I searched and didn't see a Mastodon thread elsewhere, so here we go.
While the electric-ship-rocket-car "Space Karen" burns his new $44 billion toy to the ground, decentralized social media platform Mastodon has seen the kind of surge in adoption that has eluded it up until this point.
Get Started
1. Pick a server to join
2. Create an account on that server
3. Login
4. Follow @[email protected]
5. Follow other people too I guess
6. Tweet "Toot" something (yes, they're called "toots").
7. Post your account here, for the rest of us to follow
The following is my understanding of how Mastodon works, and how best to explain it, given my incredibly limited time using it. There may be inaccuracies or just plain nonsense below...
What you need to know to use Mastodon, in a nutshell:
Mastodon is decentralized Twitter, which is less technical or intimidating than it sounds.
Think of Mastodon's "decentralized" nature like your email service: there's no one central service called "Email", but rather you sign up with a particular email provider (Gmail, Hotmail, etc), and you can send and receive messages with everyone else who uses email, regardless of if they're on the same provider or a different one.
On Mastodon, you register an account on a specific server, and you can read Mastodon posts from people regardless of what server they're on. So whereas you might have registered @buttface on Twitter, on Mastodon, if you create your account on the "mastodon.xyz" server, you'll be @[email protected], and you'll access Mastodon by logging into the https://mastodon.xyz website.
How do I choose a server?
This is probably the part that trips people up the most. Many servers are themed around a certain concept (tech, a geographical region, LGBT, etc), though generally, these themes are more about attracting like-minded users than driving people to post a certain kind of content.
Each server can have different rules for use. This largely extends to:
- what content is allowed to be posted by accounts on that server
- what other servers (if any) have been "filtered out" from view of the users of that server
Roughly speaking, unless you go hunting for one of those "freeze peach" types of servers, you're mostly going to find servers which adhere to the Mastodon Server Covenant.
How do I follow someone?
Let's say you want to follow George Takei, whose Mastodon account is @[email protected]. Just search for "@[email protected]" with your Mastodon provider's search bar, and he'll pop right up. (If you don't know what server someone is on, try searching for just their username - ie. if you search for "georgetakei", you'll find @[email protected])
Other Resources
- instances.social: A much larger, more comprehensive list of Mastodon servers
- fedi.tips: An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse
- /r/Mastodon on Reddit
Alright, I've gone ahead and created @[email protected].
The "choosing a server" step needs to be improved. There aren't any servers that really appeal to me, so I just chose one of the general servers, though my concern is that if a lot of people are in the same boat as me, it'll basically lead to server centralization again. At least there seems to be a very easy way to move my account to another server, if I find one later that's more aligned with my tastes.
GWJ Vanilla Minecraft Server
I am there! On dice.camp : @[email protected] where I will mostly be desperately trying to rebuild up enough of a following and crossing my fingers that I can find new commissions from there at least as often as I did on twitter *sweating profusely*
...But otherwise most likely posting my ttrpg stuff, as usual.
(If you find me under another name on there...no you didn't .... i absolutely didn't just start a new account because i wanted to be on a server with my RPG chums, don't be silly... ) But yeah seriously follow me on the one above because i probably will be ignoring the other one.
inactive here until further notice.
Big servers being the path for "normal" people to come to Mastodon is inevitable.
There's countless ways to get an email address, but for most people the answer is "just use Gmail", or Hotmail, or back in the day it was Yahoo. Those three account for about 85% of US active email users. But the distributed nature of email is just too fundamental to break. Nobody wants a Gmail-users-only email account.
Yeah, I expect I may move off of SDF to another instance. I've made a few accounts on different servers just to get hold of the @legion name, and I'm peeking in at their Local streams to see where I want to settle. Fortunately, if I do move, making the old account alias to the new one should bring everyone with me.
You should follow me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
"The golden shower threw me off." -- garion333
I'm @[email protected]. I created that awhile ago but am only now really looking into it.
Computers were a mistake
@[email protected]
I've moved my account to @[email protected]. Did the migration, so the 2 of you who followed me should get moved to the new account.
Discovered that the Mastodon migration process does NOT include migrating your posts. There is an open issue on the Mastodon Github about this, hopefully that changes. The whole "just move servers" thing doesn't seem like quite as bulletproof a solution when it really only means migrating your followers to a new account.
I've chosen fosstodon.org because it's a long-running and seemingly well-run system. They have a blog for communicating the status and changes to the service, and seem to have established a track record for transparency. Had to wait for my account request to get approved, but now that it is, I'm reasonably confident that I should be able to stay there for the long term.
You should follow me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
"The golden shower threw me off." -- garion333
@[email protected]
“Hacked by bourbon, maybe.” - Jonman
I tried but I am home. I saw the list of servers in the list of topics I couldn’t fathom what the heck I should pick.
If it does become the de facto choice after Twitter and assume something rise to the top of the servers and maybe I’ll join then
"Shampoo in the morning. Coffin in the afternoon."
