Mastodon Basics (by someone who didn’t create it)

Mastodon is both different from AND extremely similar to “the bird app” Skip the blather, just get me started: see tl;dr; below.

Mastodon is both different from AND extremely similar to “the bird app”
Skip the blather, just get me started: see tl;dr; below.

Toots, Toots, Tootsie, Hello!

Yes, they are called “toots”. Get used to saying it.

Servers and Structures (where do I sign up/login?)

Mastodon is built *exactly* like the bird app, but on Mastodon you can *see* the structure. Multiple machines run the service (just like the bird app) (“server” is the machine running the code; “instance” is the copy of the code running on the machine — we’ll just use server), each owned and operated independently, but they are *all* connected together. Literally like Twitter, you *actually* sign into *one* of the servers — unlike birdiverse, you can see the difference. Also, unlike the “birdiverse”, “owned and operated independently” means *each* server makes it’s *own* choices of what to tolerate.

Also unlike the “birdiverse” — your login only works on the single server you signed up on — but as you’ll see below, that really doesn’t matter; just keep signing in there.

OK, but why?

The reason for the “confusing” multiple servers is to *avoid* requiring a single, centralized HUGELY CAPITALIZED (read: expensive) system with the centralized control that implies. The “federated” system allows separately maintained and funded servers to WORK TOGETHER to accomplish the goal.

Feeds (What do I choose/get to see?)

=> You can have a feed of your follows (“home”)
=> …also, a feed of the “server” you happen to login on (“Local Feed”) — which, for a “themed” server, may match your interests
=> …also, a feed of *all* the servers in the entire interconnected system (“Federated Feed”), which can be huge.

So still — which server?

Some servers are set up for a particular “shared interest” (think “art”, “knitting”, “gaming”, etc). This takes advantage of the ability mentioned above to have a “Local Feed”. That being said, you can *choose to ignore* the Local Feed, and just use your list of follows (“Home Feed”) and the “Federated Feed”. Regardless of the server you actually log into, you always have access to the entire Federation of servers, especially for follows. In that sense, it doesn’t matter.

Why especially for follows? There’s no moderation (*at* *all*) so the “Federated Feed” might well be *thousands* a second… you can set it (in “settings”) to only be updated on request — otherwise it scrolls WAY too fast. On most servers, you can filter the feeds to reduce the volume.

There is also a setting for “click for updates…” — this helps control the rate at which the “feed” is updated — on the Federated timeline, this can be thousands a second.
All that said, you can help spread the load by choosing a smaller server. A good safe place for beginners to find such servers to join is https://joinmastodon.org/servers

“Federation” (Do you really want to be connected to everybody?)

Possible downside of “anyone can set up and maintain a server, to whatever subject they like”? Well, bluntly, that interest could well be Nazis. The response in the “Fediverse” (“Federated Universe”) is two-fold:
=> Users are free to filter, or only follow specific accounts
=> Some servers/instances *choose* to not federate with servers that encourage bad behavior, so all that servers’ users are isolated from it.

Finding follows and subjects (Searching)

Finding people to follow at first can be daunting — mostly, search for someone you know, follow them, them follow who they’re following. You can also search by hashtags — probably best to look at what hashtags your “follows” are using to lead you to the next.

Searching (particularly for profiles) works across server boundaries — but it *can* be a little slower, and the UI doesn’t always indicate that’s it’s still trying. Adding the “server instance” (if you know it) to the end of the handle helps direct the search — like “(at)jentaub(at)mstdn(dot)social”

Note that “counter.social” is NOT connected/federated into the rest of the system — they decided to be an island.

Who should I Follow First?

Probably Fedi.Tips (@feditips) — pretty much the central collection of tips and tutorials for Mastodon.

Favorites, Bookmarks and Boosts, Oh My!

There are various ways to mark your approval on other’s “toots”
Favorites — These, while favorable, are not shared on your timeline for others to see; think of them more like a bookmark. That said, they do let the author know you liked a toot, so that’s a good thing!
Bookmark — think of these more like a “value neutral” bookmark.
Boost — now, these do show up on your timeline, and help increase distribution of visibility of a toot. Make a network grow; go and boost a toot!

You can find the Bookmrks and Favorites timelines under the “Getting Started” tab, often accessed under a “hamburger menu” (group of three short horizontal lines).

Courtesy and Etiquette

As in ever social group, there are often “common sense” ideas of courtesy and etiquette that are assumed, but unspoken. Mastodon is no different, but these do come from the basic feelings that drive the creation of Mastodon in the first place:

Image Meta-Text — As a courtesy to folk in the community with eyesight limitations, it is considered impolite to NOT add meta-text to images. That way, their screen-readers can describe the images they can’t directly see. Luckily, Mastodon generally makes this extremely easy — the “image editor” includes an editor for the meta-text. Please use it to describe your images!
Content Warnings (CW) — perhaps better described as a “headline”, this allows content that might be considered upsetting or distasteful — or even simply “tl;dr;” (too long, didn’t read) — to be “wrapped up” under the content warning text. By using the CW button, you enter some text — like a headline — under which the content of the post will be “hidden” — readers can choose to look at it with being forced to look at it, or surprised by it’s presence. This is not a negative thing, and the general Mastodon community does not see it as negative — just polite.

Other Stuff

There’s a great deal more — you can move, fairly seamlessly, from one server/instance to another; you can still have multiple identities on one or multiple servers. Mostly Mastodon doesn’t have the concept of quote tweets, because philosophically they encourage conversation rather than confrontation or ridicule.

tl;dr; just get me started!

Based on above: chose any “server (ignore what it means), and always login in there — you’ll still have access to everything. Search for and follow Fedi.Tips (@feditips). Search for someone you know is somewhere (anywhere) on Mastodon, and follow them. Follow their follows, if you like. Read and/or filter the firehoses (“Local Feed” and “Federated Feed”). take it from there.