It’s been exactly one year since I joined to the Fediverse. Let me tell you my Fediverse story. It does not fit in 500 characters, but glad I have 10000 here.
It first started with Musk tweeting about the sink. I had already given up on Twitter couple of years prior this, but that was the final straw. I saw people talking about Mastodon and I was skeptical. First I looked at mastodon.social, but quickly noticed the username rolle is taken. "That’s it, then", I angrily tweeted that I do not want to join with another nickname, I’m rolle eveywhere AND THE NICK IS TAKEN. Someone immediately pointed out that I should join another instance. An instance, what's that, huh? I then joined to a Finnish instance mastodontti.fi and quickly learned no English is allowed. A moderator pointed out that I should remove my post. Again, I angrily tweeted THAT'S IT THEN, MASTODON SUCKS, STUPID RULES. Another user politely explained that each instance has their own rules, why don't you create another account. An instance, huh?
I quickly learned about the nature of the service. I vaguely remember favoriting tootsuite/mastodon back in 2017 and thought it was just a forum-kinda software back then, for one small community. I consider myself quite witty but I didn't realize Mastodon servers are interconnected. So I joined mstdn.social. And how fun was that! I was elated! My head exploded when I realized how active it was and how amazing the community is.
But then the sudden influx of users made mstdn.social slow and unresponsive. I was thinking about building my own instance, after all I'm a server guy. During 5th of November, 2022, I got my instance up and running, #MementoMoriSocial was born: https://mementomori.social/@rolle/109293139965069879
I wanted my instance to be well federated and active from the start. I followed everyone, I still do. I use a dozen active relays. I managed to finance the instance through my company and get a bit more powerful hardware than necessary. I was alone on my instance first, then invited my wife, colleague and my company.
What I liked in the Fediverse is that I can build my own tools, I own my data and I can help making things better. I have contributed to things via form of:
and some other things that have been affecting in the general development of Mastodon.
I'm very pleased I can have fun and make my own things while other people like it as well. I first thought all this would be a huge cause of mental stress but it's been on the contrary.
After a couple of months of successful running I opened my instance to the world. Now there's about 150 active users from companies to regular folk and everything has been running smoothly. I have been able to moderate because I require a reason for joining to my instance, so I really do know who the people are. I also welcome each user personally. I know my shit thoroughly and completely. This is why it has been easy to moderate. I've been able to be mostly absent during regular week days from 8am to 6pm, but still be aware of what's happening via effective monitoring, good apps and infrastructure.
For me the key thing is to optimize everything to the tooth. I also regulate my own social media usage, because I get too easily hooked. Mastodon and all its tools have taken an enormous amount of time, but it's been really fun, didn't even notice a full year has passed.
As for the Finnish community, there were thousands of active users, I kept a list. However, for some reason lately the narrative everywhere about Mastodon is that it is difficult and it has no future and people have mostly left to Bluesky. I kinda get that, because even for me starting last year was messy. But things get better, I wish more people would see that.
Mastodon is special. The Fediverse is special. Here's to another year! 🎉 :neon_skull:
#introduction Am I doing this right?I feel like an old. HI! Just signed up today, I'm a second generation Trekkie but relatively new to the podcast timeline, I caught the liveshow in London, and I'm here to further share my embarassment
Hey @leontrolski, welcome to TechHub, and the Fediverse network we're part of!
There should be an automatic onboarding system to help you get started, but in the meantime, here's a tip...
There's no algorithm here, we build our own feeds by following Hashtags, and posts get seen by using those hashtags, so be sure to follow some hashtags and use hashtags in your posts. There's also a special hashtag, "#introduction", that we use specifically for new members who want to introduce themselves: you should go right a little post about yourself with that hashtag and any other hashtags that you want to interact with the followers of.
@Raccoon@leontrolski I’ll second that and recommend @feditips. Follow liberally, both people and hashtags. If you see a post that interests you, that’s the place to start finding your people.
A lot of people are seemingly becoming more and more aware of social media censorship. As accounts across social media platforms are being permanently suspended for speaking up against the violence that Palestinians are facing, posts being taken down and accounts being shadow banned, a lot of people are seeing this reality that weren’t before. I feel like it’s a good time to remind folks about the fediverse.
Anyone know of good intro lit? Links etc appreciated 🖤
Inside Gaza, cut off from the world by a near total blockade, Israeli airstrikes have decimated entire neighborhoods, leveling homes, schools and mosques. CNN drone footage from Monday showed the level of destruction across parts of the strip, with whole streets flattened in the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City and a row of...
Hello #Mastodon! I am making the jump from X to here. Too many of my #science and #medicine buddies left X. If you switched from X, how do you like it here? #introductions
"I didn’t join Mastodon until after we launched 404 Media. I joined, frankly, because lots of people told me that we should. Mastodon had been decried by many (me, previously), as a social media platform that is too complicated or weird to sign up for. I had also convinced myself that people on Mastodon would be mad at me if I made jokes, which has (mostly) not been the case.
I’ve now been using it for about two months and I am here to tell you that it is, in principle, what we should want the internet to be. If you have been remotely interested in Mastodon but had reservations about joining because you thought it would be difficult, confusing, or otherwise annoying, it is not."
@jreesnc#welcome aboard glad you could join us. As far as Captain DeSoto goes, you may come to learn from the local group that it's an inside reference. Many of us are fans of a Star Trek pod cast called Greatest Generation. You'll probably see a lot of references dropped in the local timeline to it.
If you have any questions feel free to ask, the crew here are a friendly bunch.
I hate Twitter but, to be honest, Mastodon feels a lot lonelier. I like learning, books, mental models, pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, tools, knots, DIY, EDC, productivity advice, coffee, beer, software development, Tolkien, rucking, soccer, chilly weather, etc. Where are my people at??
#Welcome! There are lots of folks here to build a new community.
I always recommend following @feditips and @feditips to discover all kinds of great things you can do in #Mastodon.
You will get more traffic if you follow accounts that you enjoy and if you use hashtags.
Hashtags are powerful here. Because there's no algorithm here shoving trolls and ads in your feed, the best way to get your toots noticed by others is to use hashtags.
You can even follow hashtags.
And you can edit posts! You might want to edit your toot to include hashtags like:
The Bay Area has served me well the last ten years, but now it’s time to be closer to family, get more space to work from home, and experience living in my hometown as an actual adult.
@matthewcassinelli Are you familiar with calagator.org? It’s a great place to see what’s present and what’s missing in the tech space. Much better than meetup, IMO. Also #AgilePDX is a great incubator for agile/software get-togethers. Forgive if I’m ‘splaining stuff you’ve already discovered. And #welcome!
I found myself starting to type, “I’m trying to be patient, but you’re making it very difficult” and then I realised the convo was getting Twitter-level argumentative so I blocked and walked away. That person may think it was an “unfair” blocking, but I don’t really know them and I’m sure they can live without me. Maybe there is hope for me after all.
2,000 children killed in Gaza, aid group says, as doctors warn fuel shortage is a death sentence | CNN (edition.cnn.com)
Inside Gaza, cut off from the world by a near total blockade, Israeli airstrikes have decimated entire neighborhoods, leveling homes, schools and mosques. CNN drone footage from Monday showed the level of destruction across parts of the strip, with whole streets flattened in the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City and a row of...