Some initial thoughts on Mastodon:
Oscar Wilde declared that great minds discuss ideas and small minds discuss people. And I feel that this is also the difference between Mastodon and Twitter. I feel calm and thoughtful here. I don't feel as if someone will stab me in the back. I don't know how long this will last, but it does remind me of the early blogging days.
The additional characters are obviously useful for a verbose motherfucker like me. Maybe that's part of the secret.