I have specifically qualified my statement to cross-posts that include the "RT" text and all sorts of broken references to avoid "not all cross-posts" responses, but I still got them. Okay then.
Unsurprisingly, I indeed believe that Mastodon is better than Twitter, and prefer seeing posts created here over posts created somewhere else.
I also think that the ability to cross-post from Twitter works against Mastodon adoption.
"Ability to cross-post from Twitter works against Mastodon adoption"
My thesis on this is simple. People choose the easiest path. If the destination is "try Mastodon", one path is "log on and use Mastodon" and the other is "set an automated cross-poster, keep using Twitter". So, people who might have otherwise committed to using Mastodon, for there not being another option to "get on it", now have the option not to.
I have observed this trend before and after the cross-poster became available.
@gargron The problem in this, again and again, is: Choosing a "social network", messenger, ... isn't something an individual can do on her/his/its own. Usually you're wired with a certain community, and the larger it is, the more difficult moving from one network to another will be. Personally, I don't want cross-posting features at all - I *just* want to connect to my contacts and interact with them seamlessly, I do not want to have to care about which platform they are on. Look ...
That's still crossposting. The only difference is aesthetics. No convenience would be worth what we would lose. The diversity of the internet is what makes it worthwhile. It would be a nightmare as far as harassment. Being able to mass-post across any & all sites with one click would make having distinct sites pointless. It would mean a homogenized internet which would lend itself to corporations/gov't controlling it all. It's against the spirit of the internet.
@transwarp I think that restrictions on crosspostings, if any, shouldn't be set to a source/originating system/client application. They should be set on authenticated users, on behalf of whom these crosspostings are done.
@z428 @ZeniorXV @Gargron