Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸Jul 29, 2023
I'm gonna put this out there: If you are new to #Mastodon and have found people to be hostile, or nitpicky, and just generally unhelpful please @ me and say hi. I am happy to walk you through this place, get you comfortable, be non-judgy about helping you, and help make this place your new home. I'm gonna call this #MastoHelper If others want to help newbies, lets do it together!
We need to do more to make people feel welcome first, that's how you create a culture people want to be part of
#help
Show threadChris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸Jul 29, 2023
This is inspired by @kissane investigation asking folks at Bluesky why they left Mastodon. It's pretty clear, at least in that initial November wave, that a lot of people were quickly made to feel quite unwelcome. The tech stuff is relatively easily fixed, but if Mastodon has a reputation as a place where you can expect to be told you're too dumb to figure out "the rules" then that's on us, it's a big problem, and we need to fix it.
Show threadCharlotte WalkerJul 29, 2023
@chris @kissane As a November newcomer I can definitely say that I didn’t feel all that welcome. There is so much tech talk on here and then all the unwritten cultural rules… and a sense that we were seen by some as “invaders” bringing our unsavoury ideas about how microblogging should work. It can feel very parochial here
Show thread💙 I Bleed Blue 💙Jul 29, 2023
@purplepadma
I'm a November newcomer and never intimidated or an invader. Choosing an instance was a different, but I have been happy and not changed. I followed my #hashtags, everyone was helpful and welcoming. I love it here. No plans to leave. I've built a better community than I anticipated.
@chris @kissane
Show threadCharlotte WalkerJul 29, 2023
@Ibleedblue @chris @kissane I’m happy you had that experience, but clearly a lot of people didn’t
Show thread💙 I Bleed Blue 💙Jul 29, 2023
@purplepadma
It was a much slower pace at first, especially after the X- bird. But, I was also determined to give it 6 months at least. It took effort on my part. Many lack that effort it seems.
@chris @kissane
Show threadCharlotte WalkerJul 29, 2023
@Ibleedblue @chris @kissane I too put a lot of effort in, and it’s really paid off. I remain disappointed that so many of my Twitter friends made Mastodon accounts in a panic back in November but then made no real attempt to get to know it or find people to follow. Almost all of them just drifted back to Twitter, which I was not prepared to do
Show threadisotope239 🥸💻🇺🇦😣Jul 29, 2023
@purplepadma @Ibleedblue @chris @kissane I think a lot of folks just didn't like the lack of algorithm (which does a lot of the work for you). There seems to be a sort of sweet spot in Mastodon where, once you've followed some people and hashtags, your timeline begins to kick in and get interesting. I imagine it takes some people longer to get to that sweet spot than others for all sorts of reasons.
Show threadChris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸Jul 29, 2023
@isotope239 @purplepadma @Ibleedblue @kissane for sure. Commercial social media is basically just like turning on the TV and there being shows on. You just watch. Mastodon is more like having to pick the channels you want and then explicitly pick the shows you want to watch too. You get there eventually and hopefully the latter is a little more tailored to your interests.
Show threadisotope239 🥸💻🇺🇦😣Jul 29, 2023
@chris @purplepadma @Ibleedblue @kissane That's the difference in a nutshell alright. Mastodon doesn't pick anything for you, you've got to look for it yourself. I can understand the argument that the algorithm might serve you up people or interests that you wouldn't otherwise know about, but that kind of discovery has happened to me a lot from using the Explore option. I also wonder if people have more trouble getting onboard when they primarily use a mobile app rather than the desktop.
Show threadCharlotte WalkerJul 29, 2023
@isotope239 @chris @Ibleedblue @kissane I never use the desktop version
Show threadjz.tuskJul 30, 2023

@purplepadma @isotope239 @chris @Ibleedblue @kissane

Don't Use The Default Android App!

I started with that, and it just felt "off". I switched to Tusky and am much happier.

Show threadJMinSDJul 31, 2023
@jztusk Can you follow hashtags on the Tusky app? I usually have to search them manually.
Show threadjz.tuskJul 31, 2023

@sandywenko

Yes. And here's my understanding:

There's some config stored in the app, and some stored up on the server, with your account.

"Followed hashtags" is part of your account. So you gotta click on your avatar to open the side menu. Then, near the bottom is "Account preferences". Hit that, then "Followed hashtags".....

Show threadJMinSDJul 31, 2023
@jztusk Oh thanks, I will try that!
Show threadjz.tuskJul 31, 2023

@sandywenko

Cool. And please update later with a thumbs up / thumbs down. If I got it wrong I don't want to keep spreading misinfo.

Show threadJMinSD
@jztusk It worked! Thanks again!
Jul 31, 2023 at 8:04pmWeb
Show threadjz.tuskJul 31, 2023

@sandywenko

Woo-hoo!