Move to Mastodon

Some slides about mastodon, what it is, and how instances work.

Transcript

1. As a user or Instance owner… Move to Mastodon
2. What? ▪ Open source , distributed, microblogging platform ▪ There are number of servers where users exist, which the ActivityPub API combines
3. ▪ When user joins mastodon, they need to pick ’homeserver’ ▪ And apply & follow the rules of the server ▪ Rules are defined by server ▪ Server based moderators ▪ https://joinmastodon.org/servers ▪ Region, hobby, etc. Based ▪ Usually it might be good to have couple of accounts Servers Botsin.space c.im @kissabot@botsin.space @catbot@botsin.space @expert@c.im Mastodon.social @someperson@mastodon.social
4. Finding home ▪ Pick a server, get a feel of it by public timeline ▪ If you do not like server you can always move to another server ▪ Toots cannot be transferred, but followers can be ▪ It might be useful to have couple of servers in mind (and in backup) ▪ Or separate different interests to different servers ▪ Sometimes servers close ▪ https://www.rollemaa.fi/nain-aloitat-mastodonin-kayton-mihin- rekisteroitya-keta-seurata/
5. ▪ Mastodon is more fun with people ▪ Some have same nick in Mastodon and X etc. ▪ Some don’t -> check • You can also follow tags • Search by tag and click + • Tags also give hints who are talking of a topic Finding people/content
6. The dark side of Mastodon ▪ CW = Content warning is Mastodon-specific feature ▪ You can flag own toot with a ‘content warning’ -> this can be something that could be sensitive to somebody: politics, war, climate, eyes towards reader ▪ Others see the “heading” and if they choose, if they want to read the whole thing ▪ Fediblock ▪ The server/user can be completely blocked by other servers ▪ E.g. if the server (and its users) promote illegal, evil stuff, or if server is not moderated properly ▪ Servers have individuals running them -> sometimes servers crash, admins disappear and backups cannot be restored…
7. Basic Functions ▪ Creating a toot: 500-5000 chars ▪ Can change visibility: Public, Unlisted, Followers, DM ▪ CW: Content warning ▪ EN: Language ▪ Can add images/gifs/videos* ▪ Remember ALT-texts for images ▪ those help visually impaired ▪ Alt text reminder bot exists. ▪ *some servers might have limitations, links show thumbnail of image usually
8. Searches ▪ Mastodon's search function supports using special commands called "operators". ▪ For example, if you wanted to just search your own posts, you can include the operator from:me and it will just show results from your account. ▪ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-search-for-stuff-on- mastodon/https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-search-for-stuff-on- mastodon/ ▪ In addition, some offer wider searchers across instances, this requires opt-in from user <tbd>
9. Bots & APIs ▪ Mastodon has quite good APIs, e.g. for bot usage ▪ https://docs.joinmastodon.org/api/guidelines/ ▪ https://mastodonpy.readthedocs.io/en/stable/ ▪ https://docs.joinmastodon.org/client/libraries/ ▪ Mastodon code in Github: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon
10. ▪ But what do you know about commercial platform either? The other side
11. ▪ Character limits ? ▪ More characters <-> what happens if a person needs to move to or move from your instance ▪ Custom emoji-policy? ▪ Are bit of ”style” issue, but sometimes good emojis can pull more people in. ▪ Own instance – own rules ▪ Can you utilize some other instances rules? ▪ With slight modifications? ▪ You will need some admins to follow the rules , tag trends etc. ▪ Fediblock-practices, do you block misbehaving instances or not? Own instance?