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.

So I understand that the bird site has started blocking links to common/known Mastodon instances, and that doesn't seem like free speech to me. So... I did a thing.

If you go to https://spacekaren.sucks it is now a URL shortener that blocks the twitter user agent. That means you can share that link that will redirect to your Mastodon account without the pouty baby stopping you. If you find this helpful can you boost so others can find it? #TwitterMigration #Mastodon #Musk #introduction

Rosalind Franklin’s research was crucial to discovering DNA’s double helix structure 🧬 but it was James Watson & Francis Crick who received the credit & Nobel Prize.

Unknown to Franklin, the pair saw her unpublished data & X-ray diffraction images, inspiring their model. They never acknowledged her contribution until after her death.

How many discoveries & innovations of #women do we attribute to the men who took credit for their ideas?

https://theconversation.com/sexism-pushed-rosalind-franklin-toward-the-scientific-sidelines-during-her-short-life-but-her-work-still-shines-on-her-100th-birthday-139249 #history #science #HistoryRemix

I don't think journalists (in general) -- and certainly not the organizations they work for -- fully understand the threat Musk represents to the future of free expression and journalism itself.

Begging him to reinstate the banned accounts is pure folly. It is bended-knee supplication to a sociopath who now controls a powerful media company. But the power of his company depends in no small degree on keeping journalists there.

Leave. Now.

Here’s another example of Republicans defying common practice and common sense, this time to prop up anti-vaccination nonsense for a political “statement.”

Republicans have already been clear that they won’t support further aid to Ukraine after they get the House next month. So of course they’d take the opportunity to sabotage whatever they can now.

Vaccinations help prevent the loss of critical team members to viruses along with preventing illness from spreading where personnel are interacting. Using the repeal of the COVID vaccination mandate as a hostage has the potential to make entire units non-deployable in the future and risk the health of countless individuals.

Misinformation coupled with reckless political antics will affect national security. Incredibly irresponsible, but that’s Republican.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/15/senate-sends-biden-military-bill-that-would-lift-covid-vaccine-mandate-for-troops-and-authorize-more-ukraine-funding.html