[standardUser]

Mastodon starts you off by forcing users to make a decision they do not understand before they can even use the platform. That should be a very obvious limitation to getting users signed up. Painfully obvious. Want a better process? Auto-assign a server, get them using the service, and then offer the option to switch servers.

Educating users can work if it is an indispensable service that people need to understand out of necessity. Someone mentioned driving a car as an example. Mastodon is far from indispensable.

[wheats]

>"Auto-assign a server"

So right now I am on Mastodon as if I am going to create a new account. Here is the list of approved servers I am being presented to choose from:

masto.nyc (for people living in New York City)

poweredbygay.social (LGBT+ server)

metalverse.social (server for metal music genre)

bark.lgbt (lgbt, furry server)

climatejustice.rocks (climate activism)

etc.

A majority of servers (including the largest ones capable of handling new users) are for special interests or otherwise have unique communities. Is the solution to hide this fact during sign-up and randomly assign only to most generic of instances?

I want you to be right here that there is a solution, but hiding what instances are or that they have special purposes seems to remove a lot of the point of Mastodon.

I remember when Reddit would default new users to a handful of "default subreddits" when they first signed up, but ended the practice because it typically destroyed these "default" communities while also hiding the actual purpose of signing up. Now Reddit (one of the largest sites on the internet) does what Mastodon does and forces new users to choose before using an account.

[lmm]

> Now Reddit (one of the largest sites on the internet) does what Mastodon does and forces new users to choose before using an account.

It doesn't though - creating an account doesn't tie you permanently to a particular subreddit. I would guess, without checking, that they will suggest some subreddits to subscribe to, and if you try to sign up from a particular subreddit's page then maybe it'll subscribe you to that subreddit. But if you joined the wrong subreddit at the start then you're fine - you can unsubscribe from that, and subscribe to another, and your account is still the same account.

[wheats]

This is also true of Mastodon. If you join an instance and change your mind you can switch instances and take all your follows/followers/posts etc. with you.

In both situations it is a major interruption to the sign up process and forces you to confront what you want out of the platform before using your account though -- I just wonder if there's anyway around that, Reddit seems to have decided there isn't one.

[Tomte]

As far as I understand it (and I may be wrong) this depends on the old server playing fair (and still existing).

It's not like email or a web site where you change your DNS records without any cooperation from the old server.

[ymolodtsov]

The ideal joinmastodon.org page for me would look like this:

You can join Mastodon via this instance: Randomly chosen general-focus instance with reasonable admins

or choose a server dedicated to your interests: rest of them

[Gigachad]

Yeah this is such a core issue. For the user, it would be easiest if there was just one server and you hit “signup” and it’s all done.

Problem is that picking a server is actually a big deal. Most of the mastodon servers running today won’t be running in 3 years, many of the servers have crazy rules and unchecked moderators. Ideally you’d have your own server so you don’t have to worry about who the unknown person running it is.