Coffee Etc

(If you already know the name of the instance you’d like to join, you can type that address in a browser window and skip many of these first steps! I had some trouble trying that from mobile but it worked on a computer.)

Go to joinmastodon.org

Click Get started

Click Help me choose

Click Start

Select your Language(s), then click Next

Select the size of Instance you’d like to join (I picked It does not matter)

Select the Moderation Rules that are important to you (default values are all Don’t care)

You’ve now arrived at the window that has overwhelmed and thwarted many users. Congratulations!

In the Mastodon Instances list, you can scroll through a number of different Instance Names. You don’t need to worry about being on the same instance as your friends. Think of this as selecting your email hosting company – if you pick AOL, you can still keep up with your friends who use Earthlink. You will see posts from people in your instance, so be sure to pick a server that sounds like something you’d want to see in your Home feed 😊

If you click Advanced Mode you will lose the descriptions of the instances, but you can view if Registrations are open/closed, Uptime, and other useful data.

There is also a search box where you can type part of the name you’d want for your Mastodon instance (I tried pizza, dog, art, and witch). Note, though, that some of the pages I found in Simple Mode did not display when I searched in Advanced Mode.

Clicking on the name of the Instance will bring up the full description. Be sure to read this as it may hold important information about the rules on your instance! If this instance sounds like the right place for you, click Go to instance. 

Each Mastodon instance has a signup page that looks similar to this. Enter your details, and click Sign up.

After confirming your email address and logging in, you’ll get a cute little tutorial welcoming you to your new world! Note that your handle is your username plus your instance name.

There are two things in the top left corner you’ll want to do right away: Edit profile and Search for your friends!

I typed “ruth” in the search box, and you can see that it shows users from a number of different instances, as well as a couple of hashtags containing that phrase:

There is a privacy setting for your posts; for now I’m going to choose Unlisted and see how that goes!