Hey people coming over from Twitter...
I'm seeing some posts saying that Mastodon is "slow".
Rest assured that it wasn't slow yesterday, it was surprisingly fast! It's just that the off-the-charts number of new signups will slow it down for a while.
I'm sure it will speed up again in a few days, depending how long this influx lasts (and whether Twitter actually does disappear completely). The network was able to absorb the previous waves OK in the end.
General warning to all new users: most mastodon servers are going to perform poorly as they take on a lot of new users. Most servers are small affairs run by a single person. Things are going to be slow, and things are going to break.
Be patient, be respectful, and tip your admin.
It's going to be a rough ride in the fediverse for a while. These are strange times and no one was prepared.
Mastodon is strange and new, and it's uncomfortable here right now. Be patient, it's worth it.