#techposting

Yokogawa OL1540 oscilloscope, Data General/One, NEC 文豪 (Bungou) Mini7

(more pictures of the DG1 and Mini7 because i like them)

Today's old computer is the Commodore PET!

i'm making this guide because i see a lot of people talking about wanting social media that feels more connected and user-oriented again. mastodon might be difficult to get into at first but once you've found the right niche for you, you can use it like any other social media site. and if you can't find the space you're looking for, you can make your own. so let's go.

point 1): how the hell do servers work?

this is the first choice you gotta make. it mostly influences what sort of posts you see on the live feed (read: all public posts on your server, if you choose to visit that tab), and who's the most accessible to you. that doesn't mean you can't easily follow your friends on other servers, though. it only means you can choose the server with a nsfw policy while your friend might prefer one that's strictly sfw. you get to see hole and pole, they get to see kittens all day. meanwhile you still follow each other and just read different morning papers. all's good.

whichever server you join doesn't have to be your end-all-be-all mainstay. you can sign up for several servers at once, OR move your account (including followers and people you're following) to another server if you want to move on to the next. at the end of the day all this boils down to the neighbors you wanna see shouting across the street on your live feed every morning.

point 2): so how the hell do i pick a server?

instances aren't all too difficult to find, but if you're used to an algorithm spoonfeeding you, the full list might look a little daunting. mastodon has a smaller beginner list here. and here's another, more visually appealing one. you can sort these by language, shared interests, member size, and so on. here's a few ones i think tumblr users would like:

mastodon.social - the big "i want to join mastodon but i don't know which server to use" general one. you'll find a bit of everything there. you can also block anything on the fediverse. you'll be okay.

ohai.social - also a general "i'm just here to hang out and talk" server. (no affiliation with the AI scam, different folks)

disabled.social - exactly what it says on the tin. a place for people with disabilities to come together and share their experiences with each other.

mastodon.art - if deviantart was a social media site, this would be it. has got a bit of everything. mixed media mostly.

pixelfed.social - this is tumblr in 2007. photography and photography only. if you have a camera and you're out there taking hikes to snatch nice pics every other day, this is your instance. (also here, for more focus on the pictures and less on the picture-taking talk)

writing.exchange - a place by writers, for writers. writing prompts, prose and technique talk, poetry.

universeodon.com - nerdy science! say hi to george takei on there!

tabletop.social - all things TTRPGs, whether you're a player, GM, artist, writer, LARPer and so on. "here you don't need to be a brand, be true to yourself and let others do the same"

tech.lgbt - this is where all the queer furries in STEM can be found. probably. they're pretty tight on the privacy. still free to join for everyone though, so go and find out.

meow.social - THIS is where furries can definitely be found

honorary mentions: peoplemaking.games, gaygeek.social, fosstodon.org, techhub.social, and this is far from the end. genuinely, go out and talk to people. they might invite you to their small-scale private servers if you get along or mesh well with their values. your local knitting group? might have a server where they share their patterns among each other in between meeting up. your school? might be on there. punch their name into the server search and see what comes up. the internet archive has a mastodon server btw.

point 3): what do i do once i've picked a server?

you edit your profile. or follow your friends. or start posting.

did you know that mastodon gives you the option to freestyle customize your page's bio?

"extra fields" lets you enter a custom label and content. i've seen people get really creative with that. i'm just boring.

did you know that you can also feature things on your page like it's myspace all over again? your friends, your tags, whatever man put it on blast.

did you know that you can define your own content warnings and some instances trust their users to behave and there's little to no auto-moderation that flags trans women's selfies and trans men's chests as sexual? *server-dependent

which ranges from actual serious tagging to little silly moments like this:

anyway, there you go

crash course in finding your way around the fediverse. this place REALLY is what you make it. it's the personally curated feed you're all asking for. i think what's keeping people from really digging into it is finding the right server instance to begin with so maybe this will help a few people get started.

Some blinkies inspired by a post by @aropride here.

Since starting this next semester at university I've been finding joy in life and really cutting back on quick dopamine fixes (I've found the main culprit has been social media). Deleting social media off of my phone and using my laptop instead to interact online has been instrumental to my finding my love of learning again. Making a boundary between me and the internet has helped me realize again that every action is an adventure. Don't waste all of your time scrolling and don't let corporations rob you of your privacy and attention spans.