Mastodon

[moonpie23]

i ventured over to check it out and had to pick a server to be on...didn't know quite what the differences were, so i backed out to get some more info...

anyone else already on?

[Kdogg]

Here’s a brief breakdown that might be helpful.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63534240.amp

[PackMan97]

To me it appears to be nothing but a big echo chamber. I think folks will find their experience less than they want. Maybe it will be good for organizing and very specialized interests, but as a general twitter replacement, I think folks will miss the arguing.

One of the reasons I like Facebook, Twitter and hang out at DBR is because there are people that think differently than I do.

[Matches]

I started an account in case the twitters collapse. It’s @5tephenk. The site isn’t working great right now because of the large number of new users. We’ll see.

[MChambers]

i ventured over to check it out and had to pick a server to be on...didn't know quite what the differences were, so i backed out to get some more info...

anyone else already on?

I joined about two weeks ago. Like all other new people, the choice of servers intimidated me. Then, after doing a little research, I realized it really doesn't matter. All the servers communicate with each other, so it's not like you'll be missing out on any "toots" by being on a particular server. I ended up joining mastodon.social, which is the oldest running server.

Today, I understand that mastodon.social is a little bit overburdened by all the new users, so they created a new instance (server).

If I were you, I would just pick a server that is open to new users and run with it. If you decide you want a particular server later (I have been thinking about moving to fosstodon, which has a focus on free and open source software), it's not hard to move.

I've already started following about 40 people that I used to follow on the bird app. I'm still learning some of the intricacies of the Mastodon system, however. The best advice I've seen for using it on a PC is to switch to light mode (dark mode is the default) and choose advanced settings, or something like that.

I actually think Mastodon will be a big improvement over Twitter, with far fewer bots and trolls, and much healthier discussion. Also, moderation decisions will not be made by a single billionaire or his underlings.