Hey my peeps - what Masto instance would you recommend for a queer visual artist trying out the Fediverse and looking for a community?

[gairdeachas@mastodon.social]

Hey my peeps - what Masto instance would you recommend for a queer visual artist trying out the Fediverse and looking for a community?

What accounts / hash tags would you recommend they follow to get started?

My logo designer is not enamored with what traditional social media has become and interested in trying out the Fediverse and I'm hoping to set him up for success.

UPDATE: got several good suggestions, thank you Masto fam!

[cynblogger@sfba.social]

@gairdeachas
Follow art-related hashtags and find those people who appeal to you. All artists (amateur & professional) use hashtags on each post. To see the most relevant, just type #art and your screen will be flooded.

[cairobraga@gts.cairobraga.com]

@gairdeachas mastodon.art

[the_codifier@libranet.de]

@gairdeachas So, for artists, I suggest two "services" in Fedi:

1. Wafrn: The equivalent in "vanilla social media" is Tumblr. It offers a lot of personalization in your profile page using CSS styles - app.wafrn.net
2. Vernissage: The equivalent of Flickr. There's only two instances of this service, but I think it's a great option to upload your work if you usee high quality images.

And please, please: stay away from Pixelfed (the "instagram of Fedi"). Its handling of privacy is poor.

[pussreboots@sfba.social]

@gairdeachas sfba.social might be a good fit for you.

[pengilly@fanglitch.space]

@cynblogger @gairdeachas I'd also like to add that following the relay.fedi.buzz account for a hashtag will vastly increase the number of posts you see for a given hashtag you follow.

Here's a good post on it:

https://mastodon.art/@jsstaedtler/115299520641730176

You can even add each relay.fedi.buzz account to a list to keep posts related to a topic in a single feed.

In my "Transformers tags" list, for example, I have added the accounts for the TransformersG1 tag, TransformersIDW, OptimusPrime tag, etc.

[raindrops_and_roses@mastodon.social]

@gairdeachas @Lazarou Don't know but happy to boost and follow!

[pentup@mastodon.art]

@cairobraga @gairdeachas Seconding this. Not only because it's art-focused and queer-friendly. It's also the goldilocks zone of firm moderation and large community. Smaller instances are great, but when you're starting out and there's nothing on your home feed, you rely on that local feed, and smaller instances can be offputtingly quiet.

[cairobraga@gts.cairobraga.com]

@pentup @gairdeachas it's more than queer-friendly, it's queer-led, and it's radical in its community care and policies, which is amazing.

[lisamakesstuff@mastodon.art]

@gairdeachas Mastodon.art is my recommendation for an instance!

[quinze@corteximplant.com]

@cairobraga @gairdeachas a lot of queer folks block mastodon.art because it's admin has relentlessly harassed queer people, so I would not recommend anyone open an account there if they care about reaching queer people.

Your friend should peruse through these local timelines and check whether one has vibes they prefer:

• https://sunny.garden/public/local
• https://mastoart.social/public/local
• https://beige.party/public/local

[cairobraga@gts.cairobraga.com]

@quinze @gairdeachas what's this relentless harassment you talk about? does this have to do with them calling out queer people for being racist?

[jonobie@social.coop]

@gairdeachas I don't know if the instance is open or not, and it may be more writer-focused, but I feel like everytime I see someone on wandering.shop, I nod and go, "Ah, yes, good people on that instance."

There was also a really cool tool that ... @stefan (?? maybe??) wrote that gives people a bunch of pre-built links for getting onto fedi for the first time. Would recommend that as an adjacent helper.

[jonobie@social.coop]

@gairdeachas Also, I can highly recommend my instance (social.coop) as a good multi-purpose instance. It does have dues, so that may be a factor. But it's incredibly well-moderated, mid-sized (so you get an active feed), and is a co-op (which is just cool :).

@stefan

[stefan@stefanbohacek.online]

@jonobie Yes, thank you for tagging me!

@gairdeachas Hi! I don't necessarily have a good answer to your original question, but if you do find a good community, this might be useful:

https://invite.jointhefediverse.net/?server=wandering.shop&apps=1,2,3,5&starterpacks=NjQ5,ODI5,OTIw,ODY4&lang=en-us

Easy to customize: https://stefanbohacek.com/project/fediverse-invitation/

Hope this is useful!

[geekyteakitty@kind.social]

@cairobraga @gairdeachas another vote for @mastodon.art If I ever need to move instances that's where I'd go. It's full of wonderful artists and art enjoyers. A very well moderated, safe space for queer, neurospicy and other marginalised folks, strongly antifascist and anti-racist.

Also they're generally whimsical, fun, folk.

[gairdeachas@mastodon.social]

@stefan @jonobie This is super cool! I used it to build a custom URL for my friend -- now to see if he joins and we an keep him here!

[stefan@stefanbohacek.online]

@gairdeachas Thank you, really glad you like it!

Hope your friend enjoys it here!

@jonobie

[naturemc@mastodon.online]

@gairdeachas I have no server recommendation but if you look for help, follow @FediTips and their great guide https://fedi.tips which also collects the most well-known hashtags. The guide explains well the possibilities and how everything works on Mastodon.

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@NatureMC @gairdeachas

Thank you for the recommendation Petra

Casey, if you want a human-curated easy-to-use way of discovering reliable instances try https://fedi.garden