a post for helping ppl onboard to mastodon/fedi:
okie, so someone is wanting you to get on mastodon/fedi
what the heck is it?
it's a better way to do life and share life online
you know how a gmail user can send things to a hotmail user?
it's kinda like that
you choose a server (also called an instance) that is your home-base and then public posts you make are "federated" out to servers all around the world
you can choose to keep posts private and only limited to your followers or even to just one person
there are no ads
there is no algorithm: we are the algorithm by reposting/boosting other ppls posts and being an active participant in creating things or just talking
it kinda feels like the Internet of old and it gives me hope
you can follow hashtags to get a feed of other folks doing similar things to you
many news orgs are on here too bc of flipboard
you can follow RSS feeds even with rss-parrot
wanna change your instance? you can! your followers and following lists can be imported to a new instance
some instances (like mine) have character counts past 10k, so you can post longer form content too
what's "fedi" mean?
fedi or the fediverse refers to how it's not just Mastodon that counts in this network: there are many other compatible softwares besides mastodon that are still all interconnected
mastodon is a non-profit project developed on top of protocol called activity-pub and it's what drives the fediverse
for instance (heh), a good instance for fellow trans folks is transfem.social which uses a software called sharkey instead of mastodon, but they still communicate with each other
i recommend getting started on a mastodon instance:
- infosec.exchange
- catgirl.cloud
- lgbtqia.space
- you can also take a look at featured instances: https://joinmastodon.org/servers
sometimes, depending on the server, sign up times can take a min
but once you get on and established (did you remember to turn on your 2fa?), make sure to add some details to your profile!
a lot of folks here don't wanna interact with blank accounts or accounts with no posts
once you get a bit setup, how do you find ppl?
well, first recommendation is to create an introduction post (tagged with hashtags)
here is mine for an example:
https://infosec.exchange/@sparklepanic/114923778190319719
you can browse more related content by clicking on the hashtags in the post
hashtags are important to how discovery works on fedi
the culture of fedi is to ALWAYS use the CW (content warning) function for anything remotely 18+/nsfw and ALWAYS use alt-text on images (the descriptions for those with disabilities)
please don't boost images if they don't have alt-text
there are quite a few trans/poly/sex-positive ppl on fedi and the way we keep it nice is by making sure to always mark things with CW (even politics for a lot of folks is important, with "uspol" as the cw)
follow these to get started (not in any particular order, some do post 18+ occasionally, but they content warn)
following ppl is a bit different if they are on a different server:
when you click on them, if they don't share your home instance, you'll see something like "remote follow this person" and then you put your home instance URL into the box (to the instance ur already logged into) and then you can follow them!
- https://infosec.exchange/@catsalad
- https://mastodon.social/@404mediaco
- https://infosec.exchange/@SwiftOnSecurity
- https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci
- https://defcon.social/@deviantollam
- https://reentry.codl.fr/@apod
- the "catsofmastodon" hashtag
- a hashtag related to you local area (since im in Portland, i follow the "pdx" hashtag)
- https://mas.to/@skeletor
- https://mastodon.social/@eff
- https://lgbtqia.space/@alice
another thing i should mention is defederation and codes of conduct: each instance has it's own code of conduct and the whole space has it's own version of netiquette, keeping ppl accountable for their posts and if it gets really bad, instances will "defederate" from each other so that you don't have to see content that is harmful or that doesn't abide by community standards
remember, these servers are basically all operated by volunteers: people with technical ability put them online at cost to themselves and they are usually administering it as a side-project or as a public service
make sure to throw some money at your instance admin if you can
https://fedi.tips/ is also a good resource! (or here on mastodon @FediTips
what the hecc app do i use?
i recommend using the progressive web app (PWA): this is the "add to home screen" thing in ur browser and it behaves like a native app
you'll also see i had typos in this post, but mastodon supports edits, so it's okie!
fedi is really cool and im so happy to be part of the community and hope that you too can be active online in ways that actually honor our humanity
