He was concerned about the strict rules that most major Mastodon sites have, so I pointed out that he isn't limited to Mastodon. I also told him that there are some wide-open instances, but that they tend to attract some vile people. It is probably best to find an instance with rules that are "loose enough" to let you be yourself but strict enough to kick those vile people out.
I'm not a fan of dictatorial admins, but if you don't have some sort of rules, you get nicecrew.digital or poa.st (or left-wing equivalents of these right-wing sites).
One could easily wish that these extremists (right and left) would be exiled to some island, where they can torment one another but cannot contact the rest of us.
For those using the mastodon.social web app, there's been an update to one of #Mastodon's core features, the compose form! Been working on it since end of November last year, so really excited to finally bring it to light. More is to come. Let me know how you like it!
This would be an #interoperability rule that would require Twitter to adopt #Mastodon's approach to server-hopping: click a link to export the list of everyone who follows you on one server, click another link to upload that file to another server, and all your followers and followees are relocated to your new digs:
Here's a heads up for #mastodon and other #fediverse users who reply to #wordpress blogs using the ActivityPub plugin.
The comments you publish from your fediverse accounts will appear on those blogs (or - at the very least - in the admin dashboard's "Comments" section where they must be approved).
If anyone replies to you on the blog, those reply comments will -NOT- be federated, so you'll have to visit the blogs to see if anyone replied to you.
And by the same token, if someone in the fediverse replies to your in-fediverse comment, the blog owners will not see your fediverse-to-fediverse followup.
Twitter is like a top of the range Lamborghini but youâre trapped in the boot full of broken bottles and itâs being driven over a cliff by a madman.
Mastodon is like sitting in the back of a dilapidated VW camper van, with knackered suspension, no air conditioning, but lots of nice passengers having a sing-song and thereâs a dog called Mr. Snuffles.
#Mastodon 4.2 is rolling out across the social web! On our quest to make Mastodon more delightful and easy to use, we've overhauled search, sign-ups, cross-server interactions and a whole lot more:
The new 4.2 version of #Mastodon includes significant improvements in the search function!
My favourite one, which I've been using a lot lately to find new people to follow, is that profile search now works on bios too and not just the user name. So if you type, say, "astronomer", "scicomm" or "journalist", you'll find people with those words in their bio.
And the opt-in full-text search for posts, with operators, is also great!
As someone who works in #communication , I'm baffled by some folks here on #mastodon who talk down about users of other #SocialMedia platforms in a patronising or even insulting way, only to immediately add: "I don't understand why they don't come here!"
From a goal-oriented comms point of view, this makes zero sense if your true goal is to drive people here, no matter how well justified your criticism of other platforms might be.
Last night I shared two posts. The first was positive (Fred Rogers) & the second was abysmal (normalized gun violence).
On #Twitter, I suspect the latter would have garnered far more attention bc a race for publicly visible RTs, likes & follows favors promoting shock & outrage.
But here on #Mastodon, Mister Rogers wisdom was shared more widely.
This isnât a scientific analysis but a mere observation reinforcing that social media will be what we make it. And I like this neighborhood.
Top 5 things I love about Mastodon (there are easily top 100 things, but here's five):
1. Engaging, interesting people and discussions 2. Amazing open source, server and dev community 3. Fast paced infrastructure that just works, has solid standing and is straightforward to scale up 4. Safe and supporting space 5. Extremely useful features like timed muting, versatile filters, content warnings and if something is missing like extended open text search or anything really, I can code and make it happen on my server.
I'm filled with love. Never felt this way before on any social media. Thank you for being part of this. :meowmeltcry: :blobheartcat: #Mastodon#Fediverse
@kissane@mstdn.social Thank you for bringing this to light. This is one of the reasons having QTâs (actual qtâs and not a work-a-round) is and has been helpful for BIPOC on the bird app forever. It highlights bad actors, allows the community to come to the defense and should make it more noticeable to mods. Itâs stuff like this why I speak out daily about the gatekeeping and HOA attitude. Youâre so right how they talk down on big social but then want to control peoples experiences here in the #Fediverse being told to block is not enough. #Mastodon needs to do better as do we all
I know he's uncomfortable with #e-begging, but it doesn't have to be #Wikipedia level annoying, just enough to let them know the situation and the option to keep it going via member support.
I love that I can share science or history or even *soil* âŹïž on #Mastodon & every comment is thoughtful, polite & interesting.
Itâs a nice reminder that despite what I became accustomed to elsewhere, social media can still be interesting & fun. Long live the #fediverseđ /2