HenryHere's my long un-awaited post about how I've found the last two years on #Mastodon :
https://www.henryleach.com/2025/02/two-years-before-the-mastodon
annie@hl oooh I’m about to be doing a deep dive into those newly heard posts.
@annie Enjoy!
Also, this is the post I gutted after reading your last post on Mastodon, and trying to make it more approachable.
Previously it had been an unreadable pile of personal impressions, mixed with musings about how the underlying technology and philosophy of a social network affects the behaviour and experience of the users. I might still do a follow on post in that direction, but it would then very specifically be for nerds only.
So thank you.
@hl well it's lovely and I'm so glad you posted it. thank you!
I echo a lot of your experiences-- Have had some neat interactions leading to deeper chats, have also found great music sharing, and been pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy social.lol. Cheers to the big fediverse and the small web.
Davey Craney> in a way that's very nice, like seeing familiar faces when walking around the neighbourhood
That’s a really nice way to think of an instance and the interactions. I love this little place 😊
rameez 🍉@hl Great post. I enjoyed reading it. 👍🏼
Jake in the desert@hl this was such an awesome read! Same.
rail@hl Don’t forget you can always visit the omg.lol Discord (also available via IRC), can confirm it’s pretty cool
@rail Yeah, I was briefly in the IRC, and also the Signal group...but it all moves too fast. I can /just/ about keep up here if it's a quiet day. Add those other places in, and I've got no chance, so I'm trying to stick to one thing.
Alex Onsager@hl I saw your post, and I’m having a similar experience to you in a lot of ways so I thought I’d just say hello!
I’m on a solo server so building/joining a community has been a slow process, but I’ve come to enjoy the leisurely pace. But for the first time in a long time, being social online actually feels fun and fulfilling!
I’m on a solo server so building/joining a community has been a slow process, but I’ve come to enjoy the leisurely pace. But for the first time in a long time, being social online actually feels fun and fulfilling!
Ben Daubney 
@hl Really nice post.
Somehow, and I don’t know how, doomscrolling hasn’t been a problem for me. I think it’s maybe because I rarely see hopelessness in my timeline and more often see people taking action. That was never the case elsewhere
@bendaubney That's interesting, do you use many filters? Also any particular examples of users who post those kinds of things?
Perhaps it's also a current German situation; Sunday is the federal election, and the extreme right will do very well, and that's causing a lot of the more left leaning people I follow in German to, understandably, post less positive things.
@hl Adam's the textbook example. Points to something not-great, also posts about what he's doing to make it better.
I don't envy the elections you're going through. We were lucky last year - all countries want change, and we had the (mis?)fortune of having an encumbant right-wing party which meant we got a left(ish) one coming in instead.
@bendaubney Yes, and I really wish Labour was doing more with their majority. I fear some of their success was based on Reform splitting the right wing vote with the Tories - so they've got to show quality of life improvements before the next election.
Oh and stopping the Snooper's charter, and the madness of the Online Safety Act, making it too risky for hobbyists to run online services. I don't like that they're following along with these two vaguely defined laws.
@hl It's typical Labour that those are precisely the sort of laws they'd go along with, sadly.
Colin Devroe@hl Much of what you’ve written about your experiences on Mastodon aligns with mine as well. Nice post Henry. I’m glad you’re here.