This is your reminder...
There is no algorithm that brings posts to your timeline. The only posts you will see under your Home tab will be either people that you follow, or the boosts from people that you follow.
BOOSTING IS THE LIFE BLOOD OF MASTODON.
If you read something that is interesting, funny, thought provoking, news worthy, or beautiful, then BOOST IT.
Hitting "Favorite" lets the poster know that you liked it BUT IT DOESN'T LET ANYONE ELSE KNOW.
Keep Mastodon alive. BOOST.
Corollary: provide alt-text for your images. Many people, me included, don't boost posts with no alt-text.
Occasionally I add alt-text in a reply, but it's not the same.
I usually add it, but sometimes if it's just for someone and real quick, I don't. But that's really rare. I sometimes go overboard with the Alts 😂
A few weeks ago someone , and I won't mention your name B Kahle, placed a photo with an Alt. At least he TRIED. The alt said 'photo'.
🙄😂
I mean!
I laughed so hard and decided to let him know. No reaction, of course, as usual.
@EricLawton @Mrfunkedude @meganL this is an interesting stance. If the alt text is for accessibility reasons, it makes posts even more inaccessible if people don't share them. The chances that someone doesn't add alt text in the replies increases significantly if the post is worth sharing but isn't shared.
Tumblr has a pretty good culture of adding alt text to posts that need it, one that I wish Masto would adopt.
@crocodisle @EricLawton @Mrfunkedude @meganL
Good thinking!
I'm not a user of #screenreader software so I don't know whether this is valid for the Fediverse:
it was either on Twix or Bluesky that a user of such software wrote that the or their screenreader skips a post completely –if it contains an image without ALTtxt.
It just won't read the post out loud.
So adding an ALTtxt in a reply would not make the post accessible.
@anlomedad @EricLawton @Mrfunkedude @meganL
Adding alt text in the reply is better than nothing though. If screenreading software is skipping posts that sounds like an accessibility bug in either the reader or the frontend.
Not sharing a post one would otherwise share because it's not accessible enough already doesn't make the post more accessible on a site with no algorithm, is what I'm trying to say.
@enoch_exe_inc @EricLawton @Mrfunkedude @meganL ❤️ ^this^. I find Alt-ing images quite hard. It commonly takes me 2, 3 and more times as long to add alt-text to an image as it does to write my thoughts.
That said, I often quite like the result. There's room to add easter eggs and little treasures that don't fit in the main post, especially source urls. But, the level 2 difficulty does stop me from expressing myself sometimes.
@EricLawton @Mrfunkedude @meganL This is a legitimate question since I've been asked to add alt-text to my art but never saw a reason to and i want to understand; What does alt-text add when all I do is post art?
Don't get me wrong here. For informational purpose, to describe an image containing information about, for example, a news report; then alt-text is great.
But when it comes to art I've never understood the point. Does it allow users to enjoy art from just reading text...?
I would expect as much. But question remains if it matters for art.
Lets focus on abstract art. Does a person with vision impairment enjoy art by reading the objective (or subjective) description of the art?
I can write:
"Red and Blue colors blending in a swirl to create a representation of [...]" but that'd lose the purpose as abstract art is up to the beholder and not the artist.
This was intended, by the way, to be a response to @EricLawton reply to OP. Just to be clear.
They won't get out of it what a sighted person gets, but a brief description is a courtesy.
Without it, they don't even know that it's not words on a poster.
Someone I know lost his blind wife, he would describe the sunset, art, and much more, mentioning colour and all, the blending, the soft edges, the shadows, the light. She loved it, it made her happy even though she had never been able to see. It added an extra dimension, an unseen tapestry of unknown fabric that she could almost touch.
Alts can do that.
And yes, they take a bit of time and an extra effort but are also a great option to add more text.
@EricLawton @Mrfunkedude @meganL
I find it difficult to know what people want in alt text. There are two extremes I often see and a whole progression in-between. At one end is a narrative description of what the picture shows and it's context, with very little visual description. At the other end of the scale is a purely visual description. I'll illustrate both below.
Trying to put myself in the position of someone visually prepared, I think I would prefer the narrative description, probably with a few descriptive additions such as "the bright blue of my jacket contrasts with the grey, brown, and dark green background".
