>>8
That was a mistake in hindsight though, one of the disadvantages of distributed networks is that they are harder to moderate effectively. That's why, over time more and more of the instances that were created as "Twitter without Nazis", contemplated de-federating or whitelist federation, which stood in conflict with those who were interested in a distributed network for technical reasons.
>>8,9
Regarding Twitter, I recommend reading White by Bret Easton Ellis. He's a left-leaning gay writer (I never knew he was gay, he doesn't seem to make a whole identity from his sexual orientation). You'll learn more about ``Generation Wuss'' and harassment from the other side of the political spectrum. It's probably one of the best essay I've read in 2019 (I troll you not) and it's a story of contemporary events (post-2016 global nervous breakdown)
Otherwise, I agree with you on Mastodon. The signal/noise ratio is immeasurably better than Twitter's. It simply doesn't appeal to nazi trolls. Discussions seem to be more technical than political anyway and the alt-right simpletons have their own Gab Twitter clone. I don't miss the emotional crew either, to be honest. Besides, Mastodon's interface is not only user-friendly: it's beautiful. It's a proof that open source projects can come with polished UIs too.
>>11,12
Federated networks have that inherent problem: some content could be censored on a particular instance but not on another. If your interests are programming, technology and knitting, and if you're careful to stay away from the political shitshow, I doubt you'll notice it anyway.