I see a lot of fresh complaints about Mastodon lacking a quote-tweet equivalent, and while I'll admit that there are a couple of agreeable arguments, people are neglecting some important details.
When you reply to someone, your reply will appear in your followers' feeds. If people want to see what you're disagreeing with, they can click and find out.
And if you want to add additional context, just reply and boost the OP. You'll be seen.
Mastodon doesn't need to be a carbon-copy of Twitter.
I also see a recurring argument that abusive comments deserve to be put on blast.
This fundamentally goes against the philosophy here.
If the post breaks the rules, report it. You don't need to give abusive people more visibility.
If the post doesn't break the rules, reply and disagree. You don't need to command your followers to join you - that is a dogpile, and it's not productive.
One of the big differences in moderation here is that mass-reporting doesn't escalate things like it does on Twitter.
If someone is abusive, and you report them, it will be reviewed by a human being, and they will decide if it breaks the rules.
Getting 20 other people to report the same post isn't going to change that. You're just giving the mods more work to do, especially if a dogpile emboldens the abuser to lash out at more people.
I feel like a lot of people who have spent years on Twitter are looking to return to the "old days" before Elon Musk, and likely even before Trump.
But people are so fixated on the features Twitter offered they are having trouble working with the tools they are given here.
The difference between Twitter and Mastodon aren't shortcomings, they are just facets of how Mastodon is a different place than Twitter.