-

2026-04-05 14:00:07

rysiek@mstdn.social

Happy ninth Mastodon Won't Survive Day to all who celebrate!
https://mashable.com/article/mastodon-wont-survive

#Fediverse #Mastodon

2026-04-05 14:02:38

*_jߍyrope

jrp@hub.kliklak.net

2026-04-05 14:05:07

Mx. Chara Aznable (they/them) of Pnictogen

mxchara@seattle.pink

@rysiek "William Shatner couldn't find me on Mastodon. This was a problem." oh is it

2026-04-05 14:05:20

Ramses Revengeday :cv_purple: :revengeday:

revengeday@corteximplant.com

@rysiek sad Lance Ulanoff noises

2026-04-05 14:06:32

Raphael Albert

r_alb@mastodon.social

@rysiek
Almost funny how years later Mastodon is alive and well, while anything else on the web is increasingly drowning in slop.

2026-04-05 14:12:02

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

rysiek@mstdn.social

I blogged about that last year:
https://mstdn.social/@rysiek/114284660479008679

To his credit, Lance Ulanoff admitted then he was wrong about fedi:
https://mastodon.social/@Lance_Ulanoff/114285108628269898

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 wrote the following post Sat, 05 Apr 2025 11:32:07 +0200

It's been eight years to the day since Lance Ulanoff, the storied Tech and Social Media Expert and an award-winning tech journalist, decided that Mastodon won't survive because William Shatner couldn't find him on here.

Eight years on, Mastodon stubbornly survives:
https://rys.io/en/177.html

Please join me in celebrating the annual Mastodon Won't Survive Day, right here on fedi.

🧵

#Mastodon #Fediverse #MastodonWontSurvive

2026-04-05 14:13:46

Tero Hänninen

0xtero@ohai.social

@rysiek oh I’ve been here for nine years? Damn time flies.

2026-04-05 14:20:04

Juno Jove

jupiter@mastodon.gamedev.place

@rysiek reading this article gave me a brain aneurysm

2026-04-05 14:20:38

Chris 🦑

sturmsucht@mastodon.social

This screenshot displays text on a plain white background, appearing to be an excerpt from an article or blog post. The text is in a dark, readable font. The first line states: "William Shatner couldn't find me on Mastodon." This is followed by <br />a line that reads: "This was a problem." Below these lines, there is a greyed-out message, indicating a broken link or removed content, which says: "This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed." This <br />message is particularly ironic, given the context of the article. The final visible paragraph begins with a blue, clickable link that says "Mastodon stomped onto the scene" and continues: "this week instantly generating some buzz as the <br />anti-Twitter. It looks and feels like Twitter. but is not a part of it." The irony highlighted by the user lies in an article, seemingly from nine years ago, discussing why Mastodon might not survive as an "anti-Twitter" platform, now <br />featuring a prominent notice that a linked Tweet is unavailable. This suggests a shift in the landscape of social media, where the platform once considered a rival (Twitter) now has content that is no longer accessible, while Mastodon has evidently <br />persisted.

@rysiek best in this article is the missing tweet from twitter.com

2026-04-05 14:22:41

I AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥

xinit@mastodon.coffee

@rysiek
John Mastodon brought me a rumpled paper bag full of chocolate-style ovoids! He also ate all the leftovers in my fridge and rifled through my closets, but you take the good, you take the bad.

2026-04-05 14:25:19

Joan CiberSheep (ell/això)

cibersheep@mastodont.cat

@rysiek I was going to say «I would not read it, but I didn't... sorry, I just read the headers XD XD and noooow, I will retut it

@revengeday

2026-04-05 14:26:09

nblr@chaos.social

@rysiek lol. Didn't have to read beyond "I signed up primarily to protect my name."
Yeah, uhm. Good to be here. Not missing those people.

2026-04-05 14:29:12

DJGummikuh

DJGummikuh@mastodon.social

William Shatner could not find the author in this screenshot on Mastodon. As a proof the author cites a tweet - which doesn't load

@rysiek I'm laughing WAY more than I should 🤣

2026-04-05 14:49:13

shellsharks

shellsharks@shellsharks.social

@rysiek Obviously this looks painfully ridiculous reading it from the year 2026, but even back then he was laying it on a bit too thick, like he wanted it to fail 😡.

We of course know it will live forever...

https://shellsharks.com/notes/2023/11/18/mastodon-will-never-die

2026-04-05 15:02:36

GeorgeK

georgek@mastodon.green

@rysiek "There is nothing intrinsically wonderful about Mastodon aside from the fact that it's not Twitter." - there is lack of understanding in that statement from the article. Like completely missing the point. But hey ho, we're here on this dead platform after many years :-)

2026-04-05 15:09:32

Face Thumb

chrisp@cyberplace.social

@rysiek How is the Metaverse going, anyway?

