Complete this sentence:

@smallcircles I went with village, but it actually sirens. Sometimes it is more of a city, with much more traffic than I can reasonably follow

@oblomov @smallcircles @Tattooed_Mummy I’ve found some. If I were better at socialising, it would help.

@smallcircles@social.coop DS9 Promenade / Star Wars Cantina

@smallcircles
Community of interest/hobby/makers pace with “coffee conversation”.

@smallcircles
I experience the fediverse a bit like riding public transit: often you meet interesting people, occasionally you meet hostile people, sometimes you meet people in crisis, and you have a nodding acquaintence with some folks almost every time you ride. Most people are buried in their phones. You hear bits of conversations (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot), the infrastructure is uneven and often confusing, and every now and again there is a flood, storm, fight, or someone pulling a weapon.

@smallcircles I hope you do a follow up survey for anyone who voted ghost town

It would be nice if we could help those people find their way or see what can be done in Masto to help

@smallcircles How is ghost town only at 4 % ? the lack of an algo mean i got a lot of things i don't like in my tl bc of hashtags i follow and only get 1 in 8 post that i actually like. The rest of the time it's really quiet. i stay here bc i like the project and there are people i like here but to follow the news from where im from and in the world i need X bc nothing gets recommended to me.
An algo is a tool that can be used for good and the lack of one is really big problem for normies

@smallcircles
Some type of con that was going on in a city I am visiting and I just turned a corner and there were all these people all dressed up some as a thing and some cosplaying.
People are speaking all types of shit and I'm sneaking off to look up the slang I don't get.
My friend turns to me and says "Holy shit, the geek level here is higher than the nerd quotient. Don't even get me started on the gender/orientation stuff." "This is a seriously abnormal group of people"

@smallcircles

I said "yeah, it's pretty great isn't it"

@smallcircles

Not really. There are lively discussions going on in most, often involving politics, in particular. Some similarities with Vienna in 1933. More than one would like, but that's just because 2026 is more like 1933 than one would like.

In some of the cafes they are just playing chess, admittedly, but you make your rounds. Actually the most effective way to keep up with what is going on.

Occasionally a drunk has to be thrown out and someone is monologuing to himself in a corner,

@smallcircles
Bustling village

@glc ah yes. I like your analogy, thank you.

@fwtl yes, I'm quite positively surprised at all the good social experiences people have.

> An algo is a tool that can be used for good and the lack of one is really big problem for normies

I don't think that is necessarily the case, more so than that we are dealing with different social networking paradigms. And when people do not realize that, their expectations are off. I call this paradigm #PersonalSocialNetworking..

https://coding.social/blog/reimagine-social/#personal-social-networking

Hopping from #twitter to #mastodon is not just switching to another microblogging platform, that happens to be decentralized. The lack of algorithm gives an opportunity as well as a responsibility in order to get the most out of the fediverse: you are in control and should curate your own feed. By choosing who you follow, you shape your own village, and over time you may nurture it into a bustling city you are part of.

Algo's may help, but it is more Starter packs and app websites that can do a better introduction to fediverse social media.

@mikeymikey thank you. Yes, I will do a follow-up. The poll runs for a full 7 days, and has a delightful response thus far.

@geoffduncan an interesting analogy to common day to day life activities, thank you.

@benjamincox @oblomov @Tattooed_Mummy

You are doing well, and attracted a sizable village to be part of together, looking at your profile. Thank you for your input.

@Netraven I would not express it like that, but I know what you mean.

Mastodon.social can be compared to a large metropole, and it becomes not much different than Twitter platform's megapole in terms of social dynamics and culture. It's a New York that has its charms, but also many unsafe back alleys and ghetto's that are best avoided at night

@smallcircles everything you said can still be achieved with a customisable algo or litterally two tabs in the app : one with the chronological algorithm (still an algo btw) and one with the customized feed with your interests.

Without the second one the app is dead unless you build your feed yourself, that's really bad and explains why people got into bluesky instead of mastodon.
Also if you want to have mass appeal you don't expect people to have a boring app and understand the "new paradigm"

@RolloTreadway thank you.

That poses the question if that is just at the town where you are at, or all across the fediverse countryside.

The analogy with towns, villages and cities breaks down here. On the fediverse we have this social fabric we weave ourselves that determines the city or village we want to live in. By carefully curating our own following and followers. I call this Personal social networking..

https://coding.social/blog/reimagine-social/#personal-social-networking

It would be an interesting experiment if by doing some curation and turning it into habit to garden your connections, you can arrive again in the village or city that is to your preferences.

@fwtl

What is mass appeal though? In our little analogy we might call it Urbanization. And to the extent that that applies, it does not have only positve effects, on the contrary.

Algorithms are railways and highways, and while they may bring what we call 'modern life', there's a cost to that. Urban life, the rat race, not knowing your neighbor, pursuit of vain things and status, following the latest trend just to feel you still belong, are a player.

Algorithmic support to our new and diferent social networking landscape will come, but it may be good if that happens by slow growth and gradual evolution, so the culture can catch up and not deteriorate rapidly by inrush of city dwellers all over the country side and littering it beauty with trash, so to speak.