Even worse, users can signup on a random server then it can end up on one of the big server blacklists (or get shutdown) and they won’t be able to see or participate in major portions of the network.

Try explaining to your mom why she needs to sign up again on a different URL, its no walk in the park (especially if you want to keep your old ‘tweets’ via backups):

https://nerdschalk.com/how-to-switch-servers-on-mastodon-eve...

If Mastodon grows bigger and blacklists grow, it could easily Balkanize, and it will be clear it’s more of a competitor or add-on to existing niche forums/communities. Something not really in the spirit of public social networks like Twitter. Which is totally fine, just different.

…assuming they figure out the UX/UI issues to help it “cross the chasm” (which I’m skeptical will happen soon, that usually takes core leadership, good design is rarely tacked on afterwards). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm?wprov=sfti1