I’m liking the vibe here so far, but i’m still confused about the whole server/“ instance “thing ??

[jens@social.finkhaeuser.de]

@anxietynectarr Yeah, mastodon.social is a bad choice, I'm afraid. Find an instance where you like people, and ideally the mods seem nice.

[jamie@gamerstavern.online]

@anxietynectarr This 3 minute video has a very helpful explanation of what Mastodon instances/servers are. Hopefully it helps you.

https://tilvids.com/videos/watch/wx2iLhD3pTipbKFJKLyx5t

[mrgrumpymonkey@mastodon.social]

@anxietynectarr Welcome to the, relatively, open part of the web, where things sometimes don't make sense. It's a learning experience to be sure. An experience that might cause you to become curious on how this all works, and make attempts to create your own thing within the Fediverse. It's scary out here. You never know what's lurking about the next corner. One thing that isn't lurking though, is ads. Anyway. Welcome! Welcome to the dark side. We have cookies.

[kotking@blorbo.social]

@anxietynectarr you have lots of replies in this post, so you can pay attention to name handles. Just the ability to talk between different servers is biggest fun part of it. Honestly, best way to find which one you would like to move (you will lose post history but will redirect your followers and follows to new account) is to talk with people and check server rules. Some are less strict while others more protective so different places for different needs.
https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/

Have fun, enjoy exploring and you can move more than once if you ever feel instance not fitting your needs.

[ravensrod@mstdn.social]

@anxietynectarr Don't worry about it, just follow anyone who looks vaguely interesting, you can drop the ones who aren't later. No one gets hung up on the number of followers ego trip here. You can change instance later when you get used to how things work .

[ravensrod@mstdn.social]

@anxietynectarr Forgot to mention, beware of rogue squirrels.

[silmathoron@floss.social]

@anxietynectarr have a look at https://fedi.tips and follow @FediTips for nice explanations and tutorials (as well as a curated list of nice servers)

[mdt@mast.lat]

@anxietynectarr welcome

[brib@bribstodon.xyz]

@anxietynectarr There was one point in my life where I jumped around servers before I decided to self-host.

Luckily trying a server for a week isn't something with a huge cost as it's not too difficult to move. Main downside is that it takes some time (about an hour iirc) and you don't get to transfer your messages.

https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server/

[laxsill@social.spejset.org]

@anxietynectarr great that you ask! In my experience, the two important things about which server you're on is what local feed you're getting and what kind of content moderation the server has (and maybe cool the server is). I picked a local one that matches my politics. You can search servers here https://joinmastodon.org/servers

[holliek72@mastodonapp.uk]

@anxietynectarr It takes a while to work out the whole server / instance thing, so don't worry if you haven't worked it out after a couple of days.

Using https://fedi.garden might be one way to check out other servers, either by signing up, or checking out the server feeds (live feeds) if they show them.

However, you need to follow a lot of people (and hashtags) to populate your personal feed regardless of where you are. About 200 people is a good start. Just click on people's profiles, check out what they post, and follow them if they look good to you. You can always unfollow later if need be.

[mdione@en.osm.town]

@anxietynectarr personally I don't mind, really. I read both the local and my home feed as if it was the same thing. The instance I joined is related to a project I like, but thanks to federation I interact with people from anywhere

The only reasons I would migrate are: a) to an instance with a bigger toot limit; b) if my instance got so overrun with a**holes and/or SPAM that everybody else decided to defederate it.

[anxietynectarr@mastodon.social]

Thank you everyone I’m shocked I haven’t ran into someone mean … yet lol seems like this is more chill than Reddit

[anxietynectarr@mastodon.social]

@david I like pickles with chewy candy ik that’s weird lol

[fonecokid@c.im]

@david @anxietynectarr

[texan_reverend@kind.social]

@anxietynectarr A common analogy for the servers is email: no matter whether you have a Gmail account or a Yahoo account or a Proton account, all of them can communicate with eachother. Similarly, the different servers here can communicate with eachother.

A good resource for browsing through lots of servers is https://fedi.garden/fediverse-servers-sorted-by-topic/
It's a human-curated collection which is sorted by a variety of different tags. Those indicate topics which are frequently discussed by accounts on that server.

[texan_reverend@kind.social]

@anxietynectarr There are some areas that differ from other social media platforms.

Each server has its own rules and moderators, which means it's important to read those rules before joining.

You can also scroll through the public posts made by people on that server by checking the Live Feeds on the right side of its landing page - for example, https://kind.social
On that page, you should also be able to see the server rules in the center by default.

[texan_reverend@kind.social]

@anxietynectarr In addition to seeing posts from accounts you follow in your Home Feed, you can also see posts from hashtags you follow. So, if you follow the Caturday hashtag, you'll see posts which include that hashtag from all sorts of accounts, regardless of whether you follow those accounts themselves.

This is a great way of getting posts and accounts you're likely to be interested in to start showing up in your Home Feed.

[texan_reverend@kind.social]

@anxietynectarr There are other feeds beyond the Home Feed of accounts & hashtags you follow. There's also a Local Live Feed of public posts made by people on your server, and a Federated Live Feed of public posts made on the other servers yours is connected to - which is usually overwhelming and not too useful.

Some folks find a server they click with and is a manageable size, so they spend time reading the Local Feed and interacting with their neighbors.
Others mostly stick to the Home Feed.

[texan_reverend@kind.social]

@anxietynectarr You can always change servers by migrating your account which moves your current account's followers over to your new account.

Importantly, your posts don't make the move. There are workarounds for picking a few posts to bring along, but it's basically a clean slate.

There are a few things that you have to take extra steps to export, like bookmarks and blocks, but there are step-by-step guides available, including mine:
https://kind.social/@Texan_Reverend/110167270006123376