Mastodon is full of interesting people, but deficient in personal connection. I have a few people on here that like to engage with my toots, but no friendships or creative collaborations have developed from it. Something about the style of interaction on here doesn't lend itself to forming friendships, and people prefer to keep a certain distance.
@thor I think it needs something like a live text chat to go beyond just shitposting at eachother to pass the time
@Igeljaeger Perhaps if there were small chat rooms centered around interests. I've never made a friend in a big chat room. It's always the small ones where the same group of regulars show up and discuss a particular topic, or participate in the same activity. I made many of the Internet friends I had in my 20s through systems like Groupboard and Paintchat, and later, my own Sketcher system.
@thor @Igeljaeger Even if there are more users in the room, as long as there aren’t more than 5 people in the conversation at any one time…
@Igeljaeger The sweet spot seemed to be about 5-8 people. Beyond that, it would start to get chaotic and impersonal.