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0 pointsbradgessler1y ago0 comments

Problem with Mastodon is you’re forced to associate with the identity of the sever or run your own instance, both of which are very awkward.

I’m @bradgessler@ruby.social, but I’m more than a Ruby dev.

I could run a Mastadon instance for bradgessler.com, but I have no desire to spend even 3 minutes figuring out how to set all that up. Maintaining my own instance sounds even worse.

Bluesky gets the ergonomics of this right: the usernames feel like they occupy a global namespace and I can point the aliases at my domains in a few minutes without having to worry about a bunch of standards that I don’t really care about.

For some reason I can’t explain, it also really bothers me that I have to @ people on Mastadon via @brad@bradgessler.com. I don’t want to say “@“ twice if I’m verbally telling somebody where to find me when presenting and “@me@bradgessler” is weird too. Much easier to say “Follow me @bradgessler.com”

Am I lazy? Yes, but most people are. Bluesky strikes a nice balance of control and identity that I’m comfortable with for the amount of time and effort I’m willing to put into it.

0 comments

panic1y ago

It's possible to set up a Mastodon alias using WebFinger: https://domenicoluciani.com/2022/11/19/how-to-create-mastodo...

wink1y ago

Maybe think about people who (deliberately or not) have neither chosen their domain(s) to read like their real name or online handle. I agree that yours kinda works, but I wouldn't want to be addressed by @<any of my domains>, that's why I use a handle (and have not chosen a matching domain since 1999 or so). And yes, I know you don't have to go that route, and I actually like that it works, I'm just saying it's not a universally good feature. It can be pretty useless.

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