Hello @metaden! New to the fediverse?
@Azurolu Yes. Please guide.
@metaden Here is mastodon, it's one of the many platforms of the fediverse and it's Gargron's project. mastodon.social is Gargron's instance. An instance is a server that anyone can set up and link to the rest of the fediverse: For example, I'm on the mastodon.xyz instance made by @TheKinrar Each instance has its own set of rules.
Mastodon is not the only platform of the fediverse, there are also GNU/Social instances and Pleroma instances, which are free speech oriented.
@metaden I suggest you follow @Gargron because he's your instance's admin, @lain to keep up with the development of pleroma and that will probably lead you to discover more people in the anime/manga and other kind of nerdy stuff etc community.
I also suggest you take a look at @Technowix's instance niu.moe, which is a anime based instance you'd probably like, with a really cool admin and active userbase.
instances.mastodon.xyz is where you'll find a list of (mastodon only) instances, by @TheKinrar.
@Azurolu How do you check an instance without registering?
@metaden There was a website that let you do that, but I don't remember it. You'd probably have to register and check the local timeline. Don't worry, you can completely delete your account in the settings if it's not to your taste.