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Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

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Re: Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

#21

Post by MayeulC »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #20

I don't quite understand the relationship between the various instances on Mastodon. Once you join an instance are you stuck on that instance for life? What happens if you want to participate on another instance? Can I reply to comments on other instances?

Just like email addresses, you can have multiple ones, and speak with everyone else (AFAIK). What changes is that you also have a timeline (like a mailing list that goes in a folder) for your local instance, and one for the instances it federated with.

As far as I know, a lot of people have different accounts for their different centers of interest.

Re: Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

#22

Post by forty8bits »

dielan wrote: post #17
myst wrote: post #14

What is Mastodon?

Its a recent new server software and client for the StatusNet "fediverse". StatusNet and the protocols it uses are very old, and a small community of users have been there for like a decade. Its a federated social network. It is like a cross between Twitter and email. Anyone can start a server and set their own community rules and guide lines. If you or someone on your server remotely follows someone they like on ano…

I'm enjoying my time with Mastodon so far, and don't generally engage with politically heated discussions on social media anyway, but this is still my biggest concern as things stand right now. Part of the reason Hacker News is so appealing is the comments, in which you can often read opinions approaching a controversial subject from wildly different angles, sometimes leading to fascinating and civil discussions which leave you feeling better off and more well-rounded for having read them.

Within the currently popular Mastodon servers however, it definitely does feel like a bit of a self-imposed bubble, whereby the about pages espouse civil discussion, but in reality statements or opinions closer to centre on the political spectrum are usually met with hostility and treated as egregiously offensive. I'm hopeful it'll mature over time, settle into a less ambiguous moderation policy that allows for wider coverage of the political spectrum so long as it's civil and ultimately attract a broader range of users.

Re: Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

#23

Post by dielan »

forty8bits wrote: post #22
dielan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a recent new server software and client for the StatusNet "fediverse". StatusNet and the protocols it uses are very old, and a small community of users have been there for like a decade. Its a federated social network. It is like a cross between Twitter and email. Anyone can start a server and set their own community rules and guide lines. If you or someone on your server remotely follows someone they like on ano…

I'm enjoying my time with Mastodon so far, and don't generally engage with politically heated discussions on social media anyway, but this is still my biggest concern as things stand right now. Part of the reason Hacker News is so appealing is the comments, in which you can often read opinions approaching a controversial subject from wildly different angles, sometimes leading to fascinating and civil discussions whic…

This is where federation wins really. If your mastodon server wont come out of its bubble nothing is stopping someone from making a new server that does. Instances may die, but the social network as a whole never will.

Re: Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

#24

Post by dielan »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #20

I don't quite understand the relationship between the various instances on Mastodon. Once you join an instance are you stuck on that instance for life? What happens if you want to participate on another instance? Can I reply to comments on other instances?

Nothing is stopping you from making a new account but there is no account migration. Assuming you and your instance admin arent bad people (as in, your old account isnt deleted or banned) you can make a new account and put a link to your old one in your about me section of your profile.

Everyone you see on the public timeline is on a server that contains at least one person someone om your server follows. Thats how servers get to know each other. If you go seek out and follow someone on madeupname.social and youre the first to do so them you have caused new federation!

Its a good thing. Interract with as many people as you care to and your instance will benefit. This isnt like Reddit where subs will ban you for contributing in any way to subs they dont like. Its just not like that

Re: Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

#25

Post by ohtwenty »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #20

I don't quite understand the relationship between the various instances on Mastodon. Once you join an instance are you stuck on that instance for life? What happens if you want to participate on another instance? Can I reply to comments on other instances?

So yeah, you can talk with other instances.

And if you want to migrate you should be able to download am your stuff and migrate follower lists etc

Re: Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

#29

Post by ColinWright »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #20

I don't quite understand the relationship between the various instances on Mastodon. Once you join an instance are you stuck on that instance for life? What happens if you want to participate on another instance? Can I reply to comments on other instances?

I wrote a thing[0] about Mastodon a while ago. Currently there is no way to migrate an account, but that's being worked on actively, and progress is being made. You can already export your data, and who you follow, block, or mute.

Ideas are being discussed as to how your followers can follow you when you move, but that's tricky given the entire concept of federation.

This is explained on the page I wrote[0], but if anyone on your instance follows person X on another instance, toots from person X turn up on the federated timeline on your instance, you can have a chance to see those toots. Similarly, if someone on your instance boosts a toot, it turns up on your instance, so you can see it and decide whether or not you want to remote follow that person. This the network of connections grows, albeit slowly.

And yes, you can comment on threads on other instances.

Hope that helps. You can always join an instance with a throwaway account, try it out, and if migration does come to life, migrate. If not, start afresh on the instance of choice with a new account. Come find me here:

https://mathstodon.xyz/@ColinTheMathmo

[0] http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutMastodon.html?HN_...

Re: Ask HN: Who are your favourite people to follow on Mastodon?

#30

Post by ColinWright »

myst wrote: post #14

What is Mastodon?

In addition to the links other people have provided, here's a thing wot I wrote:

http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/ThinkingAboutMastodon.html?HN_...

In short, it's a sort of Twitter like thing, but no ads, chronological timeline, not controlled by a single organisation, and federated across multiple instances.

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