Only the tiny minority of techies screaming about the 'fediverse' care. There is little interest with the majority of non-techies 200M+ that care to use it daily, let alone sign up; hence why they still use Twitter.
Federated social networks such as Mastodon are a solution in search of a problem, and it always has been like that for years.
I hear a lot of people talking about the Fediverse of many different technical backgrounds. It's true it would take a huge event to get non-technical people interested in the Fediverse - but that's exactly what I'm seeing.
They're not a solution in search of a problem. They're a solution a small, dedicated group of people have cared deeply about, but most people have ignored. But people have been unsatisfied with the centralized aspects of social media for a long time. They're not stupid; they see the way the algorithms are designed for engagement, and the toxicity that causes. They see how fragile it is that someone like Musk can just swoop in and sabotage the platform.
Network effects have made it difficult to adopt a decentralized solution. Well - lots of communities are looking for a home they won't have to leave for the same reason they did before. That's creating network effects in the opposite direction.
If you'd said this to me a few weeks ago I'd have been inclined to believe it. But things are in flux. Maybe the Fediverse won't take off, but it has a very really shot right now.
I simply don't get the problem with the "Fediverse". Mastodon works very much like Twitter and you can follow people on your server or another one with ease. You don't need to know anything about anything to do this.
I will tell you honestly, that I believe you are the one letting your smugness cloud your view of reality, not the other commenter (indeed, I read their tone as matter of fact, not smug). No one is obligated to share their mother's personal information in order to prove a point to you. When you say you're presuming good faith and then include a string of insults in the same breathe, it's pretty unconvincing. Were you not entrenched in your position and holding other people's views in contempt, I think these observations would have been obvious to you before you hit "submit".
I hope you'll consider taking a step back and reflecting on whether this is how you want to interact with people and what it is that brought you here.
I'm not sure what troubles our flagged dead commenter more, that there are female math professors in the world, or that they have children that might comment on HN.
FWiW:
To the assertion that there exists at least one Emeritus Professor on mathstodon.xyz -
https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao
To the request that "that guy" provide social media accounts of his mother, her friends, their nom de guerres, discussions, etc .. I'm altogether unsure of whom "that guy" might be.
Cheers for your response, I'd have gotten back sooner but <shrug> Timezones :-)
I am on Mastodon, and none of the people who follow me there or who I am following are techies - oh, except Cory Doctorow. All are refugees from Twitter.
Mastodon solves my problem, "How do I keep track of my friends without Twitter or Facebook" very well, and each day new friends of mine appear there.