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Swtich Friend code
SW-6859-7825-4962
You should follow me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
"The golden shower threw me off." -- garion333
If Mastodon fails to catch on, I think the main reason, more than the convoluted server deal, is going to be that they're called "toots".
Steam/Xbox Live/PSN: iaintgotnopants
But what else are you supposed to do with your own horn?
GWJ Vanilla Minecraft Server
I posted in the Twitter thread: @[email protected]
What Stele said ^ -mortalgroove
Switch: 6273-9936-5107
Try here: https://instances.social/
There's a search you can see, what interests, if they are open/closed for signup, uptimes, version, etc. A lot of information.
And then looking at an instance frontpage usually has some rules, and some other servers they might block or limit (piracy, porn, etc.). So it's nice to check out places. I found one based in Germany, but English speaking, that seems to be reasonable. So far so good.
What Stele said ^ -mortalgroove
Switch: 6273-9936-5107
@[email protected]
I chose it before really knowing what I was doing, I still don't know. Since it seems to be about building a curated feed, I didn't much care
Super pleased to get you folks on mine!
I think my original account was on a now-defunct server and vanished with the server, which I didn’t know was a thing that could happen and is a huge dis-incentive in creating an account I actually plan to use for anything.
”History is a long series of surprises that seem inevitable in retrospect.“
Hmm you know what’s going to keep me off Mastodon for now? The apps aren’t all that great. I found a couple that are fine with the basics, but for things like sharing and showing multiple timelines I haven’t found one I like.
“Hacked by bourbon, maybe.” - Jonman
@[email protected]
Not sure, but I'll put down a place to call home and toot from...
Request denied. My bomp chicka's gotta bow wow. - Rubb Ed
SW-7236-8540-9709
DA-3233-4886-1623
Maybe we need a social network called Goodjer, with the rotating Stans as our logo.
Property of the Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir
I'm here - @[email protected]. We'll see if I actually bother to use it.
Switch: SW-7891-0114-7810
My feeble attempts at game development.
I tried following your account, but it couldn't find you. I'm not sure if it's because the server I'm on is not connected to the one you are on or some other reason. It's this aspect of Mastodon that I find most confusing.
Mine: @[email protected]
I’ve got an account for rpg stuff at @[email protected]
@[email protected]
3DS: Baron 0473-7792-9272
PS3 Tag: Baron-Of-Hell Steam:Baron_Of_Hell TWITTER:BaronOfHell
I'm @[email protected] at the moment, but that's just the random server I joined. I do find Mastodon's sign up process unintuitive enough to where I do question its ability to succeed Twitter, as most people just want to click a button and go. But, hey, I'll add some people and see how it goes.
"I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means."
--*Legion*
Aargh. I'm on the verge of signing up for a Mastodon account, and I know accounts are transferable, but I really keep stumbling on the 'choose a server' step. I want to know how each server is funded and how stable that revenue stream is. I feel I ought to choose a server that somehow aligns with my interests (or just my region? There are Scottish servers), but I haven't the patience to lurk around to get a feel for each candidate server.
I'm also not actually all that social, so maybe it doesn't matter? I'm not so certain this is a federation problem so much as a 'me' problem.
Sometimes draws stuff (ArtStation, general image dump). Occasionally even posts about games.
The advice I saw for those having trouble deciding was “just pick one, and if you don’t like the vibe, move later”
I've never used Twitter before, but I'll give this a shot. I'm @[email protected]
Currently playing: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (SW)
backlogging and game making blog
Tip 1
You can have a column that shows everything posted with specific tags. For example I have one for #gaming #videogames and one with porn tags (stop judging me),
Tip 2
Boost stuff you like. Anyone that follows you will see the boosted post. Follow people you think are cool to build your circle.
Tip 3
You can block people or entire servers. Maybe you don't like how one server is being moderated, block the entire thing. There are many servers that turn a blind eye to racism, sexism, illegal porn and the like. Also note some servers are only run by a few people or even just one. So it could be they don't have time to stomp the bad posters.
Tip 4
You hate all servers? Run your own and call your own shots.
Tip 5
When posting pictures it is nice to post a description of the image inside the image. This is for people that have a hard time seeing. I don't why but I think mastodon is popular with people that have trouble seeing.
3DS: Baron 0473-7792-9272
PS3 Tag: Baron-Of-Hell Steam:Baron_Of_Hell TWITTER:BaronOfHell
Bueller?
Haven't checked in on this in a bit. But with Twitter turning off old checkmarks today, it's going to get a lot worse.
Anyway, I also saw Bluesky has an Android client now, but still a big waitlist. Not sure if that's going to be the replacement answer or not. Anybody have any other ideas?
What Stele said ^ -mortalgroove
Switch: 6273-9936-5107
Don't know about Android, but on iOS, Tapbots (makers of Tweetbot) have released their Mastodon client, Ivory, and it's very nice.
You should follow me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
"The golden shower threw me off." -- garion333
https://www.sportsbots.xyz
For all those sports Twitter accounts you missed after moving to Mastodon.
You should follow me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
"The golden shower threw me off." -- garion333