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The thing I love about this post and all its replies, is the stark difference in replies in answer to Brent's very reasonable question.
Some folks:
* It's the starter packs / easier onboarding!
Other folks:
[I'll let you read those replies]
https://mastodon.online/@BrentToderian/113478939656417633
If you think it's the starter packs / easier onboarding, then that leads you to want easier onboarding for Mastodon
If you think it's a character flaw or moral failing in people that choose BlueSky, that leads to doing nothing
I love BlueSky, mainly because it's now our best bet at Twitter not being as influential in the US midterm elections (that are coming up sooner than we think).
I like to brag and boast when I am right about a call, so it's only fair to admit when I'm wrong: I really thought Mastodon would get it together on the onboarding and trust and safety front.
In fairness, Mastodon is getting it together... but just far too slowly to matter. A slow "yes" is often the same outcome as a "no."
@mekkaokereke I think one part of it is that getting something right in a way that lasts does take an incredibly long time. Time which we may legitimately not have. The other part is what you said: getting people out of Twitter is in itself a crucially important goal.
So while BS isn't for me, I'm fine with it. And if Mastodon keeps improving and keeps the embers burning, then it will still be there if BS burns out (which I think BS will based on just the complete lack of a monetization plan).
@bcdavid @mekkaokereke I've already seen a couple of posts on Bluesky saying there should be a way now for people to give money to the project. How often do you see that in a for-profit project?
The monetization plan is some kind of premium membership. What if 10% of a future 30 million user base is willing to pay $100/yr for a membership - same price as individual Github Copilot? That's a $300 million/yr business.
@smach @bcdavid @mekkaokereke to be fair keeping up this Mastodon instance of mine is like a $45/mo labor of love between cloud services and hosting. I could be convinced to pay $15/mo if there was enough upside. Namely, I’d love if I could just have AT Protocol and ActivityPub support out of the box, merge the two accounts into one thing.
@smach @bcdavid @mekkaokereke
I’ve seen it more than you might think. Normally is via the taking of free labour for an ideology based initiate that’s privately owned. They are so well positioned they can all for cash.
I’m not dunking on BlueSky for being BlueSky or Facebook Threads for being Facebook. It just sounds like exploration of the naive.
I also agree that Mastodon needs to up its game or lose. It needs to get off its high horse 
. The size of Mastodon will be directly proportional to the work gone into it, which currently is proportional to its core team. It can’t grow very well.
@smach @bcdavid @mekkaokereke That probably works, until some laden-with-cash other company buys them , seeing that there is an ongoing revenue stream.
@rsalz @smach @bcdavid @mekkaokereke
That's the thing -- before they start talking about treating BSky like a public service, BSky needs to be under co-operative ownership, so it cannot be bought out. Otherwise it'll ultimately just be another case of giving money to the rich.
@smach @mekkaokereke I hate to be cynical, but if that plan is not in place right now after a massive influx of VC cash, then experience tells me that it will never be in place.
I genuinely hope I'm wrong.
@bcdavid @mekkaokereke I don't look at joining Bluesky like I'm getting married! It's meeting some of my current needs that Mastodon doesn't, altho I also like it here too.
They've had an enormous influx of users. I'm impressed the infrastructure hasn't crumbled,. Blusky has got a lot to do before adding on premium features, and I consider it a plus that they're worried about the basics first.
We'll see how much protection being a Public Benefits Corp offers.
@smach @bcdavid @mekkaokereke The issue tends to be for profit companies don’t want some of the money from people, they want all the money. Perhaps Bluesky leadership does not feel that way, but once you take on VC funding users eventually feel that squeeze….we shall see what happens