Mastodon has outlived the Metaverse, bitcoin usefulness, NFTs...

2026-04-05 15:12:03

millennial fulcrum

falcennial@mastodon.social

@rysiek lmao brilliant! happy website day everybody, this is a good and funny reminder to toss a coin to our instance provider for suurre

2026-04-05 15:14:41

stonedonkey 🕹️🎮👾

TheStoneDonkey@beige.party

@rysiek Mastodon having a bit of a learning curve is one of the best things about it IMO.

Much like the Internet before AOL and the masses having easy access, and we all saw how that went.

2026-04-05 15:16:42

stux⚡️

stux@mstdn.social

In trying to be the anti-twitter, Mastodon's Rochko chose the dumbest and most ridiculous post name possible: Toots. This too-cute take-off on Tweets literally hurts me every time I say and do it on Mastodon.

@rysiek What "reporter" uses words like this in a tech article

I think they had the feeling they where on Twitter still

Clowns! 🤡

2026-04-05 15:46:26

🤯Matera the Mad🤯

matera@mastodon.sdf.org

@rysiek YES! Bumblebees can't fly 🤣 🤣 🤣

2026-04-05 15:47:21

dB Cooper

CoolerPseudonym@wandering.shop

@rysiek He was right. It did die

2026-04-05 15:57:37

Daniel Hinojosa :mastodon:

dhinojosa@mastodon.social

@rysiek I love Mastodon, but the term "toot" is still ridiculous and reminds me of farting. I had wished "verse" (as in Metaverse) was the choice for posting something, and if someone reposts it, it would be a re-verse. Which would have been a clever word trick

2026-04-05 16:03:18

Netraven

Netraven@hear-me.social

@rysiek John Mastodon has risen!

2026-04-05 16:10:27

Domestic Supply :verified:

ddgulledge@social.linux.pizza

@rysiek I wasn't aware there was a specific day to celebrate.

2026-04-05 16:14:37

Franz Graf

hikingdude@mastodon.social

@rysiek 😂👍

2026-04-05 16:22:18

dnparadice

dnparadice@mastodon.social

@rysiek it was fortold that the troglodyte Lance Ulanoff would emerge from his rock and proclaim that mastodon was not his friend then go back under his rock while shaking his fist at the clouds in the sky. And so it was

2026-04-05 16:22:48

Petra van Cronenburg

NatureMC@mastodon.online

@rysiek I remember well using it in it's beginnings. But I gave up because I could only find tech nerds at that time instead of Gene Roddenberry. 😉🤣😂🤣 When I came back years later, the audience fortunately had widened. We now have even Star Trek embroidery! https://mastodon.art/@inarticulatequilter/116352586519746418

2026-04-05 16:23:17

millennial fulcrum

falcennial@mastodon.social

@rysiek that scrub, what a fuckwit. I am glad that saying toots literally hurt him. may he keep saying it. on twitter. where he belongs.

2026-04-05 16:23:48

wordsmith‽ ⁂

wordsmith@writing.exchange

@rysiek it sure has failed as an experiment!

Sent from my iPhone

2026-04-05 16:27:39

(Matthew)=> 🏳️‍🌈🇿🇦🎮💻📖

mdstevens0612@mas.to

@rysiek Glad he took being wrong in good spirits but man, this article is super obnoxious. And NGL, I will never lose sleep over William Shatner not being able to find me on mastodon. Now if it were maybe Chris Pine...

2026-04-05 16:31:39

Bodhipaksa

bodhipaksa@mastodon.scot

@rysiek What a terrible article. It doesn't even give credit to John Mastodon for creating this site in the first place!

2026-04-05 16:43:45

Massimo

mcm_63@mastodon.uno

@rysiek

„Unless someone buys the code off Rochko today and consolidates this mess ASAP, it can't survive.“

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

2026-04-05 16:44:46

Luigi.exe (Dragonheart System)

Eeveecraft@dragonscave.space

@rysiek

Welp, he was wrong about Mastodon fizzling out in two weeks, but the one thing he wasn't wrong about was Mastodon growing stagnant. Mastodon's sat at the same active user counts for a while and it's plateau'd. The platform hasn't seen any significant growth since the 2022 Twitter exodus, and though growth obviously isn't everything, Mastodon remains relatively niche.

Still, funny reading about this dude just having a massive skill-issue with using Mastodon.

#Mastodon #Twitter #FediMeta

2026-04-05 17:01:33

Demian

dgodon@mastodon.online

@rysiek some of the criticisms seem legit and still pose challenges. And it got a pretty good boost from the birdsite imploding. But I’m glad to see it still going and slowly improving. So nice to have a non commercial social media space!

