Tip for the new folk:
Often Mastodon’s features work the way they do because it was first populated by people who had been harassed on FB and the Birdsite.

For instance (not sorry), you cannot search Masto for a simple term. Only #hashtags. Say you’re having a private conversation about iguanas. Anti-iguana trolls will not be able to search for “iguanas”, find your conversation, and drop into it to say, “Iguana luvers suck!”

But if you are wanting to connect with new iguana fanciers on Mastodon, slipping an #iguanas hashtag somewhere into your posts will allow people to search for and find them.

#TwitterMigration #Twitter

@Voline But why would you have a private conversation outside of DMs? And if users could still search #iguanas, couldn't an anti-iguana troll still troll the #iguanas hashtag?
@jklp
Well, sure. But if you don't feel like putting yourself in a vulnerable position with respect to anti-iguanas. You can just not use the hashtag. You don't have to worry if the conversation didn't start as a DM, that you have to take it there.