For those who care, I’ve switched my Mastodon server. I’m now @pzmyers@freethought.online.
HJ Hornbeck set this up for us a few years ago, but I didn’t bother to move at the time, but now I’ve made the shift. This server has been open for business for a while now, and is currently kind of empty (it’s me and HJ), but if anyone else is looking for a Mastodon instance to try out, come on over.
I have no clue what I would use Mastodon for. I think I remember reading that it’s a replacement for Facebook; but since I’ve never used Facebook, I still don’t know what it’s for.
But I tried it out anyway because it seems like something that the cool kids are doing. When I click “Create account”, it tells me that the server is “an invite-only instance” and that I should “see the blog for details.” OK, where on “the blog” will I find the details?
I think here’s the blog post that tells you how to sign-up on that Instance
https://freethoughtblogs.com/reprobate/2023/01/22/part-three-welcome-to-our-mastodon/
I read that and didn’t see anything about setting up an account, just a way for FtB commenters to comment on a Mastodon post (or something). Maybe I missed something.
I also read A Twitter User’s Guide to Mastodon by Marcus Hutchins and see that I was wrong about Mastodon being a better Facebook. I gather that it was intended as a better Twitter; but I’ve never used Twitter either, so still don’t know what it’s for.
I’ve been perma-banned from all of that ‘social media’ stuff: BookFace, Twitster, InstaGag, TickTalk, and now MasturDon,
thanks to some reprobate that goes by the handle of ‘snarki’.
I guess I should be thankful.
1 billseymour – it isn’t a replacement for anything in that sense.
FB has tight privacy controls, probably the tightest of any outside of the old LiveJournal like blogging system (there is a US version of that original service that many have moved to for preservation and staying away from Russian prying). It would be extremely expensive to try to replace it, both in terms of capabilities and also the marketing needed to get people to move and get a critical mass that moves the rest. Google tried it with G+ and while it was easy to get people to sign up…it wasn’t really a thing people could understand as they did that whole ‘circles’ thing as a way to try to have a friends system without calling it ‘friends’ and stepping on potential patent rights FB already owned.
The next closet right now is Tribel…which looks good but has a lot of restrictions on getting semi-private ‘groups’ started which gets it to be a big blocker for migration. People in private groups on FB need to have ALL of that privacy in any migration target, and Tribel doesn’t offer it yet.
Mastodon is more of a twitter type thing, in that almost everything is public. The sizes of posts, however, is set by the service. Some are 288-type of Twitter/Bluesky sizes. Others allow more free form (universeodon is 1000). But everything you do is, like twitter and bluesky, generally public. So I wouldn’t use it for the “connecting with family and friends” thing. What it does have going for it is 100% openness, in the protocol, in the data format, in the API, and even in the ability to migrate servers either because one is going down, or you just feel the need for whatever reason. There are some ‘social protocols’ that the fediverse prefers. They aren’t hard enforcements but sometimes a post might get a “hey can you do this?”. NSFW hiding content is one, of course. Another is the preference to alt-tag all images you upload with a description for screen-readers.
Once in, it can take a little bit to figure out how to search and subscribe to others when they’re on another server, but it gets smoother over time.
[descends from the rafters on a rope]
Oh hey everyone, weird that I just happen to run into y’all here! As implied in the above comments, our Mastodon instance is invite-only. Three groups of people are extended invites: bloggers, verified commenters in good standing, and people a blogger is willing to vouch for. freethought.online (I prefer “FTO”) isn’t intended to be a wide-open instance, because I’ve seen too many instances embrace growth only to burn out their admins when moderation becomes too much of a burden. By staying small and exclusive, we dodge all that and can happily float along for just a few dollars a month.
The application process for commenters is a pain, primarily because there’s no way to send direct messages via WordPress. FtB’s Discord server makes the process easier, though I’ll still want proof you’re a commenter in good standing on one of the blogs in the collective. PZ and I may be the most active people on FTO, but there is at least one commenter with an account there that periodically makes a post. Bloggers have it easier, account-wise, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out William Brinkman is also active on FTO.
I do have plans to blog more about the Fediverse in general, I just have free up some time for it. Speaking of which, I’ve got some proof-reading to do, so, uh, I’ll just be moving along. But I’ll keep an eye on my blog’s comment section, and maybe here as well!
[awkwardly starts ascending back into the darkness]
I would encourage people to have a random look around, not just FTO’s little corner. Tap on a hashtag or two (eg #TootFic or #Wrensday just to nose around.
You might get lost at first, but you’re just having a gander and it doesn’t matter.
I’ve been lurking around various mastodon instances for months and making notes of people that I would follow if/when I join.
I’ve found Mastodon to be fascinating, more insightful, vastly more human{e}, and chock-full of creative content. No algorithms.
When FTB was down (the DNS outage caused by danklord Xarahawi wotsisname), looking at the web page of FTO was my reflex.
I never got round to setting up an account anywhere (too many lovely places to choose from).
But when (/if) I do, I will install a Mastodon client app instead of freeloading off the web interface.
Had I any interest in that, I would not try a site where “The application process for commenters is a pain”, I being a commenter. I’d just check out what Mastodon might be without the pain.
—
HJH: “I’ll keep an eye on my blog’s comment section”
Is that a bit like an imaginary number?
@ 8 Morales
No it’s real. It’s just made not obvious.
(Your mate of the parenthetical kanji knows where it is)
Mastodon State Historic Site
df @10
prove it
John Morales @8:
Psssssst: the Fediverse is decentralized. Nobody can force you to have a single account. Even if joining FTO is annoying, there’s dozens of other instances that make the process much easier. Sign up for five different accounts on five different servers, then delete the four you find most annoying. Or keep them, multiple alts are quite common across the Fediverse. Should you later decide FTO or another instance is right for you, the process to move accounts is straightforward (though be warned that your old posts won’t move with you).
Quick question, which country is mastodon based in? I’m looking to replace my American stuff, but it’s a bit emeshed
Viva la Fediverse!
Barack Obama joins Bluesky
Hj, that was my very point. To check it out, I’d not seek to do so via a painful process if other ways exist.
sophiab, it’s not a company or a business, as such.
It was created by a Russian-born German developer.
cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_(social_network)
“Mastodon is a free and open-source software platform for decentralized social networking with microblogging features similar to Twitter. It operates as a federated network of independently managed servers that communicate using the ActivityPub protocol, allowing users to interact across different instances within the Fediverse. Each Mastodon instance establishes its own moderation policies and content guidelines, distinguishing it from centrally controlled social media platforms.”
That last sentence is the point of this post, I reckon.
I do trust PZ and Hj to keep their word, they have form.
@sophiab
Different servers are based in different places. You can probably find a local one
I help moderate Aus.social, based in Melbourne Australia. I think Mastodon.social is in Germany?