Mastodawn

BronMason For Kamala 2024

Newbie to “mastodon” (is it capitalized?) but aren’t we all? I was okay with my little corner of Twitter till Musk, but got this acct last Nov in case Twitter self-immolated. Went with mastodon based on a thread by @Teri_Kanefield (a good follow) about Twitter alternatives. I picked mastodon because it’s NOT OWNED SO IT CANNOT BE SOLD!
The one daunting part of mastodon is picking a server … I just chose & it’s been fine. I’d like to hear how anyone else picked a server?

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Mar 23, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield
I love all the responses I got about people’s experiences joining mastodon. Also, y’all will be good folks for me to follow! Thank you!

Jes Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I learned of Mastodon around the same time Nov ish.
I joined a local server/instance, but ultimately, so long as the server you are on is run well, it doesn't really matter too much.

If I was joining now I'd look at the Mozilla instances, if they are accepting new users. Mostly due to me being a Firefox user forever.

Good luck and welcome 🐘 👋

Martin Vermeer FCD Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I was following scientists - mostly climate scientists - on the bird site, and being a scientist myself, got invited to fediscience.org. Already back in 2020.

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Mar 23, 2023

@martinvermeer @Teri_Kanefield
Wow—an “early adopter!” ❤️ it!

Martin Vermeer FCD Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield Actually I used Mastodon back then just to get to know it as a potential lifeboat, but it was not (yet) where things were happening so I hung around on the bird site, ready to jump ship if TFG was allowed back on. When the time came, I had mislaid my credentials and fediscience's admins helped me get back into my account 💙
Remember boys and girls: the admins/mods are your friends here!

Ruggledome Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield

I looked at a few things:
- the CV/background of the lead 'Admin'
- How frequently the lead Admin posted, the content, as well as w/whom they interacted
- how long the site had been around
- site blocklist

I was looking for an old-school techie Admin whom I would/could trust w/security and responsible content moderation.

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Mar 23, 2023

@ruggledome @Teri_Kanefield

Excellent advice—I’ve had no issues on sfba instance that I know of. If I do, I’d Lee those considerations in mind!
I recall @Teri_Kanefield has her own instance—you gotta trust yourself, right?

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I initially picked Mastodon Canada mstdn.ca because it seemed to be the leading Canadian instance and regional server made sense to me. That was in November. Over the Christmas holiday I spun up my own #Selfhosted instance for fun and to have maximum control over my own content/experience on an old iMac and moved my followers and whatnot over there. It’s been great.

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Mar 23, 2023

@chris @Teri_Kanefield
Good to know about the hashtag #Selfhosted.

decitect Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield Chose sfba.social coz local to San Francisco & knew I’d play nicer & be in a better enviro than the birdsite. Locals are crazy diverse in things they Toot. Another reason to be living in Bay Area!

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Mar 23, 2023

@decitect @Teri_Kanefield
Yup, that was my thought—you don’t get much more diverse than the Bay Area!

Stan Wonn 🏳️‍🌈 🌹Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins Welcome! In my case, I decided to join an instance (mstdn.social) that had a large number of users. Felt like that would give me the best chance to get things started here.

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Mar 23, 2023

@StanWonn
Thank you! As I said I just picked an instance; it was my understanding that I could take my account to another, but I checked my settings & don’t see how to do that.

Cookiefiend Mar 23, 2023

@StanWonn @bronakins Same here. Though I have friends (you know, live, actual friends that I see in person) who are on Wandering Shop, so that was my second choice.

MidLifeBroad Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I just picked the one my DIL was on, but it doesn’t seem to matter much in the long run.

Eva Chanda Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I picked #SporeSocial because it's focused on climate change, has rules & moderation that I support, and isn't too big. It was founded by journalist & climate scientist @EricHolthaus who I greatly respect. As an introvert in suburbia, I feel very isolated in my concern about the #ClimateCrisis, hoping to be part of a community to develop my activism.
#ProjectMushroom #projectmushroomlove🍄💖

DoomsdaysCW Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins Picking a server was pretty easy for me. I looked around to see which instance had the most accounts that posted about the causes I care about -- which was Kolektiva! I feel that I'm in good company there, and the admin is very good about letting us know about technical issues when they arise.

Scott Wright 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins I found one that aligned with a strong interest. I don’t think it much matters. If you find one that you'd prefer migration is pretty easy - your followers will move with you (you will lose your post history).

Welcome and good luck.

kkeller Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I struggled with decision paralysis until I learned of the curling server!

Carolee Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield

I picked .scot because even though I am in California, I am learning Scottish Gaelic and interested in Scottish culture and politics. I get a less U.S.-centric point of view in the home feed, which is particularly nice.

CaseyL Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield

I joined Mastodon during one of the great migrations last year, when many servers were full up. I picked .nz as my server because a) I love NZ, wish I lived there; and b) at the time, it was easy to join.

So my "local" feed is very NZ-centric, but I honestly get a kick out of that, plus it's a nice stress-reducer to get away from USian feeds.

(I live in Washington state, btw.)

Piers Beckley Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins Started on mastodon.social because it was the largest, then after a while found that my people seemed to be at wandering.shop. So I moved.

Zeke Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I joined one for far lefties and was harassed off of it. (Kolektiva)

I joined a second that was fine till my amount was suspended pending deletion with no warning or explanation. That was masto.ai.

I joined this one because it's very small, just a guy as far as I can tell

dirckb Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I'm a software guy and some of the tech folks I follow on twitter ended up on https://hachyderm.io -@nova has an impressive resume and energy so I thought I'd try it. No regrets.

Hachyderm.io

Hachyderm is a safe space, LGBTQIA+ and BLM, primarily comprised of tech industry professionals world wide. Note that many non-user account types have restrictions - please see our About page.

Mastodon hosted on hachyderm.io

Robin Hoover Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I was similarly confused, so I decided to "buy local". There's a bunch of state based servers, vermont.masto.host, virginia.masto.host, etc. Maybe one for your state?

Manon Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield
Welcome to the Fediverse! 👋🏻

My main criterion was to find a nice community, secondly the instance policies and security of the infrastructure. Thirdly the size of the instance (not too big).
Since metalhead.club promised a nice community for one of my special interests and the rest of the criteria was also met: here I am.

Looking for explanations…Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I picked mine because it was the only local server at that point. I’ve had no issues & have lots of contact with people on other servers, so don’t really see it as a “thing”.

Alison Meeks Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield Just chose as well. It has been fine. Follow your interests is probably the best way to grow your circle. There are amazing folks on here and most excellent artists and photographers. Search your fav hashtags and start following.

barryzee Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield So, I picked twit.social because I have been a long time listener of @leo Laporte's podcasts at twit.tv. He runs a mastodon instance at his own cost. There is a lot of respect here for ideas, people and opinions even those with which you don't agree. Hated all the flaming on the other site. I generally look at who the people that I follow are following. I'm ok with taking time. Not interested in quantity as much as quality. Tend to respond more than create.

Beth Scott Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I signed on to sfba.social a few months ago, Alexis Madrigal from KQED is on that server, and I wanted to start following him. The Mastodon experience was glitchy at first, but it seems to have settled down.

-rb Mar 24, 2023

@Teri_Kanefield @bronakins I was going to pick one of the well populated servers but then I noticed that the version of mastodon running on that server was fairly behind the latest version. This AWS-information themed server was in the latest version. Maybe my server admin keeps up with security patches and new features; since this is a smaller server, he/she is less likely to be overwhelmed by user requests.

Robin Forlonge Patterson 🇬🇱Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield My first #Mastodon #account was on a server where an old friend was. Next was the biggest. Third was the biggest #NZ-based one.
You may get more followers easily if you put more of your interests in your profile and posts with hashtags. You can #follow hashtags.

Diana Larsen Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield First I picked one that seemed obvious, then I settled on an instance that I thought might attract others in my professional community. Then I found a way to read that fits for me. (Thanks @ivory !) It’s not the T from 3-5 years ago that I miss. It is what it is and I’m learning to enjoy it.

Ephraim Z. Hoogenblatter, Jr.Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield More or less at random.

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I searched for "metal" and this one claims to be renewably powered. Nice people, well federated and great owner who actively tries to give us a smooth experience and updates us about it.

Rick Rae Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins
I have a wide range of interests but, being a FOSS believer, fosstodon.org seemed a reasonable pick.

As for the 500 character limit, I'm painfully verbose so it's actually a positive for me. It forces me to rein myself in. Still striving to reach this level, though:

"Having filled out the front of the job application, he flipped it over to find a nearly blank page with the instruction, 'Describe yourself.'

"He thought for a moment, and then wrote:

" 'Concise.' "

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Mar 24, 2023

Dimples Mar 24, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield
I picked an instance that was easy for me to remember. Then I made a point to set up a regular patreon donation to the admin every month because it costs money to run these and I don’t want to run my own and don’t want to change because they closed this one out.

Yudron Mar 25, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I picked my server based on location, thinking I might connect with people in my area, or see more posts relevant to California. If you want to connect with interests in common, you need to use hashtags in your posts and search by hashtag topics. People won’t find you via an algorithm as they did on Twitter. Like on all social media, posts with pictures generate a lot more interest.

Judgy Gigi Mar 23, 2023

@bronakins @Teri_Kanefield I read some articles online, and just decided to jump- picked a big server that I could join immediately and jumped in. I had tried 2x before and picking a server had always stopped me, but with Twitter just degrading it was time to Defy Gravity and Leap!

BronMason For Kamala 2024 Apr 9, 2023

@JudgyGigi @Teri_Kanefield

Excellent! Welcome! I love it here. If you have any questions, you can write a post & often get answers from others. Remember to use #hashtags & follow hashtags—as I understand it they take the place of an algorithm. Good luck!