@larand Why not just buy an unlocked phone and be done with it? Oh yeah, Verizon…
@indigo mastodon.social being the "main" instance is a bit of misnomer. That said, I agree with you: that instance is not a great one to start out with. It's like Twitter.
// @larand
@hazardwarning Amaroq will eventually have multi-instance support (it's one of their most requested features). Not sure on a light theme, but I can see how some people would want it.
// @larand
@indigo It's software you can run anywhere. I can run an instance at home if I want and have that instance Federate with everyone else. Just like email. And bulletin boards that were on Fidonet back in the day.
Like any Open Source project, Mastodon doesn't necessarily market itself well. As for the problem it solves, I think of it this way: I can get the benefits of a small community like we have on 10C and Pnut (people give a crap and generally behave according to mutually agreeable norms) with the benefits of something that can connect more globally, if desired.
Finding those communities is still the perennial challenge, just like it's always been.
// @larand
@indigo Here's a good overview [medium.com] on Mastodon that might explain a few things about it much better.
// @larand @jws
@hazardwarning unfortunately there is only one iOS client at the moment (thought a couple are in development).
// @larand
@indigo Think of email. We all either host our own email servers or use one that someone else hosts. We may have multiple email accounts. And, yet, we can all communicate with one another.
Why would you choose one email server over the other? Maybe you don't like your ISP. Maybe you don't trust Google, Yahoo, or some "large entity" to keep your data private and/or to use your data against you. Or you want something that is independent of your ISP.
Mastodon works exactly the same way as email in these cases. I can be on one instance because I like the rules or community that has formed there, you can be on another that has different rules and a different community, and yet we can still interact across these instances.
// @larand
@hazardwarning those are two streams on the same account. I want different accounts hosted on different instances without having to log out/in again.
// @larand