the complex nature of norms, it’s very much a trial by fire, so don’t be surprised if something is lost in the process.
Recently, I caught a user with a large profile transitioning over from Twitter essentially saying that, because primary developer Eugen Rochko made the case that content warnings weren’t used consistently across platforms, he would not use them. But on top of that, he said he would ignore any complaints about them. Given that he blogs almost exclusively about politics and has more than 100,000 followers on the bird site, this means end users are stuck having to adjust to his feed, rather than the other way around. I lightly chided the guy to have some compassion for the existing user base, and he blocked me.
That to me is the real risk right now—that people who don’t care about the norms of a new community will just barge in and expect us to bend to them. That’s different from an Eternal September. That’s a trial by fire.
The real risk is whether or not anything might be left in the end. Tim Bray, the former AWS executive who left in protest of the parent company’s stance on whistleblowers, has pointed out that there may be real challenges to keeping that culture alive:
“I respect unique online cultures. But there’s maybe a problem. If Twitter does implode, Mastodon could very quickly gain a whole bunch of new users, to the extent that long-term Mastodonians are like only 1% of the population, and the newer 99% has no appreciation of nor interest in ‘Mastodon culture.’ The system is flexible enough that maybe there’s scope for an ‘og-mastodon’ instance that would work in a more traditional way?”
Some people have compared Mastodon to a Twitter with homeowners associations, citing the most extreme examples. (Of course an academic community is going to have high moderation standards!)
But it’s worth pointing out that there are many neighborhoods, and you are given a choice as to which one makes the most sense for your needs or interests.
I guess what I’d say here is that making a new community work is a two-way street. Don’t be afraid to put in a little work.
Tips and Tricks
Don’t share your credit card number; be aware of direct-messaging differences
Of the many things that you might run into on Mastodon that is distinctly different from Twitter is the private messaging function. It exists, but it is not the same as Twitter’s function, in part because it is not quite as secure, and its differences can create some potential awkwardness.
For one thing, adding someone to a DM group is as easy as simply mentioning them. But that means that if you’re having a conversation about a third person, if you mention them you’ll suddenly find your criticism exposed to them, which means that your backchannel is in threat of getting awkward.
Also, DMs take place in the same pool as every other conversation, making it a little hazy where the public conversation ends and where the DM begins.
There’s the additional concern of your admin having the ability to read your DMs, which, let’s face it, is probably also true of Twitter. Be mindful of how you use DMs on non-encrypted platforms.
Dell Cameron, a Gizmodo editor who has been doing some great work around these parts, has a great guide for determining when to use a direct message on Mastodon.
As with Twitter, there is no end-to-end encryption, so if you’re talking serious business, take it to Signal or a burner phone.
Links and Stuff
» Get a handle on your second factor. If security is an issue, it’s worth noting that Mastodon has robust second-factor authentication capabilities that don’t rely on the less-secure SMS. Sam Schlinkert, a longtime Mastodon user, has a great guide on setting it up.
» If you’re looking for a Mastodon server that’s hosted and managed by a company with a generally good reputation, the web browser Vivaldi recently launched an instance that allows users of that browser to sign in with their existing login, meaning that the onboarding process is easy.
» A good strategy for finding your community comes from the admin of the activism.openworlds.info instance: Follow a lot of people, then cull out the boring bits as you find the most interesting ones.
One Killer Take
Joshua Topolsky, a key figure in the creation of at least three popular technology sites, posted something on Friday that helps to reinforce the general idea I’ve been discussing—that this is an opportunity to reset our approach to social media.
Just turning Mastodon into another Twitter will lead to the same results in the end, if maybe fewer rocket enthusiast owners.
Ernie Smith is the editor of Tedium, an offbeat history newsletter, and MidRange, a newsletter with a 30-minute time limit. Follow him on Mastodon for more insights and tips.
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