Mastodon is operated, maintained, and moderated by different passionate individuals and organizations, often out of their own pocket. Check if your server accepts donations on its about page if you want to help out!
@Gargron I've never seen a project with more passion on the internet 

@stux @Gargron

Theres many good projects stuxie.

NextCloud, LibreOffice, alternative platforms to big tech services, Matomo, Bitwarden, F-Droid, various phone keyboards.......various Linux distributions too.

@Mixtape @Gargron For sure! But for me Masto is still number 1 by a long shot 😇

@Mixtape @stux @Gargron

It's not a contest I think. People doing cool stuff for society. And we should do cool stuff as well. 

@Mixtape

F-Droid has been a goldmine.

@agnew_hawk

Check out SkyDroid as well as the Aurora Store (Be careful with latter one it can get you in trouble)

@stux
WordPress has a pretty active an passionate community.
@stux
A bulk of my business is built off of #WordPress and the community. But the community around Mastodon is right up there.
@stux
Have you ever seen Debian? Some VERY passionate free software extremists there
@Gargron
@stux @Gargron there's a lot of "Well, actually..." In your replies and I just wanted to say I get what you mean.
@Gargron I'll try to chip in ASAP, since I really like this platform. Of course, I can't contribute too much, but a monthly donation is on my mind.
@Gargron mastodon best twitter alternative apps i like it.
@Gargron thank you, already did this. Your work is much appreciated.

@Gargron

When i read your messages i think of a benevolent dictator for life...😀

#torvalds

@h2owasser @Gargron Guido van Rossum = Python / Ton Roosendaal = Blender

@Gargron

When i read your messages i think more and more of a benevolent dictator for life. I hope you enjoy it and that your know your responsibility.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictator_for_life

thank you for developing mastodon! 👍💐 #torvalds #bdfl

Benevolent dictator for life - Wikipedia

@Gargron I truly admire the platform and the mission.

I do wonder if it will have financial resources sufficient to meet increasing demand from twitter migrations.

Perhaps US NPR / PBS would be a feasible model to fund growth - semi-non-profit - or as a partnership? Just a thought.

@Gargron It's really great that the main Mastodon Patreon has this option for those who can't spend more but still want to contribute.
@Gargron where is the Donate button in the client? To be successfull you have to make paying really easy. Ask Jeff Bezos 😉
@Gargron Do you need help in other areas? Also, it would be cool if we could donate with BTC lightning 😀

@Gargron I couldn’t find the “about” section for mastodon.social, had to Google it

Here is the Patreon link for mastodon.social

I donated. You should too #NoAds

https://www.patreon.com/mastodon

Get more from Mastodon on Patreon

Creating Mastodon

Patreon
@Gargron The messages are much less aggressive than on Twitter and I haven't found any misinformation, harassment or insults so far. I'm thinking of staying here.
@ParadisFraise @Gargron I hope this comment ages well
@Gargron I can’t seem to add a background image (header image). Any advice? In the sir mode, I click on the gray image and it seems to open a new screen but it’s blank.
@Gargron but my server runs pleroma, should I donate or fuck it?
@Gargron yeah how dose that work I just got her and I have no idea how to get on these different servers or are people hosting there own mastodon sites and that connected to the main hub?
@Catalina_Gearbox @Gargron While looking over the 'Federated Timeline' or just in conversations you're joining with others, if you find someone that shares your views or interests, you can look at their address above and see if that instance is also aligned with yours. You can then see if it's over loaded or accepting new members. There is a process to 'migrate' to another instance.
https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/
> are people hosting there own mastodon sites and that connected to the main hub?

Something like that. Instances connect to each other by using a common protocol called the #Fediverse. They connect either by connecting to a federation server called a "relay"--which basically transfers new posts and stuff from one instance on the relay to all the other instances on the relay--or, because a user on that instance is following someone who is on another instance. It's a lil complicated.

When it comes to finding other instances, there are multiple guides for this:

https://mastodon.help/instances/en
https://fediverse.party/en/portal/servers/ (my favorite out of this bunch)
https://jointhefedi.com/
https://joinmastodon.org/servers (the most popular page for finding #Fediverse instances, may be better than fediverse.party's but I haven't browsed it extensively)

If you're feeling more adventurous, and would like to pick an instance based on its name, now many users or posts it has, or how many instances it connects to, or which software it runs, you may want to check out these comprehensive lists of all #Fediverse instances:

https://fediverse.space/ (my favorite)
https://fedidb.org/
https://fedi.ninja/

#FediTips
Mastodon Help - Instances

Mastodon instances

@Catalina_Gearbox @Gargron Follow and hashtags are your friend. You’re already on mastodon.social, and that’s all you need
@Catalina_Gearbox I'm on mas.to, while you're on mastodon.social. We can still communicate with each other!
@Gargron I absolutely love this. Excellent model, great service, eager to support this financially. Let’s do this, friends. 🎉
@austinkocher @Gargron
Yes, just donated on Patreon as well -- let's build this community! 🎆
@Gargron so many feature questions, like why can’t i post a picture (is it my new iPhone) and how do I put a picture in the grey area at my personal account….

@Gargron hi looks like the #disability community is experiencing #access issues especially with #screenreaders , for example the Compose button while using #VoiceOver on #iOS as per the toot by @HabenGirma linked below.

I’m personally new to the app so don’t know how or where to bring attention to #accessibility issues so they can be addressed! #a11y https://mastodon.social/@HabenGirma/109259674417438870

@Gargron @HabenGirma I found mastodon GitHub iOS issue 378 which looks like it applies to the described #screenreader #accessibility issues with #VoiceOver on the #mastodon #iOS app: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/378
@HabenGirma I think it depends on which app someone uses to participate on Mastodon. I use Metatext and it appears to be more #accessible than the others. It's an option to check out.
@Gargron Where do I find my server's about page?
Mastodon.green

Plant trees while you use Mastodon. A server originally for people in the EU, but now open for anyone in the world

Mastodon hosted on mastodon.green
@Gargron thank you for this — for the Twitter refugees it’s really a port in a storm, so thanks.
@Gargron thanks for this fantastic work! I’m very happy to contributing. It was my first time on Patreon. Yep, I’m not an early adopter for this time 😀
@Gargron Yeah LGBT was a given for me. Came out around June 2021, hope to go to DC PRIDE
@Gargron how do you get to your server's about page on the mobile app?
@Gargron Just wanna say, the decentralised format for this social media is perfect and long needed. Excellent work
@Gargron Do contributions via Open Collective go to support the mastodon.social server or the larger Mastodon project?
https://opencollective.com/mastodon
@Gargron Interesting, I'll check it out
@Gargron hell yeah. I signed up to support my sever monthly
@Gargron already on that! Much prefer the 8 bucks a month goes here.