Public Service Warning
Mastodon has a very big surge of new users right now. There's no way to tell if it will be sustained, but at this early point it looks similar to Nov 18 when Musk pulled the employee purge.
It is very challenging for system administration to accommodate so many new users. If your server starts to struggle, it is not broken and will get sorted out.
We're all in this together. It's our social network. Be patient. What we are building is amazing.
A little bit like a certain EX-PM of Australia telling protestors and women that they would be shot, in other countries (maybe this one, one day)
Elon Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist, to justify turning a blind eye to hatred and bigotry on Twitter.
But when journalists report unfavorable news, they are banned without warning.
The devotion to free speech is apparently not that absolute. But the hypocrisy is.
🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/1603820006466371584
“Elon Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist, to justify turning a blind eye to hatred and bigotry on Twitter. But when journalists report unfavorable news, they are banned without warning. The devotion to free speech is apparently not that absolute. But the hypocrisy is.”
With each new surge of Mastodon users, I feel the need to point out:
1. Welcome!
2. There is a learning curve here, but most people find it short and not very steep. Play around, explore. You'll get it.
3. Lots of people are willing to help.
4. Yes, it's different than Twitter. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes not. But you'll figure it out.
5. With surges especially, things sometimes get slow/glitchy, but they usually get fixed pretty quick.
Be patient.
Happy Friday arvo!!
Unsurprisingly we're seeing an uptick in signups - to those who've been here a while, we appreciate your help showing the newbies around! 
To our new users, welcome! Follow this account, we're your local aus dot social moderators 
Your admin is the superlative @aussocialadmin 
- Fill out your profile pic and bio, write an #introduction post
- Find people by searching their user name or by using hashtags - we don't have full text search here
- Familiarise yourself with our rules: see https://aus.social/about
- Take your time and ask questions, people will help - use #fedihelp too
Lots of useful info here https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-basic-tips/ and you can also follow @feditips for more tips 
And always be excellent to each other 
This is grim. It's far too soon to discount #Russia
“Russian mobilisation has worked,” says General Zaluzhny. “A tsar tells them to go to war, and they go to war.” General Syrsky agrees: “The enemy shouldn’t be discounted. They are not weak…and they have very great potential in terms of manpower.”
🎁
Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals explain why the war hangs in the balance from The Economist
https://econ.st/3Ws3ZWE
Mastodon Migration
Simone
Sandra N
MozzieBytes 𓆤 ☸️ 😷
Sharon Lee
Mike Masnick ✅
Anthony Klan
Aus Social Mods
Ruth Mottram