Quick TLDR from ChatGPT for those who don’t want to go through it all:
The article discusses the decline in active user numbers on the Mastodon social media platform and explores potential reasons behind it. The author shares personal experiences and observations from using Mastodon and highlights several issues. Firstly, they argue that Mastodon does not offer a unique selling point compared to other platforms like Twitter, which are more feature-rich. The author also states that decentralization, a key aspect of Mastodon, is not a selling point for the majority of users who prioritize functionality and convenience over ideological considerations. They further criticize the user experience on Mastodon, particularly in terms of finding and following other users, and argue that decentralization hampers the platform's usability. Additionally, the article discusses the perspective of existing Mastodon users, who may be resistant to change and less attuned to the challenges faced by new users. Lastly, the author mentions the scalability issues of Mastodon and the lack of sustainable funding models due to the platform's aversion to advertising and corporate funding. Overall, the article suggests that Mastodon's shortcomings and its resistance to change may have contributed to its declining user numbers.
I’m not under the impression that the Fediverse is directly competing with mainstream social media. At least within the spaces that I belong to. I’m just tired of all the clickbait ragebait easy engagement posts online