Tweetbot Developer Tapbots Launches 'Ivory' App for Mastodon

[MisterSavage]

And I believe part of, or what's automatically included in ALL Mastodon instance's account preferences is the ability to move to & from another instance. It's baked in, regardless of where you sign up. I was fortunate (I guess?) to be on a @mastodon.social and @mstdn.social account years ago. I can see how it'd be confusing signing up now, but at least you can see the number of users on each when you're signing up. You can get some sort of idea how popular one might be, and still connect and browse other instances all the same.

Yep, I've already done it myself. It was pretty straight forward.

And what happens to things you posted on that server?



Exactly.

One person is calling the shot. You're just too blind to realize it. Just because you can move to another server doesn't mean there is no censorship.

Where did I say anything about censorship? And if I move to another server cause I didn't like what the person in charge was doing I can still use Mastodon. That's a drastically different scenario.

 

[lysingur]

Yep, I've already done it myself. It was pretty straight forward.



Where did I say anything about censorship? And if I move to another server cause I didn't like what the person in charge was doing I can still use Mastodon. That's a drastically different scenario.

You didn't. You just didn't like one person calling the shot. You and @gank41 sure like to play the semantics game. Why bother replying in the middle of a conversation when you don't even know what people are debating about?

 

[lysingur]

Here’s what the dev of Twitterific noticed after moving to Mastodon.

Ged Maheux (@gedeonm@mastodon.social)

Attached: 2 images The @Iconfactory@iconfactory.world has 16.1k “followers” on Twitter and currently about 4.1k here on Mastodon. Our last post received a whopping 9 likes and 3 retweets on Twitter and an amazing 287 favorites and 163 boosts here on Mastodon. This has been said before by many...

mastodon.social

A trend I suspect will become even more apparent now that twitter has view counts.

Your suspicion of an entire platform is based on one single account? Either you're naturally suspicious or you're terribly trusting.🤣

Eventually, users of Mastodon will come to realize that it is not a superior platform in comparison to other social media, in fact, it falls short in several aspects. As a server grows to a certain size, moderation will become increasingly difficult. Moreover, the platform grants too much power to moderators, who have the ability to read DMs. On other platforms this would be a clear violation of privacy but a right that many who are against Twitter seem willing to sacrifice just to get back at Elon Musk for some imaginary injustice that they think they suffered under his brief tenure as Mr. Twitter. It really says more about the state of our society than anything else. If this is really about censorship, freedom of speech, or the right to privacy, most people wouldn't be putting Mastodon on a pedestal as if it were the bulwark against tyranny.

We'll see. I would love to be proven wrong but I will come back and laugh in your face and say I told you so when I don't.

 

[NEPOBABY]

I really hope you don't drive a car with a combustion engine.

I don’t drive or want to drive at all, but if you’re saying that your addiction to Saudi oil means it is ok for them to own a social media platform that is actively trying to dismantle and tear democracy into pieces then you didn’t learn anything since 2001.

 

[lysingur]

I don’t drive or want to drive at all, but if you’re saying that your addiction to Saudi oil means it is ok for them to own a social media platform that is actively trying to dismantle and tear democracy into pieces then you didn’t learn anything since 2001.

I think we're doing a great job at that without anybody's help. But since you learned so much since 2001, surely you know that already.

 

[Abazigal]

Eventually, users of Mastodon will come to realize that it is not a superior platform in comparison to other social media, in fact, it falls short in several aspects. As a server grows to a certain size, moderation will become increasingly difficult. Moreover, the platform grants too much power to moderators, who have the ability to read DMs. On other platforms this would be a clear violation of privacy but a right that many who are against Twitter seem willing to sacrifice just to get back at Elon Musk for some imaginary injustice that they think they suffered under his brief tenure as Mr. Twitter. It really says more about the state of our society than anything else. If this is really about censorship, freedom of speech, or the right to privacy, most people wouldn't be putting Mastodon on a pedestal as if it were the bulwark against tyranny.

I switched to Mastodon for a number of reasons.

1) I don't post, and I used twitter primarily as a RSS feed to follow numerous tech bloggers. Now that they have migrated over to Mastodon, it makes no sense for me to continue using twitter. Tweetbot getting shut down was the final straw (I absolutely refuse to use the stock twitter app); that the devs have released Ivory just makes the Mastodon experience so much sweeter.

2) Living in Asia, I don't really care what Donald Trump or Elon Musk or whatever controversial US personality have to say on social media, which is why I don't follow them. The problem then came when numerous tech blogs I followed on Twitter started turning political in nature, and tech-related tweets started getting mixed up with retweets of said figures. It's still early days, but I am seeing way less of this on Mastodon. It's like early twitter all over again. All the content, none of the drama.

