Theory: the Iranian surge of new Mastodon users only happened because mastodon.social was open.
The difference in friction for a user to get started in Mastodon when mastodon.social is open versus when it isn't is _huge_. If you say that creating an account in any other instance is just the same, you don't get it.
I saw regular people trying to google "mastodon social network" on their phones (at my request) and trying to find their way in the instances list and getting totally puzzled.
@hisham_hm This is so much like the initial boom years of Linux, around 20 years ago. So many people going 'help what is a distribution what is this Debian and Red Hat and Slackware business, I just want Linux, can you give me the phone number of the Linux CEO'
And they're not wrong. Trying to pick an instance is a bit like trying to decide whether you should make an elf or a dwarf on an RPG you haven't yet played and don't know what the classes mean.
@hisham_hm @natecull We are running up against the same phenomenon that creates pop stars, creates large corporations, etc: Lowest common denominator and Follow The Leader.
@thor @hisham_hm @natecull
My suggestion would be to present it more accurately: not as a site, but a different kind of Twitter.
If Twitter is Netflix, Mastodon is the Torrent Network (the legal aspects aside).