So I signed up to Mastodon a few months ago and I have only started to use it more recently, but I still don’t understand how it works. Or the server system on here.

Apparently I must have joined a server when I set up my account? I don’t remember joining a specific one (or even know how you join one 🤣)

If somebody could explain this to me in everyday English that would be great.

@Saraheboon Is that an invitation to explain it? Because the server/instance you're on is mastodon.social and I have a diagram that might help a bit, plus I could explain more, without jargon, if you like. :)
@cassolotl a diagram would be super helpful!

@Saraheboon Okay cool! So this is the diagram I had in mind.

It assumes that you know that the Fediverse is lots and lots of smaller websites ("instances") that can interact with each other. (As if you could follow someone's Instagram account on Twitter, for example. Or as if you could email someone on gmail from your Hotmail account, which you totally can. :D)

So they all connect up like Lego - each "instance" being one Lego brick? And they all build up together into one Fediverse. Each brick might be a different colour or size or shape, but they all have this specific design quality that they're made to all slot together even though they might look different. Does that make sense?

@Saraheboon So your username is like @ Saraheboon @ mastodon.social, because your username is Saraheboon and your instance (Lego brick!) is mastodon.social. And I'm @ cassolotl @ eldritch.cafe, so my Lego brick/instance is eldritch.cafe.