Dear white people:

Whenever you see someone who is #BIPOC speak up about the lack of #diversity on Mastodon... You don't need to give your opinion, you don't need to correct them about their own experience, you don't need to highlight the wonders of the fediverse. Just don't.

Instead, please listen to what they say, and remember that reach here is mediated by boosts, so instead of telling them to invite more people over—or to become Mastodon leaders of their community...

... Just boost them

Make a conscious effort to follow people who are #BIPOC and boost their posts.

Boost posts by non-white marginalized communities so you can help their voices reach farther.

#TwitterMigration

Trans rights are human rights.

Black lives matter.

No human is illegal.

Love is love.

Their body, their choice.

Science is real.

Kindness is everything.

P.S. If you started following me due to this post, PLEASE look at my profile and decide if it's for you.

Make sure general nerdiness, tabletop roleplay, and other related pursuits are the kind of content you want to see in your timeline.

Our values obviously align, but our interests/hobbies might not. No hard feelings if you unfollow. 😉

The thing about Twitter is that it really lacks a lot of the features you'd expect from a true Mastodon replacement.

For example, there's no way to edit your toots (which they, confusingly call "tweets"—let's face it, it's a bit of a silly name that's difficult to take seriously).

"Tweets" can't be covered by a content warning. There's no way to let the poster know you like their tweet without also sharing it, and no bookmark feature.

There's no way to set up your own instance, and you're basically stuck on a single instance of Twitter. That means there's no community moderators you can reach out to to quickly resolve issues. Also, you can't de-federate instances with a lot of problematic content.

It also doesn't Integrate with other fediverse platforms, and I couldn't find the option to turn the ads off.

Really, Twitter has made a good start, but it will need to add a lot of additional features before it gets to the point where it becomes a true Mastodon replacement for most users.

#twitter #mastodon #twittermigration @fediverse

I keep seeing people say Mastodon is nothing like Twitter. And they’re right.

Mastodon is an echo of the old internet, it’s decentralised, chaotic. What you get depends on your sysadmin. You can’t search, everything has to be shared to you by a human. Networks split apart and rejoin. What you see is your unique connection to it.

Is this good? Maybe. But for me that’s the internet I grew up with. No algorithms, no targeted adverts, just human interaction, and it was glorious.

Another quick PSA for the newcomers:

There is no Mastodon.

As in, there is no entity out there called Mastodon that needs to "get it together" or "make things easier."

Every server is a unique collection of hardware and software operated by a unique team of (usually) volunteer humans funded by (usually) donations.

Some days will be smoother than others. We new folks have flooded the network. Cut the volunteers some slack. Better yet, offer support.

What is going on right now: Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, has taken the stand in his own defense against a charge of seditious conspiracy.

I'm following @KlasfeldReports. who is reporting from the court.

I am following him on Twitter because I'm still figuring out how Mastodon works :)

Anyway, here is some background:

On January 13, Rhodes (who helped lead the attack on the Capitol on January 6) was indicted for, among other things, seditious conspiracy.

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If anyone happens to see this in #dotnet, I'd love to get a good list of follows in this space. I obviously followed @shanselman, but any other suggestions are welcomed.

.NET 7 tomorrow!