Mastodawn

Am I supposed to introduce myself and #introduction ?..I confess I have never known how to use the social internet properly and the Fediverse confuses me a bit, but I feel strongly in the need to carve out alternative social spaces on the Internet. So excuse any social faux pas on my part. I am an educator and musician in New Zealand with a passion for writing complaint letters, bringing the social sciences into everything and dreaming of a world where we radically take care of each other.

@Torithom dunno tbh. still working on my introduction text

blobcat_flopdaze

Process "Tedious" Parsnip 14h ago

@Torithom welcome! It's all optional.
Fedi is even more confusing than corporate social media, it's true.

Bodhi 心 13h ago

@Torithom That’s a good introduction. Hi 👋

Jane 🇳🇿13h ago

@Torithom Welcome aboard.

Desert Square Gardener 13h ago

@Torithom there's a proper way? According to who?

@desertsquare good question. There seem to be shared norms of behaviour that people pick up over time, but maybe the Fediverse is still developing little pockets of norms?

Desert Square Gardener 11h ago

@Torithom The Fediverse has a few customs like alt text for pictures and introductions; however, I don't know if they're exclusive to this network. Some people won't interact with you if you omit those two things. I think alternate descriptions for vision-impaired users are valid. Introductions, I will not comply.

@desertsquare fair enough. Yes I shall try to get better at alt text. Not sure if I've worked it out thus far but will. Totally on board with that norm. Your question made me think about all the how to videos about using social media to promote music which stresses me out as a musician, but asking who's norms they are is important I think, especially when alt text isn't always a consideration. I think you're right that we need to challenge the norm, double empathy problem and all that.

Desert Square Gardener 11h ago

@Torithom Welcome aboard.

Random Canuck 🍁😷 💉 VE3ZDN 7h ago

@Torithom @desertsquare I think there are some common norms, but there are also some that are unique to certain instances (another term for a Mastodon server). So things done on the forkiverse.com might differ from my instance, CoSocial.ca. For example, we’re a co-op where all members pay annual dues to cover operating costs. We have annual meetings, a book club, etc. Truly a community.

@RandomCanuck that's cool, what is the main thing that unites the community? Is it the idea of federated social media itself?

gardencat 13h ago

@Torithom
Welcome! Here you can shape things to suit yourself and your interests.
What kind of music do you make?

@gardencat I call it freak folk chamber pop but someone else called it space opera in the straightforward musical sense.

gardencat 13h ago

@Torithom
I am into enjoying and supporting live music, mostly all kind of jazz. I also love folk and big and small classical.

@gardencat cool:) ... You might like my stuff since it kind of crosses over those. What's some good local jazz where you are? I don't do live much because of health but keen to see Waypeople -Jack Baxendale (alternative/ experimental jazz)

gardencat 12h ago

@Torithom
I volunteer at our jazz festival in the summer and at a local jazz space in the rest of the year. I also go out to concerts as much as I can. I hear a lot of great music, both local and international.

This summer I will have the pleasure of putting both Bob James and Hiromi on stage on the same evening this summer at the festival. That should be quite an evening! (I volunteer as stage manager at the festival.)

My favorite concert in 2025 was a tribute to Oscar Peterson with two grand pianos and four pianists in a small intimate listening space to celebrate his 100th birthday.

I am sure I would enjoy your music.

@gardencat <3 Canada by the way, I volunteered at Victoria BC Jazz festival a while back. I've added those to my listen list, the Oscar Peterson tribute sounds pretty amazing! My stuff is at linktr.ee/torithom but I'm releasing a parody of Paper Doll/ It's only a Paper Moon in a couple of weeks... A bit controversial in NZ with our copyright law but yeah it's jazzy :)

gardencat 12h ago

@Torithom
I volunteer with the Ottawa Jazz festival. It has been 32 years. Time flies when you are having a good time. I hope you enjoyed the Victoria festival!

I see that there is a big risk that Victoria will lose Herman's. That would be very sad. It is so hard to keep live music venues alive.

I will check out your music. Thank you!

@gardencat ohno, that's not good about Herman's! It's been about a decade now but I used to go there, special place.

peter (sax) 🌈13h ago

@Torithom Welcome!

Jürgen 13h ago

@Torithom kia ora!

@elbosso Kia ora :)

@Torithom Welcome! Considering you're in NZ, you might enjoy reading posts from
@georgepenney

@pinky I will! I've seen some of those posts and NZ isn't actually this cute quaint utopia (especially as someone who has never lived in a small town). But I appreciate the musings.

@Torithom @pinky
I enjoy the George Penney posts because they're about the cute quaint utopia town I live in. :D It's not really cute, quaint, nor utopia here, but still fun to see from their eyes.

Also, welcome to Mastodon. There's quite a few of us in New Zealand here, especially on the mastodon.nz and cloudisland.nz servers.

@mwt excuse my ignorance, but I joined the Fediverse through the Forkiverse, which was a social experiment made on the Hard Fork podcast. They created it with vibe coding as a small project so I don't even know how it's still working now it's so big. Is that what you call the server, and there's another one for NZ?

@Torithom
The Forkiverse is one of many points-of-entry that together make up the Fediverse. The Fediverse is basically a whole bunch of places that can all talk to each other, and they don't even all look the same (some are like blogs, some are like former-Twitter, some are like Instagram, there's also Youtube-like places, etc.).

