1/ In my own indirect way, I've tried giving advice to Twitter migrants, especially journalists.

The rejoinder has been, "Stop addressing us as a monolith."

Yet some people who plan on running journalism instances are about to make very bad decisions that are bound to hurt themselves in the long run.

So I'm going to give direct advice right now.

2 / Work with the culture here, not against it. If someone demands a CW, just use it.

No, not every request for a CW should be entertained. But if it has to do with politics or violence or anything triggering, use a CW.

BTW, I speak as someone who's gotten in trouble in the past regarding this—and ultimately I've concluded CWs are not a big deal.

3 / Consider who's been maintaining the Fediverse while you all have been dominating Twitter for the past 5 years: folks who were previously chased off of Twitter.

You think they're thrilled that you're in their space while you call yourselves "refugees"?

Despite this, they're being welcome because they can see the bigger picture. But that doesn't mean they're giving up their culture just because you want to feel comfortable here.

4 / No one is obligated to be your audience, and they're certainly not obligated to federate with you either.

If there's any hint you're going to be a bad citizen, or host malicious people on your instances, the plug will be pulled on you fast.

5 / No one declared the Fediverse to be a free speech zone. Yes, you have freedom of speech, but everyone else has freedom of association. If they don't want to associate with you, that's their decision.

6 / Don't be threatening others if you don't get your way. In fact, the moment you threaten instance operators, you're just confirming why they shouldn't federate with you.

And when I say "threaten", I especially mean lawsuits.

7 / If you're worried about your ability to moderate your instance, keep it small. In fact, better to run multiple instances with small communities than one big instance where you can't keep tabs on what's going on.

It just takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch.

8 / Yeah, you see an opportunity. You want to bring over a ton of folk from Twitter over here. But this won't work out if you fail to build trust.

If you can't even do CWs, you're kind of suspect.

9 / No one gives a damn that you were a Blue Check on the other site. This is a different space entirely and you're starting over with a fresh slate.
10 / No one wants to see you broadcast stuff and not respond back. To us, that's just noise. If your instance is just full of noise, and nobody there is responsive, don't be surprised if it gets blocked.
11 / Don't expect to change the culture on the Fediverse by virtue of your ability to draw numbers. Others have tried that and failed. You'll fail too.

12 / I've spoken to a few of you one-on-one about this. The Fediverse requires not just an appreciation for the culture here, but an entirely new perspective and model on how social media works.

If you can't adjust, you will fail.

Please adjust.

@atomicpoet I, for one, am happy to adjust to a system where I am not the product.

”Free Speech” run amok without the freedom to choose not to associate is like being the guy in Clockwork Orange with his eyelids clamped open.

There will be growing pains, and I’m here for it. But this feels like it engenders a higher level of consciousness by design.

Appreciating your insights, keep them coming!