2026-04-05 17:05:06

Dan

dank@jorts.horse

@rysiek

Terrible name

lol

"Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable"

2026-04-05 17:07:14

Rachel Parker

haunted_refrigerator@theforkiverse.com

@rysiek Ha ha ha ha ha ha...solid!

2026-04-05 17:08:00

WanWizard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇳🇱

wanwizard@mastodon.scot

@rysiek LanceUlanoff: "This profile has been hidden by the moderators of mastodon.scot."

2026-04-05 17:15:25

Stadtkind

stadtkind@chaos.social

mastodon is the level of petty I aspire to

2026-04-05 17:32:10

Robert Drózd

rdrozd@101010.pl

@rysiek wrzuciłem na facebooka :D widzę, że powody do narzekania są co roku podobne.

2026-04-05 17:37:27

PKs Powerfromspace1

Powerfromspace1@mstdn.social

@rysiek 🫡

2026-04-05 17:40:54

Leander Lindahl

leanderlindahl@social.folkdata.se

@rysiek what a treat
"Mastodon cannot live on hype alone." 😂

2026-04-05 17:41:27

Michael 🇨🇦 🗺

mikec1953@mas.to

@rysiek did Lance make it? 😉

2026-04-05 17:45:48

Oberst Enzian

oberstenzian@mastodon.social

@rysiek That aged well lol

Ulanoff sounds like a very self important person. Hopefully he chose to remain on X.

2026-04-05 17:47:49

MeaningfulBits

MeaningfulBits@mastodon.social

@rysiek it's bitter sweet to see that Lance is no longer a tech writer and he's just posting bird photos on #Facebook.

2026-04-05 17:55:49

david :catjam:

daviddd@mastodon.social

@rysiek lmao

2026-04-05 18:03:18

don Elías (como los buses) 🥨

donelias@mastodon.cr

@rysiek please don't open that article, they'll see an uptick in traffic coming from Mastodon, which won't survive

2026-04-05 18:06:57

Ralf Hüls 📸

kamerakata@ruhr.social

@rysiek
There were three men come out of the West
Their fortunes for to try.
And these three men made a solemn vow.
John Mastodon must die.

2026-04-05 18:14:55

Jimmothy Baggins

64bithero@mstdn.games

@rysiek to me there is fundamental flaws in his arguments and to anyone trying to mock him.

On one hand the chief complaint of Mastodon for him and for many is also its biggest feature. By its very nature Mastodon has no reason to ever “die”. It has no stakeholders no profit margins no business to keep a float. If someone just one person is willing to keep a server running In their basement forever with Mastodon on it. Mastodon will live for ever.

The gist of argument in my view ? Or what I see is the argument; is that Mastodon will never outgrow Twitter or X. And I agree, it won’t. Mastodon GMBH essentially guaranteed that by killing the ability to find other servers while using their servers.

I am done caring if Mastodon grows to billions. If people don’t want to put in a little work and see something amazing. That’s their problem ! Mastodon has plenty of interesting funny people who toot everyday. And that’s more than enough for me

The article itself is douchey as I imagine the author of it Is. But I think the argument is won that Mastodon will not achieve mainstream. My argument is that doesn’t matter.

2026-04-05 18:18:00

cybervegan

cybervegan@autistics.life

@rysiek It'll never catch on. Lol.

2026-04-05 18:23:08

Angie

angiebaby@mas.to

@rysiek Insightful views on Mastodon from a man who ... *reads again* ... set up an account solely to stop someone else from signing up using his name ... clearly not realizing there is no central username database for Mastodon.

2026-04-05 18:39:46

drathvedro

drathvedro@mastodon.social

@rysiek Uh-huh. Great post to see in trending after coming from threads to check if mastodon gained any traction yet (it didn't)

2026-04-05 19:13:49

Denis Rangelov

rangelovd@mastodon.ml

Screenshot of mashable website opened with "you are unable to access" error

@rysiek 1 reason Mashable won't survive

2026-04-05 19:38:32

hoek 💎

h03k@mastodon.social

@rysiek It's funny that it has been and will continue to be here much longer than anyone predicted. To me, it sounds like a complaint that it's not like Twitter or Facebook, and because of that, it will die soon. So, next year and the year after that, someone could write this again and again, but then, after a decade, it will still be here with all its users.

2026-04-05 19:53:56

Michel Sardon 🎸

sardon@framapiaf.org

@rysiek quelle clairvoyance ! 🙃

2026-04-05 20:04:37

Dan, the world needs an enema!

WastelandWandrr@freeradical.zone

@rysiek Know-it all newbies have a Dunning-Kruger vibe to them, at least Mastodon is not a Nazi-bar!

