When I joined Mastodon, this article really helped me to understand some of its history, and some of the feelings of people who've been here longer: https://medium.com/@alliethehart/gameingers-are-dead-and-so-is-mastodon-705b535ed616
It starts out gloomy and has talk about Mastodon dying and such, but it is really a great analysis of how community and development of a network like Mastodon are intertwined, and how things can go wrong.
Historical note: ITS BEEN began as a spoof of / means of testing CW's when they were first introduced months and months ago and is probably one of the most Masto-specific memes
A reminder about free/open source software for new ppl:
Twitter is a big corporation that has many programmers, designers, user support ppl, etc. Mastodon doesn't.
We just have average people doing this on the side, often in their underpants at 2 a.m., on a volunteer basis/for donations. It's up to US to help improve Mastodon.
To help out:
https://discourse.joinmastodon.org/
https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon
https://www.patreon.com/mastodon
also new and old masto users alike: while we're a lot more secure & private, mastodon code does allow your admin(s) to look for anything your post, including DMs. i'm betting there are no DM-snooping admins out there right now, but it does mean you have to trust your admin to maintain good security practices to keep hackers out, & to just generally be a decent human. it also means you should look at the code of conduct for your instance and make sure it's in line with your own values & needs.
the most important ways in which instances differ from each other are:
- moderators and moderation policy
- the public timeline, i.e. connections to other instances. some instances connect with new ones automatically, while others do it manually and are more selective
- the local timeline - basically, your instance neighbors!
hello newcomers. your instance is your "home base", but you can follow and be followed by people from other instances. feel free to shop around and see if there's one you feel most at home at! however, you shouldn't feel pressured to *maintain* accounts on multiple instances unless it's for a specific reason.
@Trev Want to add: You can keep your blocking and following lists. There's import/export under settings.
Don't stress about your followers. Make a few posts that you've moving over and then be happy in your new home.
@selfagency i'd also like to add that if the admin of the instance you're on is cool with federating with nazi-infiltrated instances, demand better. they may not realize they're enabling bigotry by not blocking that instance entirely, or maybe they're a sympathizer and it's time for a new instance. lotsa good ones out there. punch more nazis and make more nazi-punchin' friends.
Since there are apparently a lot of new Mastodon users today, it's a good time to mention I've put together a list of resources for Mastodon newbies: https://github.com/nolanlawson/resources-for-mastodon-newbies/blob/master/README.md
smol cat learning about the cyber machines. EN & DE. they, it / per, es, ersie, xier. @maunzikation @maunzikation