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Mastodon – an open source alternative to Twitter

mastodon.social Sites & organizations Organization & product sites Web & internet Candidate
Screenshot of mastodon.social captured 2026-07-20
Page preview · captured 2026-07-20

Resurfaced independently across 2 calendar years, with breakout response in 2 of them.

submissions
5
submitters
5
observed span
2017–2022
peak thread · 162 comments
241 pts
latest 20+ return · 2022-04-04
168 pts

Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

First comments on top threads

HN comment order

Perhaps it would be better to submit https://joinmastodon.org instead of the flagship instance. The project homepage has links to all the info as well as a directory of servers (instances), which might spread out new users better.

daveid·241-point thread·

I dismissed the importance of copywriters for important one-word labels until Mastodon deemed their posts "toots." Adoption is critical for social media, and cachet is critical for mass adoption. "Tooting" isn't the radio-friendly Big Bang Theory flavor of dorky— it's Segway-with-knee-pads dorky. I'll probably deploy an instance for kicks and giggles, but I can't see it taking off until it's a little more image savvy. Dorkiness can be an insurmountable obstacle. Just ask google glass.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13303346

dang·4-point thread·

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

Breakout years
2

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
415

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
227

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission