@randahl

That hasn't been my experience.

I've actually had a good experience with Facebook. I believe that is the result of only friending people I know from real life and blocking obnoxious people in the few Facebook groups I used. Facebook also has features to keep people I know in real life who are difficult people listed as "Friends" while hiding their content and hiding my content from them.

I've gotten to know a *few* people via Mastodon because I had the good fortune to find a niche sub for ONE of my interests and for the "Local" link which Mastodon developers are trying to obscure. :-). Most of my other interests are absent from Mastodon.

So far, the most interesting conversations, like this one, that I have found on Mastodon have been through the "Explore" link.

Most "Explore" posts are by experts trying to get a message out, or people "building a brand", so that doesn't lend itself to making e-friends in my experience.