So for me, it's not about censorship, free speech or whatever political statement you want to make. I will go to where the content is, and right now, that's Mastodon.

 

[lysingur]

I switched to Mastodon for a number of reasons.

1) I don't post, and I used twitter primarily as a RSS feed to follow numerous tech bloggers. Now that they have migrated over to Mastodon, it makes no sense for me to continue using twitter. Tweetbot getting shut down was the final straw (I absolutely refuse to use the stock twitter app); that the devs have released Ivory just makes the Mastodon experience so much sweeter.

2) Living in Asia, I don't really care what Donald Trump or Elon Musk or whatever controversial US personality have to say on social media, which is why I don't follow them. The problem then came when numerous tech blogs I followed on Twitter started turning political in nature, and tech-related tweets started getting mixed up with retweets of said figures. It's still early days, but I am seeing way less of this on Mastodon. It's like early twitter all over again. All the content, none of the drama.

So for me, it's not about censorship, free speech or whatever political statement you want to make. I will go to where the content is, and right now, that's Mastodon.

Yeah, I've been reading your posts, @Abazigal, you're just as political as most people here. And it didn't take me long to find it either. So I call you bull on your second point.

Besides, you really just have to check the very post from the Mastodon server that you linked to know that Elon is being just as much talked about on Mastodon as on Twitter. Unless you're the type that doesn't read comments. In that case, you can pretty much avoid Elon on Twitter too.

Tweetbot was never really going to last. It was a douche move for Elon to cut them off without notice but it was really a mistake on his predecessor's part to allow third-party clients without ads. There is no major social media platform that allows ad-free third-party clients. In fact, I can't think of any that even allows third-party apps. So why should Twitter?

Content isn't free. Good content especially so. I don't know who you follow but Mastodon definitely isn't where good content is. And it will likely stay that way because, again, content isn't free and there is no easy way to run targeted ads or monetize content on a federated social network that is run by volunteer moderators who set the rules for each instance.

@gank41 might not have been aware when he mentioned MySpace but the downfall of MySpace should serve as a cautionary tale to anyone looking to create a successful social media platform. Lack of effective control over the content that minors can access can lead to constant controversy and ultimately result in the platform's demise. Unfortunately, Mastodon currently lacks this crucial feature and this was what ultimately led to the decline of MySpace.

It is interesting to note that while many people here praise Apple for its ironclad control over its App Store, citing security and privacy as key concerns, they seem more than ready to overlook the significant security and privacy shortcomings on Mastodon. This surely is an interesting dichotomy worthy of psychological studies.

 

[Abazigal]

Content isn't free. Good content especially so. I don't know who you follow but Mastodon definitely isn't where good content is. And it will likely stay that way because, again, content isn't free and there is no easy way to run targeted ads or monetize content on a federated social network that is run by volunteer moderators who set the rules for each instance.

This comment makes zero sense.

Content is independent of ads, because ad revenue goes to Twitter, not the people doing the tweeting. Yes, good content might drive engagement, but those users aren't getting a single cent of the proceeds. Likewise, content on social media is just people posting stuff. There's practically no cost involved in creating them.

Mastodon is currently funded by a patreon.

Get more from Mastodon on Patreon

Creating Mastodon

www.patreon.com

Maybe it will end up running ads one day, maybe it won't. Either way, I will cross that bridge when it arrives.

In fact, it's precisely because of the lack of dependence on ad revenue that makes Mastodon work for me. There's no incentive to push random posts with the intent of enraging users and driving them to respond in the name of engagement.

Tweetbot also defaulted to a chronological feed (none of this algorithmic feed nonsense), has a nicer UI overall, and was first to support all the iOS features like split-screen, safari view controller and share sheet extensions. It's the same with reddit. If support for Apollo ever gets dropped, it just means I end up using the site a lot less, because it's simply less nice to interact with.

It's also easy for me to give up Twitter because it's not some mission-critical service like my key banking app.

I am still in the midst of rebuilding my list of people to follow, but a few of them include Jason Snell, John Gruber, Marco Arment, Quinn Nelson, Macstories (and all the associated accounts), Matt Birchler and Christopher Lawley.

So I don't really see the issue. You have your bird site that you are happy using, I have my elephant site that I am happy using. To each their own. Everyone's happy.

 

[lysingur]

Content is independent of ads, because ad revenue goes to Twitter, not the people doing the tweeting. Yes, good content might drive engagement, but those users aren't getting a single cent of the proceeds. Likewise, content on social media is just people posting stuff. There's practically no cost involved in creating them.

