@antonyh I don't bother with a native client, but I do mostly use https://elk.zone/ instead of the main interface. It would probably work well as a PWA, but I don't need Mastodon in my launcher.

Side note: Weird synchronicity that I've found need to mention it two replies in a row now, possibly the first two times ever?

@antonyh

Welcome! I tend to use the web interface from every platform I use (Linux desktop, Windows desktop, Android), and I find that it works better than any of the apps with a few exceptions like posting GIFs.

Infosec.exchange is the best-run instance on the Fediverse, in my humble opinion. There aren't a whole lot of unwritten rules, but please don't do be a jerk or do anything that makes our illustrious leader @jerry's life more difficult. Our instance is quite a bit less dogmatic than many other instances, but broadly speaking the broader Mastodon/Fediverse is notorious for being the only social media network with its own HOA, so you can expect people (mostly from other instances) to share their... opinions. You can mostly ignore them, and the block/mute button is your friend.

As far as follow recommendations, it kinda depends on what you're looking for. My own interests tend to focus on general infosec, cyber threat intel, US/world news, geopolitics (e.g., Ukraine, US politics), niche interesting tech, and weird shitposters. I recommend finding one or two active users whose interests align with yours, follow them, pivot into the accounts they retoot, follow them, and just grow it organically.

Tip your server if you can.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/infosecexchange

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/infosecexchange

Liberpay: https://liberapay.com/Infosec.exchange/

@antonyh Welcome! 👋

You may find this "starter pack" useful for getting situated with Mastodon/the Fediverse - https://shellsharks.com/notes/2023/10/20/infosec-mastodon-starter-pack

In there is also a list of past follow friday recommendations so there are lots of cool infosec people to follow!

As for “rules”, I think the tips in that guide I linked to can help you with a few things.

@antonyh
Welcome!

Definitely follow @FediTips to get the hang of some features.

Community-wise, make a post with the hashtag "introduction" and pin it to your profile. Include your interests (hashtags help!) and a little about yourself.

Including alt-text for your images increases the chance to get boosted (and also is more inclusive for the community). Content-warnings are encouraged, too.

Following hashtags is a great way to meet people with similar interests. :)

@antonyh

Re: "any unwritten rules here that I should be aware of before I get too comfortable? "

Yeah, never get too comfortable. 🤪

@antonyh Since it's a decentralized platform, there's a few quirks to know about how it works:
- Every instance (of which you had to join one, like infosec.exchange) has different codes of conduct, privacy policies, content moderation policies, etc. and as a result fosters a slightly different "culture" or "feel" to it.
- Think of your instance admins like you would the high-in-the-sky corporate overlords on other social medias: they're the ones who enforce ^ (don't assume your DMs are truly private, immature leadership is a HUGE red flag, etc.)
- The scope you can see on general feeds is basically the federation of users (or instances, forget which) which others on your instance follow, excluding the ones that get blocked by your admin for endemic spam etc. That being said -- here be dragons, the Federated feeds can be kind of a dumpster fire.
- I think Mastodon (the social media network) has some limited inreroperability with other Fediverse (the distributed platform) apps, but I'm really not sure. In terms of **Mastodon** clients though, only onr I've found worthwhile are mobile ones.
- Follow @FediTips for occasional tips

General Stuff:
- Trawling your Twitter/X/LinkedIn/etc. follow lists to find people here, then maybe looking through their Followers list is a good way to get a sense of who all is on here.
- Like everyone said: (#)introduction tagged post, short bio, profile pic (hypocritical ik lol) are all good to make yourself not look like a bot, and alt-tagging photos with captions is more of an expectation here than most platforms for accessibility and low bandwidth users