With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!!
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#BlindAltBot (@anantagd@ieji.de)
I'm blind and for me alt text is the Big Special Thing about Mastodon. If someone posts a meme, I'm in on the joke. Someone shares beautifiul moss, or their cat, I'm in on the beauty or fun or whatever. I'm now 62, and this is the first time I entered a community and a culture where people grant me this kind of access and community. So grateful for people who do alt text.
ieji.de (ieji.de)
ChanceyFleet (@ChanceyFleet@mas.to)
As a Blind person i never thought i would be on social media savoring photos. But the communal Mastodon alt text game is so strong that sweet, poetic or silly descriptions abound on my timeline. Thanks to legions of people who take time to write a meaningful description of the ephemera they post, i learn so much about insects, plants, buildings, memes — all dispatches from a dimension of the world that i otherwise wouldn't experience. If you're wondering whether anybody reads these things: YES.
mas.to (mas.to)
I didn't hunt those down, they were just in my retoots ("blind alt text in:library"), FWIW.
@ryanc @taylorlorenz @jima pretty sure the various alt text bots werent around in 2024
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@ryanc @taylorlorenz @jima pretty sure the various alt text bots werent around in 2024
ChanceyFleet (@ChanceyFleet@mas.to)
Blind people now have AI image description and these days a Blind person will send another Blind person just an AI description of a selfie, with no source photo. In the complex AI discourse i would just like to say that AI image description has changed the game for Blind folks. It's a hell of a ride at age 43 to read my first picture book and first graphic novel. AI is complicated but textualizing images is brilliant
mas.to (mas.to)
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ChanceyFleet (@ChanceyFleet@mas.to)
Blind people now have AI image description and these days a Blind person will send another Blind person just an AI description of a selfie, with no source photo. In the complex AI discourse i would just like to say that AI image description has changed the game for Blind folks. It's a hell of a ride at age 43 to read my first picture book and first graphic novel. AI is complicated but textualizing images is brilliant
mas.to (mas.to)
@Viss @ryanc @taylorlorenz @ChanceyFleet Cool! Thanks; I hadn't seen that development.
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@Viss @ryanc @taylorlorenz @ChanceyFleet Cool! Thanks; I hadn't seen that development.
@ryanc @taylorlorenz @ChanceyFleet @jima also i wrote a thing
GitHub - Viss/gptocr: a script that uses openai's gpt-4 preview to generate alt-text for images on mastodon
a script that uses openai's gpt-4 preview to generate alt-text for images on mastodon - Viss/gptocr
GitHub (github.com)
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz
1 Taylor Swift post -
With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz One big one:
People want an app that gives them a sign-in right there, not an app that allows them to petition instances for an account.
TBF that part is kinda fiddly, but we wouldn't be very defederated if everyone signs up on Mastodon dot social (which unfortunately most people do).
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz I think there is the perception that Mastodon is a bit difficult - the initial thing of having to pick an instance is a bit offputting.
But I suspect also that Mastodon having no company behind it means that there is no marketing department pushing it and that prevents people from being lured in.
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz Ya probably the onboarding process, It’s cumbersome.
A few more celebrities onboarding and posting regularly would help.
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz The reason I’ve heard is that: "On Mastodon, servers can easily end up blacklisted" (if you run your own instance), and "users may be silenced for expressing different opinions".
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@MrLee @taylorlorenz Despite what you may believe, it is the number one most frequently cited objection I hear when introducing people to the fediverse.
Also, the other problem as I mentioned is the network effect. All their friends are in the corpo-controlled silos. We can have a technically better product, but if they can't reach the people they want to reach, it's kind of pointless.
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@erikcats @taylorlorenz and add geography/region to that list. I'm on an instance specific to Canada, mainly mstdn.ca. I've flirted with the idea of going over to ottawa.place but for now, I don't see a reason to move....I'm too casual a user of social media for the server I'm on to make a difference.