Your understanding of content creation is elementary at best. Content creation costs money. It's not really content when you repost a link to a YouTube video or an original article or tweets from reporters. The link isn't content. Surprised you would say "content on social media is just people posting stuff". What did you even mean when you say Mastodon is where good content is? Good links? 😂

There are plans to allow content creators to monetize original content that they post on Twitter, like YouTube and Tiktok. I thought it was common knowledge. Apparently, you weren't aware. That's the content I was referring to.

Patreon helps but it can never replace ad revenue for most content creators. At least that's the landscape right now.

You just don't see where you're blind spots are. Everything you say about Twitter, e.g., not being mission-critical, can apply to Mastodon too. So why you're so invested in the latter? 🤣 People should just come out and say what they really think instead of dancing around the elephant in the room.

And, hey, I didn't start this. It's you who predicted Twitter's demise, remember?

 

[Abazigal]

Your understanding of content creation is elementary at best. Content creation costs money. It's not really content when you repost a link to a YouTube video or an original article or tweets from reporters. The link isn't content. Surprised you would say "content on social media is just people posting stuff". 😂

I guess I'll stop because now I know where you're at. You just don't see where your blind spots are. Everything you say about Twitter, e.g., not being mission-critical, can apply to Mastodon too. So why you're so invested in the latter? 🤣 People should just come out and say what they really think instead of dancing around the elephant in the room.

It's not that hard a concept to grasp.

Person A, whose posts (aka content) I appreciate, is no longer on Twitter but active on Mastodon. Therefore, there's good content on Mastodon (for me), and so that's where I go. I agree that Mastodon isn't mission-critical either, and the release of Ivory makes Mastodon enjoyable to interact with. And with the death of Tweetbot, Twitter isn't fun anymore.

In a hypothetical scenario where Tweetbot died but everyone still stayed in Twitter, I would likely still have stopped visiting the website. It just means one less app I can use to kill time with in the toilet or during my morning commute.

I don't know what else you want me to say.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Have you all fled to some obscure social network because you don't like Elon Musk!?

Lamenting about social injustice from my iPhone built using elements mined by slaves. = Fine

Musk posts something mean about Nancy Pelosi and unbans Trump = What??! man the lifeboats

 

[MisterSavage]

I am still in the midst of rebuilding my list of people to follow, but a few of them include Jason Snell, John Gruber, Marco Arment, Quinn Nelson, Macstories (and all the associated accounts), Matt Birchler and Christopher Lawley.

MacRumors is there too, but you're probably already seeing their stories when you visit here.

MacRumors.com (@macrumors@mastodon.social)

10.5K Posts, 1 Following, 22.4K Followers · Apple, iPhone, iPad, and Mac rumors, news, tips and videos. Tap Follow!

mastodon.social

 

[Abazigal]

MacRumors is there too, but you're probably already seeing their stories when you visit here.

MacRumors.com (@macrumors@mastodon.social)

10.5K Posts, 1 Following, 22.4K Followers · Apple, iPhone, iPad, and Mac rumors, news, tips and videos. Tap Follow!

mastodon.social

I have the Machash app for that.

 

[MisterSavage]

I have the Machash app for that.

That looks interesting. I'll give it a try!

 

[gank41]

For a very long time Twitter was made up of a community of tech folks who seamlessly all got along regardless of the operating system platform they worked on or the company they worked for. Over time, as all of these platforms became a megaphone for anyone & everyone, it became political, just as it does. That’s when you know a social media platform has made it, when it’s being used to gaslight people and manipulate situations for someone else’s benefit. That now seems to be Twitter’s sole purpose. Just like Facebook. Facebook still has its users and what’s funny is that people still think it’s kind of like how it was 10 years ago.

People really just don’t seem to understand how mastodon itself is different from any of that. People are still convinced that it can be shut down by one person. And in a way, that is true. There are literally tons and tons of servers you can connect to, and no one really knows who specifically runs these. I get it. Again, I’ve been on Mastodon since 2018, and I was fortunate enough to sign up on the Mastodon.social site. That’s run by Eugen. But also, to be fair here, Twitter and Facebook scrape your user profile and sell the information to make money. That’s just not something mastodon does. There are no ads. It’s all run either voluntarily or through a Patreon or something like that. I know there are pros and cons to everything here, just like everyone has their opinions.

A true sign of what makes Twitter bad, though, is all of this garbage back-and-forth about how mastodon is bad. Who cares? Stay on Twitter then. Maybe it’s those kind of trolls the people that left Twitter are trying to avoid.

