Why aren't you following @FediTips @FediFollows or @FediVideo yet?

These are GREAT accounts that inform you on what's happening or how to better use the Fediverse.

If you aren't following these account, YOU AREN'T GETTING THE WHOLE FEDIVERSE EXPERIENCE.

So follow them.

@Mrfunkedude @FediTips @FediFollows @FediVideo
I'm new to the platform and I was very confused and had a hard time understanding how to access other parts of the fedivers, it's pretty opaque so these accounts really feel like they should be automatically followed upon account creation to help onboard new people and help them understand how this concept different from any other social media works. It takes seconds to unfollow them if deamed unnecessary but hours to find them when starting off.

@TomBardout @Mrfunkedude

A lot of server admins do tell their members about support/help accounts, and there is an option within the admin tools to recommend specific accounts to follow for their members.

It's a shame if the mastodon.social server isn't doing this, they are leaving their members in the lurch if so? Maybe as they've grown so big, they've lost sight of doing small but important things like this?

@FediTips @Mrfunkedude
Yes. That's a bit problematic as it's by far the biggest server and the default option when starting your fedivers adventure. I couldn't know this wasn't the best option for newcomers and I am now looking to migrate to another server to have an experience more tailored to my interests and to spread out and do my part against centralisation

@TomBardout @Mrfunkedude

Yeah, have been having a go at them for years about it being a bad idea to have a default server (https://fedi.tips/its-a-really-bad-idea-to-join-a-big-server/).

It is true that it's simpler to just suggest one server to newcomers, but they could rotate which single server is suggested. It doesn't have to be exactly the same one suggested for years on end.

Mastodon.social is not a good way to join Mastodon. If you’re already on it, you might want to move your account to a different Mastodon server. | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

@FediTips @Mrfunkedude
Yes, I had a similar thought. And I did come across your blog post, I hadn't realized you were the one who wrote it. There are many servers based on geography that would be the first most obvious thing to suggest the newcomer to join a server where people are discussing their local issues in their language. The site could then also suggest interests, and show relevant servers based on that. I later saw that Lemmy does exactly that.

@TomBardout

I run a website at https://fedi.garden and an account at @FediGarden to help people find such servers.

And to be fair, there is something similar on Mastodon's official website at https://joinmastodon.org/servers (though that tends to emphasise the biggest servers and doesn't list non-Mastodon servers).

Fedi.Garden – An easy way to join Mastodon and the Fediverse

Highlighting nice servers on Mastodon and the Fediverse

@FediTips @FediGarden
Great, thanks! I have also stumbled upon a few other ones. I was pretty frustrated that as a new user I had to go through plenty of extra websites to understand how to use this social network (and I'm overall more tech savvy than the standard person probably not on the fediverse where tech backgrounds are everywhere). I was thinking to myself, as a social network, this back and forth experience with dozens of other tabs would turn away anyone but the most convinced.

@TomBardout @FediGarden

It's very different to centralised social networks, but people do use decentralised networks too, so perhaps people can get used to it if they want to? There's a good short vid about it: https://tilvids.com/w/wx2iLhD3pTipbKFJKLyx5t

Choosing a server is similar to choosing an email provider or phone provider, as the network structure is similar.

"this back and forth experience with dozens of other tabs "

I'm not sure how you are using this place, but most people just use it in one tab? πŸ€”

Mastodon in 180 Seconds 🐘

PeerTube
@FediTips @FediGarden
The back and forth between tabs was trying to figure out what servers to choose since the mastodon website doesn't provide enough information, trying to understand how to link accounts and migrate them to other servers, trying to figure out which mobile apps to use because the official one lacks what I would think to be core functionality to navigate between servers feeds, trying to understand what is federated between different social media types and what isn't...

@TomBardout

Part of the complications come from people being used to being on locked-down platforms where they have no options at all. So, when they suddenly have choices they aren't sure what to do as they don't have a reference point.

Once you get used to the concepts, it becomes a lot easier to cope with this place.

If someone said everyone has to use one phone model with one network provider, a lot of people would be annoyed because they are used to choice. People can get used to it πŸ™‚

@FediTips
I guess. I for one welcomed the choices but the lack of useful information surrounding it was the problem. Is a choice really a choice if I tell you pick in a random list of names but give you no information around that choice and what consequences that choice will have on your experience?

I had to go find other websites much like yours that gave me more insight about my choice but at that point I had already chosen the main server. And that's where the dark forest effect began...

@TomBardout

What kind of information would you want to see?

@FediTips @TomBardout can't speak for Tom but on bluesky I discussed the possibility of having a "preview" where instances opt in to have their local feed displayed on a tool like fedi observer so you can get a rough idea of what their community is like without having to visit a bunch of different domains and navigate through them

@puppygirlhornypost2 @TomBardout

Some third party apps let you follow Local feeds from remote instances, sounds like such a tool would be a variation on that? If so it should be very do-able πŸ‘

@FediTips @puppygirlhornypost2
Yes, I am now using Moshidon third party app for this very reason, I have a hard time understanding why it isn't core functionality. Without, your experience of the fediverse is through a telescope looking at one person you follow in a faraway land you don't see much more of. I'm not interested in following people as much as following communities but once again, that may be the fact that I'm not from the twitter mold and I was coming for the fediverse not mastodon

@TomBardout

"I have a hard time understanding why it isn't core functionality."

