let’s address the possibility that like mastodon/matrix 99% of ppl will flock to the biggest handful of servers
What is the real value of decentralization given that? Outside of like political unrest.
And what role do small servers really do in that landscape? Obv “novelty” servers like midov cater to the like lolicon enthusiasts and I’m sure there are a few other servers dedicated to illegal things. Regional severs are quite compatible with various nationalists/patriots
Ease of use is certainly a consideration, but even if users are willing to do some legwork, the larger servers are going to be appealing based on the perception that they are less likely to go offline. While the opposite is probably true in the short term (the larger servers are more likely to get overloaded during the initial growth) it’s not a terrible indicator of them being well established.
One question I had, if I do want to start an account with another server or spin up my own locally, do I have to use a new unique username or would the same one work across servers?
Usernames are unique per server, like with email. I think I have an old @[email protected] account while now I’m using @[email protected].
Ah, I see. Local users don’t display the host (at least not on beehaw), that makes a lot of sense. Thanks!