It seems like a big structural risk to Mastodon is that unless you're running your own server you're essentially trusting the stranger who runs the instance. Not just to act in good faith, but also to keep the server running.
@ebarrett true, or email. But I think it will become a real problem for Mastodon vs a theoretical problem for the others. There are dozens of federated servers right now, realistically how many of those will exist in a year?
@paulgb It seems like a big structural risk to Twitter is that literally no matter what you're essentially trusting the strangers, who have literally no motivation to do what you want, who are running the server. Not just to act in good faith, which they have no incentive to, but also to keep the server running.
I don't think you're wrong, but it's true with literally any Internet service, and I'm much more inclined to trust Gargron than Jack.
@tindall they have a financial incentive to keep the server running, because that's the only way they can show ads.
I'm less worried about mastadon.social and more worried about the other instances, some of which will likely be fly-by-night. And the loss of user trust that will occur when that happens.
@paulgb Well, you could say the same for twitter too!