intro to the fediverse
this is a casual introduction to the fediverse (mastodon et al.) I wrote for a friend. I have shared it a few times, so I'm putting it here for ease of reference.
general
the general style of fedi is microblogging (and sometimes more macroblogging). There's posts (image/video/audio and polls supported) and hashtags. Depending on your server, your post character limit will vary - some servers allow posts as long as you would ever want, but servers that haven't customized their post limit will be at 500 if I recall correctly. My favorite features of fedi are a) it is not corporate-run and b) there are no ads!
usernames are @user@server. Your server determines things like your post limit, what your UI looks like, who your mods are, and what rules you have to follow. Most of the UIs are pretty similar, so don't worry about that - just know that if you hop servers the interface may be a new color or have a few small changes. (You can also on mobile use an app - I don't recommend the "main" mastodon app. I use tusky on android and like it. Idk about apple, maybe ask for recs.)
servers
all servers can, in theory, talk to each other. It's like email, using gmail doesn't mean you can only communicate with other gmail users. However, in practice, some servers have "defederated" from others, or have limitations in place that mean you'll review notifications from people on that server before accepting them. "Defederation" basically just means blocking - when two servers are connected, we say they are "federated" - this is where the "fed" part of "fediverse" comes from. (Mastodon, on the other hand, is just one of many apps that make up the fediverse.)
by and large, all (good) servers have defederated from the really trashy ones that host bigoted shit. But there's some borderline cases. For example, the "main" mastodon server run by the people who develop mastodon - mastodon.social - is huge and has signups totally open to anyone with no review. That means it is very vulnerable to waves of spam or rather unfriendly content. Because of this, some very solid servers consider limiting or blocking mastodon.social (or already have) despite its relevance as a huge presence in the fediverse.
because of the size, I would never recommend signing up with mastodon.social. Your moderation experience is likely to be terrible. Being on a smaller server allows you to have a more personal relationship with your mods!
speaking of your mods, they are usually moderating and paying for the server at no cost to the users, and it's good practice to chuck them some change every once and a while.
moving between servers
you can migrate between servers, and your old account will point visitors over to your new account - but be aware that your posts don't migrate with you. This is very annoying for many people. The posts won't go away (they're still attached to the old account), but you won't be able to continue to edit them or see notifications for them. If you're really attached to a particular post, I recommend re-making it on the new account.
other benefits and community norms
you can edit posts! You can pin posts to your profile! And if you're invested in digital privacy, you can set a deletion timeline for your posts (with granular settings like "posts with at least this many likes/boosts don't get deleted" and similar rules). You can also set your account up so you have to manually approve people before they can follow you (because of this, it's a good idea to fill in some basic profile info before following people - a lot of people who manually approve followers will deny requests from empty profiles).
image/video/audio content supports alt text and I highly recommend writing it, as many users won't boost posts that lack alt text. Depending on what software your server is running, you may or may not be able to set alt text for your profile/header photos - this is a newer feature that not all servers have yet, so I would recommend adding alt text for those pictures somewhere in your profile even if you are able to set it.
posts also include a content warning or subject field, and it's generally good practice to use it for sensitive topics - some people also just use it more like an actual subject field. Some common abbreviations for CWs are "mh/ph" - mental health/physical health - and "pol" - politics. Idk why people abbreviate their CWs when the character limits are often so big.
choosing a server
choosing a server can be daunting. It's helpful to look at things like the rules and the size of the moderation team compared to the size of the userbase. The server name can be part of your choice! That's a tiny but fun benefit of unique servers. For example, I am at flipping.rocks and we love the outdoors, critters, etc. It's not as crafty of a server, but my photography and general love of nature fits in really well (and often you don't need to "fit" a server really - it's just nice to have a theme).
I generally recommend that people use their first 3-6 months looking at other servers and listening to the folks around them about whether they like their server. You may feel right at home in your starting server, or you may find something you like better, in which case you can learn how to migrate (happy to help).
getting started
your feed will be oh so empty! There is no "algorithm" in the sense that we think of one in other corporate-run social medias. What you see is the posts/boosts of people you follow, as well as hashtags you follow, in reverse chronological order.
I recommend a few things to get started:
- make a post with the hashtag #introduction as well as #hashtags of your interests, and say hi! That lets people meet you and introduce themselves
- check out the "local" feed for your server and see who is around on there to follow
- use tools like communitywiki.org/trunk or fedi.directory/ to find people based on topic