Bear in mind this is a tiny team of mostly-volunteers with a tiny budget based on donations and grants. Part of the reason for open platforms is so missing stuff can be filled in by third parties.

"I'm not interested in following people as much as following communities "

Have you tried groups? They are cross-server communities.

https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-groups-on-the-fediverse

How to use discussion groups on Mastodon and the Fediverse | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

@FediTips
Yes, I meant no disrespect. I don't really know how it all works just yet but mastodon being by far the biggest and oldest on the fediverse block, I thought it would have had time to address this if it were planned. Is there a roadmap of planned features I can consult to better understand what has been planned?

I might have seen a groups button somewhere but I didn't understand it as being a public groups thing and I was unaware they were cross-server. I'll have to look into that!

@TomBardout

There are literally thousands of open issues people have asked them to deal with 😱 The complete list of issues is at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues

...but this is easier to browse if you sort it by number of votes for each issue at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc

There is also a roadmap but it hasn't been updated in a while, at https://joinmastodon.org/roadmap

Issues Β· mastodon/mastodon

Your self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community - Issues Β· mastodon/mastodon

GitHub

@FediTips
Yeah, this discussion is indeed one of the top ones dating back to 2019, and with an 8 month old last message to summarize it...
https://codeberg.org/streams/streams
I think third party apps are indeed the best bet at implementation even though incomplete

I also stumbled upon something else mentioned in the suggestions. Do you have any knowledge around this? It seems to try to address cross platform problematics and nomadic accounts that I thought came with the fediverse https://codeberg.org/streams/streams

streams

Decentralised personal communication system.

Codeberg.org

@TomBardout

I'm not a fan of Streams, it pushed content onto my server even though I wasn't following any Streams accounts. This started filling my server with stuff I didn't want and hadn't interacted with. When I tried to engage with the developer, he eventually claimed it was my fault and blocked me from discussion. 😬

So I ended up having to block all the Streams servers that were doing this pushing.

@FediTips
😬 Not cool...
Looked promising ... :/

@TomBardout

I should add the developer is very well-respected and has done lots of Fediverse projects including Friendica, Hubzilla and the Zot protocol which predate Mastodon. I'm not meaning to trash them or their work!

Just for whatever reason, Streams seemed to cause problems. I don't know what its current status is.

@FediTips
Okay. He was also behind hubzilla? Because I saw it before and it also talked about the same all incompassing federated experience I believe so it peaked my interest but when I went to see, it was just a bunch of code so it just looked like a developer toolkit and not a regular end-user thing. I'd be interested in having a unified experience across platforms, that's what drew me in in the first place, one account multiple plateforms, view content arranged in whatever format you prefer

@TomBardout

"view content arranged in whatever format you prefer"

You don't need to be on multiple platforms to do this, you can use different apps with the same account to view the same content in different formats.

An app is a window onto your server, but the way different apps display and use your account's information can vary very greatly.

You can be signed in on multiple apps at once with the same account, your actions with your account in one app will sync across to the other apps.

@TomBardout

p.s. Some apps can also add additional functionality by using your server's info in new ways that the official interfaces don't yet support.

For example there's a post scheduling service in Mastodon's core code but no support for it yet in Mastodon's official interface. So, a number of third party apps access your server's scheduling function using their own interface to display it, and it effectively adds scheduling to your account. (https://fedi.tips/scheduling-posts-on-mastodon/)

Scheduling posts on Mastodon | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

@FediTips
I have come across what I would call "reskins" , I don't mean it an a perjoritive way, they all have newer and nicer layouts than the base mastodon but don't really change the way the feed is presented all that much.

I was referring to things like this.
https://mograph.social/@lps/113800483319279981
I'd also be interested in seeing if there is a project that can display and let you browse the servers like a node cloud/mind map. That would make exploration of other servers more intuitive and interesting

lps (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image #feditips #quicktip If you prefer a more #instagram presentation when following #photography or #art accounts, it's easy! Create a #pixelfed account like you did for #mastodon https://pixelfed.org/servers Then, if you find an artist that you want to follow from there, due to the nicer layout for that type of content, just copy and paste their account ex. @[email protected] into the search bar and voila ... you're following from there (where you can also comment) #mastoart #fediverse #activitypub

mograph.social

@TomBardout

"but don't really change the way the feed is presented all that much. "

There's nothing to stop an app laying out content in whatever way it wants. It's nothing to do with the server how apps choose to lay out posts.

App makers are free to display Mastodon posts in an Instagram manner if they want to.

@FediTips
Oh ok, good to know. Do you know of any that display the content or the fediverse as a whole in cool and unusual ways?

@TomBardout

Yeah, the retro apps always get lots of boosts for example:

https://fedi.tips/using-mastodon-on-retro-computers

By the way, there is a Media tab on the official Mastodon web interface that displays the account's posts as a grid of pictures. For example:

https://photog.social/@IanCykowski/media

To see the post connected to a picture, click on the box with an arrow below it.

Using Mastodon on retro computers | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

@FediTips
I thought the retro apps are just to be able to display the site on old software that don't support it. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Thanks for the tip on the media tab :)