lewiscollard 3 hours ago

I was on Mastodon for three years. I deleted my account. When I found out that Charlie Kirk was murdered, my second thought was "well, best create yet another filter on Mastodon so I don't have to watch people celebrate Charlie Kirk being murdered" and when I caught myself having that thought I realised that being on Mastodon was a net negative for my wellbeing.

(I didn't like the guy either, by the way, or at least I knew enough about him that I knew I have much better things to do than listen to him. There are more than a few people like that, all of whom I wish find some peace in their hearts, and none of whom I wish to come to any harm.)

Mastodon is packed to the brim with literal psychopaths and people pretending to be psychopaths for imaginary Internet points. It is not an experience I suggest for anyone who is neither of those things.

  • ekjhgkejhgk 3 hours ago

    I'm on mathstodon.xyz (mastodon for maths) and haven't seen any of that. So I guess it's the people you subscribe to.

    But I have the freedom to decide what I want to consume.

    • lewiscollard 2 hours ago

      > I'm on mathstodon.xyz (mastodon for maths) and haven't seen any of that. So I guess it's the people you subscribe to.

      I was on an automotive-focused instance. I did see a lot of that.

      > But I have the freedom to decide what I want to consume.

      As do I; I had the freedom to delete my account, thus avoiding the need for any active measures to make my life free of schizoposting.

      • ekjhgkejhgk 29 minutes ago

        TIL there's many Charlie Kirk fans amongst fans of cars?

fishgoesblub 15 hours ago

Mastodon is just a part of the larger Fediverse.

  • ekjhgkejhgk 15 hours ago

    Yeah I guess I still haven't wrapped my mind around that other part.

mmooss 15 hours ago

What makes it cool?

  • throw_await 36 minutes ago

    No "algorithm" shoving ads down your throat. Just a timeline of the accounts you follow with the posts in chronooogical order.

  • ekjhgkejhgk 6 hours ago

    Well, I won't debate whether "cool" is the right word. But ideologically I think federation is better than centralization when it can be made to work in practical terms, and Mastodon works.

  • CamperBob2 13 hours ago

    It shoves dark mode down your throat whether you want it or not. What could be cooler than that?

    • pavo-etc 13 hours ago

      There's an option

      • CamperBob2 12 hours ago

        Really. Where? Unhelpful answers of the form "Just install extension X for browser Y and use it to run script Z" are all anyone has ever been able to suggest when I've asked this question elsewhere.