Mastodon is a Twitter-like setup, and there are at least a couple well-populated Mastodon servers specific to New Zealand (Mastodon.nz is the one I'm on, and the other I know of is cloudisland.nz).

Neil Moffatt 12h ago

@Torithom Was in a bookshop today and saw a book on the effect of music upon us. So often education systems marginalise the arts with no research to back that attitude.

@NicelyManifest yes, I've seen a few books about that lately which I've been trying to get hold of! Especially where I am right now, as an arts educator advocacy for the arts existing at all is so prevalent. And yes, not evidence based grr.

Taran Rampersad 12h ago

@Torithom welcome.

The world is better for your expressed ambitions. 🙃

Elena Rossini ⁂12h ago

@Torithom lovely introduction and welcome ! 🌈💖

Callalily 12h ago

@Torithom
Hello & welcome!

Pollinators 12h ago

@Torithom The Covid conscious people are active on the fediverse, helping each other deal with the world. Hashtags are free! Example hashtags are #CovidIsNotOver, #LongCovid, #COVIDisAirborne, #covid, #disability.

@Pollinators that is very cool! I've just been discussing the way the CC movements get fragmented as people boycott various platforms as they get messed up by billionaires, while others are to sick and tired to be bothered to move again. It's got a way to go but the Fediverse seems to offer a solution.

Pollinators 12h ago

@Torithom There are people sharing access to long covid studies. You can follow people with one click!

Pollinators 12h ago

@Torithom An example is @tomkindlon

@Torithom @Pollinators
There's also a Long Covid group,
!@longcovid

If you add that user id to your post (remove the ! in front) that post will be sent to folks following that group.

You can browse posts here (hope I got this link right):

https://fedigroups.social/@longcovid

DDForschungswerk 12h ago

@Torithom Sounds wonderful - welcome!
Check out @FediTips if you are confused, it helps a great deal to get started!

AskPippa🇨🇦12h ago

@Torithom Welcome to Mastodon. Yes, the platform is clunkier to use than others. So, I would suggest following @FediTips
FediTips posts lots of helpful things about using Mastodon, and there is a website where you can look things up.
Other tips:
- You can follow hashtags. It's a good way to get posts on your fave topics to show up in your feed.
- You have easy access to 3 different feeds (listed on the right side your screen). A) Home -- posts from accounts that you actually follow. B) Trending - popular posts from across the Fediverse. C) Live Feeds -- posts from accounts on the same server/instance your account is on.
If you post polite questions about hos to use anything, usually some nice person out there will step up with an answer.

Solitha 11h ago

@AskPippa @Torithom And because people can follow hashtags, using them in your own posts is a great way for others with similar interests to find you!

MrAndrewD 12h ago

@Torithom What is your best ever complaint letter?

@MrAndrewD I was writing letters to the government to stop ignoring Long Covid but then I ran out of energy (ironically). In reality all I can do as little chips away at things rather than achieve concrete results on my own, but I did manage to get my building to put a bench in the foyer for people to sit on rather than the floor. A small win but a tangeable one!

MrAndrewD 11h ago

@Torithom I watched a cycling advocacy video yesterday and one of the points they made is to avoid ",you vs the world".

Connect you to others with the similar issues and suddenly you have a community of people who politicians are going to find it much more difficult to ignore (vs ignoring an individual).

@MrAndrewD I'm also fairly involved in cycling advocacy haha! I write letters and share them in the communities I am a part of for input and ideas. It's the extent of the energy I have to contribute to collective action at times but yes, 'you vs the world' is problematic due to the powers that be thriving of us working in silos. I'm also involved in union work as of recently to try and become more collectively strategic in my complaint letter hobby (:

@MrAndrewD also are you able to share that video? I probably need to see it to keep my cycling rage in check

MrAndrewD 9h ago

https://video.canadiancivil.com/w/bffea209-9544-4b5d-aaa7-36720782d6ac

5 Mistakes That Kill Bike Advocacy (And How to Fix Them)

PeerTube

MrAndrewD 8h ago

@Torithom It's a bit North American, but the key message about getting critical mass (pardon the pun) of transport reinvention is relevant globally

@MrAndrewD well it is disconcerting to see people riding on the other side but it seems pretty relevant to here, and ideas transferrable to other advocacy contexts too.

John Timaeus 11h ago

Welcome. If you find something confusing, just ask.

dogtrax 11h ago

@Torithom I dream of that world, too.

The Drop Bear 2.0

@Torithom welcome to the fediverse, I hope you enjoy it here 😊

@Torithom you are among friends here!

Fishercat 10h ago

@Torithom Hello, and welcome.

Agyei Gyasi 10h ago

@Torithom Howdy and welcome 👋!

CynBlogger ❌👑10h ago

@Torithom
Nice to meet you…welcome to the Fedi!

@Torithom You seem like the kind of person I want to know on the internet! Welcome!

Chuff² 10h ago

@Torithom @FediTips

We're always happy to answer polite questions, and @FediTips is a great resource for starting out

The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️9h ago

Welcome :)

@Torithom Welcome! Fedizens are famous for giving gentle (or not so gentle) advice about how-it-all-is-supposed-to-work. Any advice that doesn’t work for you is wrong

Crystale 9h ago

@Torithom welcome! If sometime you want to find a more local community, I think there are instances created by and for New Zealand folks!

Don't hesitate to follow hashtags of things you like until your feed is more alive, and you can also see the feed of the forkiverse if you want to talk with your community :D