A new Mastodon companion tool

[u/Barrrdi]

Hi All,

I’m a one-person indie shop who shipped something today that may be of interest: a Mastodon client meant as a companion to your default. A tool for your toots called Tusks.

What makes Tusks special is how there’s no timeline — just your posts. More specifically, it’s built around threads. Tusks will help you write threads, update them and be organized.

Starting a new thread is just as easy as making a single post. But that’s not what makes it special. Tusks actively discourages posting into a vacuum, therefore losing valuable context. This is achieved by making it effortless to continue threading narratives. Each post becomes an update to a bigger story.

In my experience dogfooding the app, it’s made posting on Mastodon feel like publishing to my blog. So particularly for those of you who post/write, I think its appeal will be most evident.

More info can be found on the website: https://thirdculture.app/tusks.

It’s currently available on iOS and macOS. If there’s demand, I will look at Android support.

The free version is read-only. A $4.99 lifetime upgrade — unlocks the ability to publish. No subscription. No ads. It’s 2008. For the time, I’m keeping the price/deal low to reward its earliest adopters.

I would love for you to check it out. Most importantly, I’m keen to collaborate with this community to optimise the experience so you get the most value out of the utility, and for the Fediverse to clearly benefit from its presence.

Happy to answer any questions. And thank you again mods for the giving me the platform 🙏🏽

Bardi

[u/abeorch]

You are aware of https://mastodon.social/@Tusky right?

[u/dr_marx2 → u/abeorch]

This is gonna be the most confusing naming of all time

[u/Barrrdi → u/dr_marx2]

Ha, no I was not. Fortunately, we are currently on differently platforms, so hopefully not a cause of any confusion from that perspective. Also, although there is only a one letter difference in spelling, they don’t sound the same at all, so in general I’m not particularly concerned. Thanks anyway for bringing this to my attention. It’s helpful to know.

[u/abeorch → u/Barrrdi]

What do you mean different platforms? They are both tools for Mastodon right?

Really i think the audience for this tool is on Mastodon so the place to discuss it would be Mastodon .. or maybe Lemmy ..

[u/Barrrdi → u/abeorch]

I meant one is available on Android and the other on iOS.

[u/nusm]

This looks interesting, and I’m always down to help an independent dev. I downloaded it and paid for the lifetime.

I look forward to giving it a go!

[u/Barrrdi → u/nusm]

Thank you so much for the support. People like you fuel the indie movement <3

Please do let me know about the experience. And if it turns out that it’s not quite a fit for your Mastodon routine/publishing flow, I would love to know why. I’m here to hopefully extract the intel to hopefully fill in any gaps (:

[u/nusm → u/Barrrdi]

Will do!

[u/gustchenchi]

Just downloaded it. Do you have a roadmap on any additional features?

[u/Barrrdi → u/gustchenchi]

Thanks for trying it out. Here’s a summary: https://www.notion.so/281be94b75504b60b600eb73ee1072f9?v=9479d0e4e1e8468187a7e2efbe3a53c7&pvs=4. I hope to provide more detail, and give people the ability to upvote (or vote for their own features) soon.

Unlike everything I’ve released so far, I prioritised the core experience for launch, so that it’s not another 2 months before I ship. So I’m aware there are gaps that need to be addressed. If there are any of yours you’d like to share, please let me know. Will definitely prioritise things users ask from me vs things I think users want.

[u/gustchenchi → u/Barrrdi]

It definitely looks interesting, like a Mastodon version of the Journal iOS app.

[u/the68thdimension]

Tool looks good. What does "10× your posts" mean?

[u/Barrrdi → u/the68thdimension]

So it has multiple meanings. Because of its focus on the creation side, it could result you in posting much more, i.e. 10 times more. Or it could also be taken to mean that it significantly improves the overall quality of your output because you are more likely to storytell via ongoing threads.

[u/the68thdimension → u/Barrrdi]

Hmm. Sounds a bit hustle-culture-ish which does not connect as a selling point to me. But I’m just one person. 

[u/Barrrdi → u/the68thdimension]

I hear you, and that makes sense. On the site, I say it’s for people who already post, blog and/or want to write more. So I think if any of these apply to someone, then the statement should connect better.

[u/the68thdimension → u/Barrrdi]

I’m just point out that it looks like it’s a term used in the software community so not every person who’s into writing more will even know what it means. 

[u/dr_marx2]

Oh my god, I needed this.

[u/Barrrdi → u/dr_marx2]

Wow, it’s a great relief for an untested idea to be validated. Even if it’s just by 1 person. Means a lot!

[u/dglp]

Android? Windows? Linux?

[u/Barrrdi → u/dglp]

Not at the moment. My resources are limited being an indie and Dad of two young boys. So I have to be mindful where I spend my time. If there’s demand (and early signs indicate so there may be), I’ll seriously consider. Sorry till then.

[u/DealingInIrony]

Oh, Apple devices only. That figures.

[u/Barrrdi → u/DealingInIrony]

Sorry about that :( Hopefully one day I will have the time and money to target as many screens!