An analogy we often use on the fediverse with respect to its decentralized nature is email. You didn't get an account on "The Email" you got an account on an email server which knew how to talk to other email servers. It is a great analogy. I've fallen into the trap of extending that to think that people used to get decentralized systems and it wasn't a barrier to entry but now they don't thanks to big tech changing expectations. While there is some of that a lot of that perception is rose colored glasses. The problem here goes back to the analysis paralysis of having to pick a server rather than there being some automatic default that "just works". "Didn't we do that with email?" Did we? Most people's first email accounts were from their ISP. Most places didn't have much selection of ISPs so you got "the internet" and "an email address" came along with it. If their first address wasn't a personal one at home it was one from work. Work made the decision for them. Even in the peak days of dialup many people's first internet experience was actually AOL not the raw internet. AOL came with an internet email address that "just worked". The aversion to extra inertia of having to choose servers or services at sign up time may be a bit higher than it was before FAANG took over the internet but it's still back to the same problem: human nature. #FAANG#fediverse#SocialMedia#commentary