PLEASE do not boost posts with no alt-text! @EricLawton @Mrfunkedude @meganL
If there's no alt-text, my filters (against US-pol and A.I., mostly …) won't work and your boost will put that in my timeline and force me to choose whether I should unfollow you.
Similarly: please NEVER boost posts that use euphemisms or tricksy ways to foil filtering for commonly-filtered trigger-toppics like... er... US-pol and AI.
I am gonna boost this post as hard as I can
@Mrfunkedude Um ... "there is no algorithm" ... follow by ... an actual description of the algorithm:
"The only posts you will see under your Home tab will be either people that you follow, or the boosts from people that you follow."
@TimWardCam I'm using the common usage of the word "algorithm" which most people know as code that factors in your past behavior, interactions, and preferences to curate a personalized experience.
While I understand the technical usage is to say that it's a set of rules and instructions that determines the content you see on your social media feeds, I use the common definition to illustrate the difference between here and other similar services.
Hope that clears it up.
One minor point: at least on some instances/servers, there is a "what's happening" or some other similarly named feed. That feed *does* take into account likes as indicators that a post is important enough to feature.
I do realize that most Mastodon users either don't know about such feeds or don't watch them, so I'm not disagreeing with your main point, but likes are used in other ways in the Mastodon universe. Although your point is absolutely right!
@doctorambient I get your point. It's just that I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible for new people. Also because of limited character usage.
Thanks for understanding.
@Mrfunkedude Absolutely! Your point is very important for new users!
The reason that I mention it is that I think it's a much more interesting feed, at least on my server, than the feed that shows the entire federated universe.
It's funny, the kinds of people who come here to avoid an algorithm like on other sites, are exactly the kinds of people who, when put into a similar algorithm but without commercial interests, actually produce very interesting results.
I don't favourite much. I prefer to reply if I like something, usually a photo, even just a few words tells the poster I cared enough to write something rather than just click on an icon. If something engages me I usually try to make a thoughtful comment, even if i am disagreeing.
@Mrfunkedude
I like to use the star when i feel its "not important enough" or i dont want to spam my home instance again (they dont want pure boosters) or because i feel uncute
OR
As boost + star to show how much i agree and like it
@Fpccraig @JugglingWithEggs You have to see the post first before you know that it's been liked. You wont see the post in your home timeline unless it's from someone you follow, or someone you follow boosts someone.
The point is that boosting is a way to bring others content into peoples home tab. Hitting the favorite button does not.
Hope that clears things up. 😄
@Mrfunkedude
• people you follow
• boosts from people you follow
• hashtags you follow
Not to be "well actually" guy…
The important point, as I understand, is that boosting helps messages to cross federation boundaries and propagate to sites they wouldn't reach otherwise.
It also helps the post to reach the followers of the boosting person.
Trending is not a big thing in the fediverse.
From memory, a useful post I read last year...
#Likes are for the *poster* to let them know you saw/liked their post.
#Boosts make the post appear in your timeline so that your *followers* can see it.
#Bookmarks are a sort of "to do" list just for *you*.
#Lists are for grouping...
Also you can follow #hashtags, which I find useful! 👍
#Feditips [Edited duplicate.]
Maria Salcedo
Mr. Funk E. Dude 🫠
Eric Lawton
Mark Burton
Dagnabbit, Pascaline! 💥
Felix 🐊
anlomedad
enoch_exe_inc
matt wilkie
J. Steven York RESISTS
nightoo
🔞 Nachan 🔞
Chris Brooking
Charlie. Probably.
Tumahab Nogard 🇲🇽
🔹 Jakob Givoni
doctorambient
Alexandre Marcati
Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE
Murdoc Addams 🧛🏻
🇨🇦
Anne
Metapod
Kris W
Kalakaua
Richard W. Woodley ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦🌹🚴♂️📷 🗺️
Little1Lost
Mascha van de Weer
SpaceLifeForm
Martijn van Exel
Craig
Negative12DollarBill
don Elías (como los buses) 🥨
Jörg Knappen
Tony Masiello 
☮
João Pinheiro
Richard Rathe
Mysti