Day 1 on Mastodon and I already love that there's no algorithm screaming at me What should I know as a newbie?
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@NoRestfortheWicked @Katherinesalom ...
+ install linux, start selfhosting, buy meshcore radios, punch nazis, publish photos of moss and cats and you're almost done with the initiation ritual@po3mah
Pssst, don't tell her the secret arts yet!
@Katherinesalom -
@Katherinesalom Follow absolutely anyone you think might be interesting. Unfollow anyone who you no longer find interesting.
Boost and like all the things. Boosting other people is what we have for an algorithm here. Liking posts lets a poster know that you appreciate them.
If you're coming from other social networks, try to not post or boost ragebait.
Don't pay attention to the numbers (follower count, shares, replies, etc.) They are also not driven by an algorithm.
@troublewithwords @Katherinesalom
As noted, follow freely and unfollow freely.
My own addition is don't hesitate to Mute or Block people who are annoying you frequently. It is just avoiding people where interaction isn't making anyone's life better. It is not declaring them Unspeakable Monsters
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Spend time on your Local feed. It’s the easiest and most direct way to see what the people around you are talking about or sharing.
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Mastodon isn’t your only option, and you might find a different platform suites you better. Friendica, Catodon, Sharkey, Hometown, etc. all have different layouts and user experiences, while accessing the same people and content. Once you feel comfortable in the space, it’s worth looking at whether you want to engage with that space in different ways.
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Follow hashtags.
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There are other services on the network that operate very differently from Mastodon that are worth checking out for more focused usage. For instance, there’s a photo/image sharing platform called PixelFed that feels like Old Instagram. You can follow PixelFed accounts from Mastodon (or Catodon, or Friendica, or…), but it’s often better to engage with PixelFed via PixelFed. Then there’s BookWyrm, which is a GoodReads alternative, FunkWhale, which people use for sharing music and podcasts, Lemmy or PieFed, which are Reddit-like platforms, and NodeBB, which is a traditional bulletin board. All of these are on the same network, so you can get content from them, but they’re not necessarily best accessed from Mastodon.
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Welcome!
You've already gotten some great tips here, but I have one that no one else has mentioned yet (I think):
Comment on things that you like or that interest you. In the hierarchy of nice feedback, Comments > Boosts > Likes.
In other words, liking something is nice, but not terribly meaningful. Liking and Boosting has more of an impact, because you're passing the post or comment on to your followers as well. But if you Like, Boost AND comment, you're actually interacting with the original poster and anyone who's following that post–or has responded to it.
When I post something I'm much happier to get comments on it than just likes or boosts.
Oh, also: the culture of Mastodon in general is much more polite and kind than Twitter/X and Reddit. When I run across someone who's rude or hostile, I take a moment to remember that. And then I mute them permanently.
You can also mute people for a specific period of time. They won't know you muted them, but you won't see anything they write while they're muted. It's a good way to improve your Mastodon experience! We get people here fresh from other social media services, and some of them don't understand the culture here. We also get the occasional troll. It's best to mute or block them and move on. Personally I prefer to mute them permanently, because they way they can read my stuff without ever impinging on my awareness. Who knows? Maybe they'll learn something and become a better person.
Oh, one last thing: DMs (private mentions) here are NOT secure. They should be visible only to the designated recipient, but don't give anyone the password to your bank or anything like that! But of course that's just basic common sense these days.
Have fun!
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Coming back to this, but I'd also suggest reading https://blog.djnavarro.net/posts/2022-11-03_what-i-know-about-mastodon/ @Katherinesalom
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@Katherinesalom I found it took a bit of patience to get my feed both full and of what I wanted. Not every community is here, so follow widely. (For example, tablet weavers exist here but Facebook has way more of them.)
Some people boost amazing things, some people boost a bunch of stuff that’s upsetting or not what you want. You can turn off boosts for a person you follow. I follow enough people that I basically do this immediately after someone boosts more than a few uninteresting (to me) things.
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Two things:
There isn't any really good way to search as far as I can tell.
One aspect of the federated nature and lack of central control is that you won't see all toots that meet your criteria. You will see posts answering posts you can't see. Clicking on the three dots at the lower right and choosing "open original page" may help with that. But it may not.
