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I think that's a reasonable description of the difference. Algorithms are very valuable tools for surfacing content that I will be interested in but didn't know to seek out. No matter how many people I follow on Mastodon, it won't be able to replicate having new interesting people and posts served up to me like that, nor the resulting vibe of everyone seeing a lot of the same viral content.
I started a Mastodon account before bluesky even existed, tried to get into it, was still trying when I got a bluesky account, and then was beat over the head with the superiority of bluesky despite having more of an ideological affinity for the Mastodon project. I still have that account but would be surprising if I started using it more, since the issues with Mastodon are pretty baked into the underlying design.
I see it as the difference between Windows and Linux. Windows has the benefits and drawbacks of centralization, and users get a lot of automated setup and compatibility with limited freedom and the acceptance that your data isn't yours. It's a business-centric model.
Linux, on the other hand, is free but has a steeper learning curve and the core ideology of the user's ability to do what they want is supreme. It's a user-centric model that is so vested in the whims of the user that many simply feel lost or confused.
I appreciate that some people don't have the inclination to be in the second group, but I do wish more people tried a little harder not to support blatant fascist conspiracy theorists like Melon Husk. It is possible to find new communities and make new friends, after all!
Anyway, I won't belabor the point any further. You seem like good people. Have a lovely day!
Haha I guess I cannot argue with the Windows-Linux comparison because that's another situation where I'm ideologically more sympathetic to the user controlled open source model, but am nevertheless a Windows user for the convenience. I don't really give much weight to ideology over user experience in making these kinds of choices, for better or worse. Sometimes the version I prefer ideologically produces a superior product because of that better outlook, but often the evil corporate version is a superior product because of their greater resources or greater concern with hooking customers or just network effects, and either way I'm getting the one I think is superior. I haven't even fully left reddit, though my usage is way way down.
I appreciate you less lazy and more willing to inconvenience yourselves in the name of the open software movement people, without you doing that everything would be worse, even for people using the corporate stuff who don't even know any alternative exists. Cheers