Basically, for most non-technical users, it's easier to get into an exclusive country club than it is to get going on #Mastodon. Or at least it *feels* that way to them. The UX is from an inner circle of Hell. Do I need to be even more explicit? I hope not.

@lauren The biggest concern I have about Mastodon in the long run is that one of its strengths is one of its weaknesses.

The protocol is a protocol, but different nodes can implement the protocol differently. So there's a matrix of features one may or may not have depending on what node one is on. For example, over here. I can't just sub to a hashtag the way a quick Google suggests I should be able to; the admin unimplemented that in favor of a more elaborate regex-matching tool... Reached from an entirely different section of the UI.

That kind of fracturing leads to analysis-paralysis and is poison for adoption, but on the flip side how *cool* is it that my subscription is better-than-average? Like, neat!