@hfinyow @erikcats @taylorlorenz That does exist already just in different ways.
Fedi.Garden – An easy way to join Mastodon and the Fediverse
Highlighting nice servers on Mastodon and the Fediverse
(fedi.garden)
Fediverse Observer checks all sites in the fediverse and gives you an easy way to find a home from a map or list or automatically.
We observe all Fediverse Sites. Find a Fediverse site to sign up for, find one close to you using a list, map or let us auto-pick one for you!
(fediverse.observer)
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz Maybe by starting to talk to our friends offline again.
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@jill @hfinyow @taylorlorenz 4x4x4x4x4
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@jill @hfinyow @taylorlorenz Neither you mine
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@hfinyow @erikcats @taylorlorenz That does exist already just in different ways.
Fedi.Garden – An easy way to join Mastodon and the Fediverse
Highlighting nice servers on Mastodon and the Fediverse
(fedi.garden)
Fediverse Observer checks all sites in the fediverse and gives you an easy way to find a home from a map or list or automatically.
We observe all Fediverse Sites. Find a Fediverse site to sign up for, find one close to you using a list, map or let us auto-pick one for you!
(fediverse.observer)
@jill @erikcats @taylorlorenz for those sufficiently motivated, this should be enough. I think I found my server through Twitter back before they started messing with the algorithm to suppress any Mastodon related posts.
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@taylorlorenz quote posts
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@taylorlorenz There is also the problem of retaining people. @davidallengreen, a UK lawyer with solid takes on pretty much everything, just went on an extended fedi break because the purity police didn’t like him using substack and he got bored of the hassling. Lovely own goal reply guys, the only behaviour you changed was his posting on the fedi. This is a people issue not a tech issue, which I’m not quite sure how to get around. He’s not the only one either.
@bjn @taylorlorenz @davidallengreen I think @TechConnectify raised the point some time ago that mastodon simply doesn't have the moderation tools for popular accounts that large platforms like Twitter have.
Mastodon needs to grow up from it's techy roots and start being far more pragmatic about supporting people, especially the sort of popular people who drive interest in joining the platform. Federation is grand and all but making something that isn't painful to use for key users is important.
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@taylorlorenz There is also the problem of retaining people. @davidallengreen, a UK lawyer with solid takes on pretty much everything, just went on an extended fedi break because the purity police didn’t like him using substack and he got bored of the hassling. Lovely own goal reply guys, the only behaviour you changed was his posting on the fedi. This is a people issue not a tech issue, which I’m not quite sure how to get around. He’s not the only one either.
@bjn @taylorlorenz @davidallengreen I did mention this out at the time but apparently that also makes me a "scold". Apparently hounding people is fine if you don't agree with their choices of technology.
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@taylorlorenz There is also the problem of retaining people. @davidallengreen, a UK lawyer with solid takes on pretty much everything, just went on an extended fedi break because the purity police didn’t like him using substack and he got bored of the hassling. Lovely own goal reply guys, the only behaviour you changed was his posting on the fedi. This is a people issue not a tech issue, which I’m not quite sure how to get around. He’s not the only one either.
@bjn
Fuck the Nazi Bar that is Substack. Fuck collaborators. -
@taylorlorenz There is also the problem of retaining people. @davidallengreen, a UK lawyer with solid takes on pretty much everything, just went on an extended fedi break because the purity police didn’t like him using substack and he got bored of the hassling. Lovely own goal reply guys, the only behaviour you changed was his posting on the fedi. This is a people issue not a tech issue, which I’m not quite sure how to get around. He’s not the only one either.
@bjn @taylorlorenz @davidallengreen especiallly stupid bit of scolding in this case as he always posts links to both substack and his personal blog, and just left a note that hed add the blog link later on this one.
Substack is entirely compromised, but also seems to be required in the uk to be a public intellectual. Hes doing a bang up job of navigating that in my opinion.
Figured id give more context as this may reach others who dont follow him and miss the detail.