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Two things:
There isn't any really good way to search as far as I can tell.
One aspect of the federated nature and lack of central control is that you won't see all toots that meet your criteria. You will see posts answering posts you can't see. Clicking on the three dots at the lower right and choosing "open original page" may help with that. But it may not.
Things to consider in a few months if you are still here:
If you can afford it, kick in some money to whoever is running your instance.
There are settings to automatically delete your old posts after X months, unless they meet conditions Y. Doing this makes things easier for your instance provider.
Note that one of the points of the system here is to make it easy to change to another instance if you aren't happy with yours.
(Your instance is mstdn.social, by the way.)
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Things to consider in a few months if you are still here:
If you can afford it, kick in some money to whoever is running your instance.
There are settings to automatically delete your old posts after X months, unless they meet conditions Y. Doing this makes things easier for your instance provider.
Note that one of the points of the system here is to make it easy to change to another instance if you aren't happy with yours.
(Your instance is mstdn.social, by the way.)
There is also a way to download all your old posts and stuff and archive them.
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@Katherinesalom A few more sobering ones:
* Some people get almost to the point of bullying... about how you 'must' use alt-text on images. (Yes, you prob. should for accessibility, but it's a time consuming thing, and demanding it is rude)
* Stay off the fedidrama hashtags, etc. - they'll just depress you (it's about drama between the admins, etc of the different instances)Other than those two? Welcome aboard. I hope you find lovely people to follow, etc.
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Welcome
If you like posting images & you want to reply to another thread with something posted on your timeline, you don't need to re-upload the same image twice.
Insert the URL link to the original post containing the image into your new reply to quote toot the image.
This coloring & pixel cleanup was produced by me via GNU image manipulation program on Debian/Linux and 2x upscayler @ 11th of March, 2025.
Take care & be well.
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@Katherinesalom Hello from Dublin
and welcome! 
I see that you have a cat, so you may be interested in the #Caturday hashtag.
(Others may already have mentioned this, but you can 'follow' hashtags here - so that any post using the hashtags you follow will appear in your timeline. Magic!)
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@Katherinesalom Hello from Dublin
and welcome! I see that you have a cat, so you may be interested in the #Caturday hashtag.
(Others may already have mentioned this, but you can 'follow' hashtags here - so that any post using the hashtags you follow will appear in your timeline. Magic!)
@clickhere Thanks For Your Suggestion Dublin I'll do what you've said right away
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Hi! Happy to have you
I highly recommend following @FediTips as well as @FediFollows for great recommendations -
@Katherinesalom Haha some of the replies here about alt text are goofy. It's good to use it because many of us are blind and can't participate fully if you don't, but it's also good for sighted people who have bad internet connections where images don't load well, or people with cognitive disabilities who need the additional context to understand what's in a photo, and many people find that once they start including it consistently, they enjoy the process of writing it. It can be an art form in itself. And if you don't have the spoons for it, the #alt4me hashtag can connect you with people who do and are willing to describe your photos for you. I think there might also be a bot you can mention that will do it, but I don't know what it is off the top of my head.
Basically there are a lot of benefits to alt text and resources for those who are unable to write it themselves, and not a lot of good reasons to leave it out. That's why people sometimes get spicy replies for failing to include it.
Aside from that, most of the tips have been covered. Follow people, boost a lot, check out the posters other people are boosting into your feed and follow them. Search hashtags that are relevant to your interests and follow those. Look at what's going on in your local timeline, where the other members of your server are posting publicly. Block and mute freely. Interact with people in replies.
Welcome to Mastodon! I hope you find your people.
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@Katherinesalom Oh! I've seen lists noted elsewhere, but the way I find them most useful is to have a "Personal" list -- i.e., a "I really know these people and would be very sad to miss updates from them".
Then, this is key for me: PIN IT on the deck view on the web client. So it's always column three for me, after the main feed and my notifications.
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@Katherinesalom my best tip is to follow @FediTips
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Welcome Katherine!
You can find lots of guides for new people on the website at https://fedi.tips and there's a section at the top of the front page marked "Quick Start" which has the most relevant guides for newbies.
Feel free to ask if you want help with anything specific, I'm trying to provide an unofficial support service on here