2026-04-05 20:42:15

MrGrumpyMonkey

mrgrumpymonkey@mastodon.social

@rysiek Ah yes. Opinions on new tech and services of those who have drank the Koolaid. Gatta love the fact the article just sits there frozen in time, while the rest of the world continues to move forward. The internet truly never forgets.

2026-04-05 20:46:16

hicksy2

hicksy2@mastodon.green

@rysiek I started following this Lars Ulanoff, if he's such a big cheese. Couldn't find William Shatner though.

2026-04-05 20:47:20

spinnyspinlock

spinnyspinlock@infosec.exchange

@rysiek > I registered on the upstart social media platform using, as I always do, my full name: "LanceUlanoff" to protect it from potential social media identity poachers (they're everywhere).

who?

2026-04-05 20:47:23

Tattie

Tattie@eldritch.cafe

@rysiek oh yeah, I remember Mastodon. Wonder what happened to it?

2026-04-05 20:57:33

Wokebloke for Democracy

dougiec3@libretooth.gr

@rysiek
Yay?

2026-04-05 21:42:08

Rycochet

Rycochet@furs.social

@rysiek A platform's success is now measured by the tech press in terms of exponential growth only. If you don't double or quadruple in size every year, you're doomed, dying or already dead. Stable isn't enough, even for things not designed to be for profit.

2026-04-05 22:03:57

Stefan

ndajz@mastodon.me.uk

@rysiek even highly trained neuroscientists have struggled to locate Shatner's Bassoon

2026-04-05 22:47:00

disorderlyf

disorderlyf@todon.eu

Excerpt of the first two sentences of the article followed by a box that presumably is supposed to be an embedded tweet. The text is as follows, "William Shatner couldn't find me on Mastodon. This was a problem. This Tweet is currently unavailable. <br />It might be loading or has been removed."

@rysiek I think this screenshot speaks for how badly this article aged.

2026-04-05 22:49:02

cognitively accessible math

geonz@mathstodon.xyz

@rysiek the reasons aren't even the actual issues that Mastodon has, except the reality that yes, it really is harder to grow a community and find folks. But "But it's still our Twitter and when looked at in comparison to Mastodon, it looks good." I do understand he's figured out a few things since then.

2026-04-05 23:10:53

Steffen Voß

kaffeeringe@social.tchncs.de

@rysiek Mastodon lives as long as there are at least two people on it.

2026-04-05 23:47:03

Esme Ciredutemps

ciredutempsEsme@mamot.fr

Qp @rysiek i had never read it. That's wonderful

2026-04-05 23:58:10

Roxy ⭐ (she/her)

roxystar@mastodon.social

@rysiek does anyone want cake? 🎂🍰

2026-04-06 00:50:10

@iveyline

Iveyline@mastodon.nz

@rysiek it pays to have an open mind and not jump to conclusions. I'm so happy Mastodon is what it is. It is my space and not owned by giant couldn't care less codporates. Ironic really that Mastodon has steadily grown whilst Twitter has become the cesspool that is known today as X.

2026-04-06 03:17:22

Daniel ☀:oh_no_bubble:

danielmunoz@maly.io

@rysiek That article is an ode to ignorance and mediocrity.

2026-04-06 08:33:38

Gary Houston

ghouston@mamot.fr

@rysiek this "Mastodon" sounds pretty bad if you get stuck in a closed-off room and can't even see any other people.

Edit: although I can also see the upside.

2026-04-06 14:24:50

nojhan, Cassandre de l’analyse systémique

nojhan@social.antigene.org

A screen capture of the aforementionned article, showing an error saying: "This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed."

@rysiek Oh the irony…  ↴

2026-04-06 22:49:11

Sin Vega

sinvega@mas.to

@rysiek I wish mastodon had survived, so that I could reply to this 😞

2026-04-06 23:34:04

KeithWM

KeithWM@mastodon.social

@rysiek I only observe the lustra, if that's even a thing in English Latin.

2026-04-07 00:46:27

ケレムさん 🏴‍☠️ イラスト :unverified:

keremgoart@mstdn.social

@rysiek 😂👍

2026-04-07 01:41:25

Lucky ✨

lucky@mastodon.nz

@rysiek LANCE IS THE EDITOR IN CHIEF FOR TECH RADAR NOW? MAN

2026-04-07 14:47:26

Karen E. Lund 💙💛

Karen5Lund@mastodon.social

@rysiek Thanks for sharing! It's been a while since I last re-read this.

I joined Mastodon in September 2018 and this article was a significant influence on my decision to join.

2026-04-21 13:54:02

pancake 🌱🥞

pancake@mastodont.cat

@rysiek 2017 vibes

2026-04-24 09:19:21

Luke Harby

lukeharby@infosec.exchange

@rysiek I mean 9 years can be a very long time for social media.

2026-04-24 09:21:07

Luke Harby

lukeharby@infosec.exchange