 

[NEPOBABY]

It doesn’t dawn on Musk’s bootlickers that he is a front man for unaccountable and ultrawealthy people (who are among his own top investors) who became worried that their wealth and their crimes were being questioned more and more and more. They needed to buy up social media platforms to turn the conversations away from them. They needed a wealthy influencer surrounded by younger influencers to divide the public and have society at war with each other.

 

[MisterSavage]

A true sign of what makes Twitter bad, though, is all of this garbage back-and-forth about how mastodon is bad. Who cares? Stay on Twitter then. Maybe it’s those kind of trolls the people that left Twitter are trying to avoid.

Seriously. The title of the thread isn't "why mastodon is better than twitter". It's about a new mastodon app. Why on Earth would I care that they don't like mastodon? Do they go into iPhone threads trying to convince people not to use an iPhone?

 

[gank41]

Seriously. The title of the thread isn't "why mastodon is better than twitter". It's about a new mastodon app. Why on Earth would I care that you don't like mastodon? Do they go into iPhone threads trying to convince people not to use an iPhone?

Who said I don’t like Mastodon? Mastodon is great, and Ivory is a great Mastodon app. Did you not see the 10 other pages of posts?

 

[MisterSavage]

Who said I don’t like Mastodon? Mastodon is great, and Ivory is a great Mastodon app. Did you not see the 10 other pages of posts?

I was agreeing with you. I didn't word that well. When I said "you" I mean the people that were trolling. I edited it to say "they".

 

[spercharged69]

A true sign of what makes Twitter bad, though, is all of this garbage back-and-forth about how mastodon is bad. Who cares? Stay on Twitter then. Maybe it’s those kind of trolls the people that left Twitter are trying to avoid.

1,000,000,000%. I wish folks would stop trying to convince Mastodon naysayers that Mastodon is good. Let them believe it's bad so they remain quarantined on Twitter. The best thing about Mastodon right now is none of these people are on it.

 

[techpr]

who uses mastodon?

Mark Gurman

 

[lysingur]

For a very long time Twitter was made up of a community of tech folks who seamlessly all got along regardless of the operating system platform they worked on or the company they worked for. Over time, as all of these platforms became a megaphone for anyone & everyone, it became political, just as it does. That’s when you know a social media platform has made it, when it’s being used to gaslight people and manipulate situations for someone else’s benefit. That now seems to be Twitter’s sole purpose. Just like Facebook. Facebook still has its users and what’s funny is that people still think it’s kind of like how it was 10 years ago.

People really just don’t seem to understand how mastodon itself is different from any of that. People are still convinced that it can be shut down by one person. And in a way, that is true. There are literally tons and tons of servers you can connect to, and no one really knows who specifically runs these. I get it. Again, I’ve been on Mastodon since 2018, and I was fortunate enough to sign up on the Mastodon.social site. That’s run by Eugen. But also, to be fair here, Twitter and Facebook scrape your user profile and sell the information to make money. That’s just not something mastodon does. There are no ads. It’s all run either voluntarily or through a Patreon or something like that. I know there are pros and cons to everything here, just like everyone has their opinions.

A true sign of what makes Twitter bad, though, is all of this garbage back-and-forth about how mastodon is bad. Who cares? Stay on Twitter then. Maybe it’s those kind of trolls the people that left Twitter are trying to avoid.

If you can't win an argument, start making ad hominem attacks. Yeah, you reek of quality, my man.

 

[lysingur]

1,000,000,000%. I wish folks would stop trying to convince Mastodon naysayers that Mastodon is good. Let them believe it's bad so they remain quarantined on Twitter. The best thing about Mastodon right now is none of these people are on it.

Yes, Mastodon has but great people on it.

Far-right supporters move to open source to evade censorship

A suicide and a strange bitcoin bequest have opened a window on to the new frontier of extremist online media

www.theguardian.com

 

[lysingur]

It doesn’t dawn on Musk’s bootlickers that he is a front man for unaccountable and ultrawealthy people (who are among his own top investors) who became worried that their wealth and their crimes were being questioned more and more and more. They needed to buy up social media platforms to turn the conversations away from them. They needed a wealthy influencer surrounded by younger influencers to divide the public and have society at war with each other.

The ultrawealthy don't need a social media platform to hide their crimes. And just so you know, Twitter was suppressing news about the crimes of the ultrawealthy way before Elon took over. But you keep on believing what you want to believe, BABY.

 

[lysingur]

Seriously. The title of the thread isn't "why mastodon is better than twitter". It's about a new mastodon app. Why on Earth would I care that they don't like mastodon? Do they go into iPhone threads trying to convince people not to use an iPhone?

You must be a champion of free speech to want to question the reason that some people have dissenting opinions.