My Mastodon Starter Pack

Published on:: November 9, 2024
Categories:: Mastodon⁵, Fediverse², IndieWeb⁹
Current music:: jizue — atom
Current drink:: English Breakfast Tea

Introduction

Sometimes, I invite someone to join Mastodon, and I end up sharing the same links and information repeatedly.

Following the “manual until it hurts” IndieWeb practice, after repeating the same things a few times, it is time to “automate” it. Well, in this case, just put everything into one blog post, I guess.

Why join Mastodon?

I’ve been using Mastodon actively for more than two years now: on November 6th, it was my second “fediversary” (last year, I wrote a “My First ‘Fediversary’” post). In that post, I described why I joined. I’m pretty happy there!

If I did send you a link to this post, that means I would be happy if you would join. I am not on any other social network, and I would love to stay connected with you.

That is the main reason.

Which Instance to Choose?

If I sent this link to you, it is likely I already sent you an invitation to join the same instance I’m on: front-end.social — an instance created by Miriam Suzanne (@mia@front-end.social).

At this point, if you’re a front-end web developer, this instance gathered so many good people already! Of course, there are many other good instances. For example, fedidevs website by Anže Pečar (@anze3db@fosstodon.org) has a page with a list of a few more popular ones.

But if I look at my stats (via the helpful “followers by instance” tool by Joseph Rocca (@joerocca@mastodon.social)), I follow many people from a few smaller instances:

toot.cafe (directory)
indieweb.social (directory)
typo.social (directory, choose the “From typo.social only”)
tech.lgbt (directory)
social.lol (directory)
vis.social (directory)

Not everywhere is the registration open, though. If you know someone from an instance with a closed registration, they could usually send you a personalized invitation.

Whom to Follow?

First, look at the front-end.social’s “directory”: it shows everyone who opted-in to be present there. If you had followed people from the front-end community before, you’ll likely see some familiar faces. And if front-end.social won’t be enough for you: look at the directories for other instances I posted above, as well as at the fedidevs directory that I already mentioned.

And — always a good way to find people — go to the “following” tab on anyone’s profile, and, if they did not hide it, you could also find someone to follow there. For example, here is my “following” list.

Which Mastodon Client to Use?

By default, the official web-app might not be ideal. As soon as you find its UX confusing, I highly recommend checking out one of many other third-party apps, in particular:

Phanpy by Lim Chee Aun (@cheeaun@mastodon.social) — “A minimalistic opinionated Mastodon web client”. This is the main app I’m using both on the desktop, and the mobile. It is great! So many innovative features! The best part? It is just a static (!) web app — you can fork it, and then use it either just from localhost, or host it yourself on any of the free services — GitHub pages, Netlify, or anything else. See, for example, my fork — I added some CSS overrides just for myself.
Ivory by TapBots — an iOS app from the creators of “Tweetbot”. I am not using it, but I have warm memories of using Tweetbot back in the day, and if this is the experience you’re missing as well — you can try it! (but it is paid and has a subscription model).
Elk — I did not try it, but I heard many good things about it. It might look very familiar to you, and if this familiarity is what you’re craving — you can try it!

What is the Basic Etiquette?

I have no idea! Various instances have differences in how people use Mastodon. Before choosing an instance, I recommend carefully reading out their Code of Conduct and other rules they might have.

If I were to briefly mention something, it would be this:

Fill up your profile: userpic, name, links, etc.
Write an #introduction post. You can search for it in Mastodon to see how others do it, for example: https://front-end.social/tags/introduction
Start following people! Now, people could recognize you, or just understand who followed them, and not look at a newly created account with the default avatar, not knowing what to expect.
Start using Mastodon! Read what people write, and post your own stuff.
I recommend not to post links and advertise yourself right away. In general, self-promotion is welcome on most servers, but it is better to first acclimatize a bit to how things work, introduce yourself, show that you’re an actual person, and only then plug your work.
Similarly, I don’t recommend jumping into replies to everyone, especially if you do not agree with the other person, or have “not a question, but a comment”. Read first, think second, and only then decide if you can contribute to the conversation tactfully and responsibly. You know, be a decent, empathic person.
When posting something, do it accessibly: add proper alternative descriptions to images. I recommend “My Approach to Alt Text” by Adrian Roselli (@aardrian@toot.cafe), and do not use “fancy characters” and unusual markup, as it can be frustrating to get read to you if you’re using a screen reader.
Mastodon allows using the “Content Warnings” to hide some content behind a disclosure widget. Different corners of Fediverse have different etiquettes about this: consult your instance’s rules; it is usually mentioned there. Note that “CW” can be used for other purposes as well: not only for hiding NSFW content but also just anything topical that you feel can be distracting or triggering to other people, or even for longer threads, so they take less space in the timeline.

This is not an extensive list. Think with your own head, follow the Code of Conducts, and be a good human.