There's an alternative version of Mastodon called "Mastodon Glitch Edition" (aka "glitch-soc" or just "Glitch"). Glitch is totally compatible with normal Mastodon, but adds experimental new features.

For example, Glitch instances let the admin alter the character limit, allow local posting, text formatting and lots of other stuff.

Many features in Glitch have eventually made their way into normal Mastodon after proving themselves stable and useful.

You can find out more at:

glitch-soc.github.io/docs/

If you run your own Mastodon instance you can switch to Glitch, and switch back again if you don't like it.

(You may be wondering how this post is so long? It's because FediTips is on an instance that uses Glitch, and the instance character limit has been extended to 1000.)

#FediTips #MastoTips #Fediverse #Mastodon #Glitch #GlitchSoc

📰 New blog post: How to choose a Mastodon/Fediverse server nevillepark.ca/2023/07/01/how-…

Finally got this post out!

A lot of the servers I recommended in a previous post have since shat the bed, so instead I decided to write about what to look for in a fedi server, what to ask the admin, and some red flags.

#FediTips

You don't have to use Mastodon through an app!

Every server has its own website where you can log in and use all its features. The web interface is excellent, and it usually gets the latest features before the apps do.

Your server's website address will usually be the same as its name, for example the website for the server kind.social is at kind.social

The website works on both computers and phones. (If you're using the phone version, click # to see the search box.)

#FediTips

Mastodon v4.1.0 got released today!
Some awesome additions that people have been after for a while now:
- Add support for importing/exporting server-wide domain blocks
- Ensure exact match is the first result in hashtag searches
- Add support for editing media description and focus point of already-sent posts
- Add listing of followed hashtags

And the list of fixes inbound with this version is monstrous.

This is great to see, but please keep in mind that your particular instance will need to be updated to this version so not all instances will update at the same time.

Some apps may also need to be updated in order to support these new features.

github.com/mastodon/mastodon/r…

#Mastodon #Update #MastodonTips #FediTips

Release v4.1.0 · mastodon/mastodon

Changelog Added Add support for importing/exporting server-wide domain blocks (enbylenore, ClearlyClaire, dariusk, ClearlyClaire) Add listing of followed hashtags (connorshea) Add support for edit...

^GitHub

If you've been waiting for full-text #search on #Mastodon, please go to #TootFinder and sign in. The more the merrier.
tootfinder.ch/

Thanks to @buercher for building it.

It's opt-in, not opt-out. It respects Mastodon culture and doesn't index accounts that don't sign in.

That means the index might be small if we don't spread the word.

#mastotips #feditips

Direct Messages on Mastodon are probably one of the most confusing things for new users as they aren't really like messages on other platforms.

I have done my best to explain what they are in a few minutes for you all here. Check it out and let me know if it helps.
More tips still to come so stay tuned.

Please give it a #boost if you can to help spread the knowledge around the Fediverse.

youtu.be/XWiaQAmHvys

#FediTips #twittermigration #youtube #DirectMessages #DMs

How To Create and View Direct Messages on Mastodon

Direct Messages on Mastodon are very different to what you may have experienced on other platforms like Twitter. They are usually one the harder things to ex...

^YouTube

I love seeing all the new members joining the platform, but this does mean that with more people, you may feel the need to #mute or #block an account on #Mastodon. That is fine, your experience on this platform should be dictated by you and you alone.
So, I made this short guide to help you better navigate how to use this feature.

Please give it a #boost if you can to help spread the knowledge around the Fediverse.:ablobcatrave:

#FediTips #MastodonTips #YouTube
youtu.be/X3L4FxyTZYc

How to Mute and Block Accounts on Mastodon

Occasionally, you may feel the need to mute or block an account on Mastodon. That is completely fine, your experience on this platform should be dictated by ...

^YouTube

I still haven't run out of tips to share...
Lists are a feature many are used to from the Bird Site, but they function differently here. They are a great tool for you to make your own custom timelines.

Check out this short guide video on what lists are as well as how to set them up for yourself.

Yet again, thanks for the #boosts and subs. I love the culture of sharing here.

#lists #feditips #twittermigration #youtube

youtu.be/YpEQmc9W3zc

How To Use Lists in Mastodon

Lists are a great way to create your own personal timelines for smaller (or larger) groups of the people you follow.Its super useful for maybe having a feed ...

^YouTube

I shared a video earlier in this thread about how to #migrate your account to another server and ensuring your followers come along for the ride, but how do you move other data such as the people you follow, mute or block?
This video walks through this process step by step to make it as seamless for you as possible.

Yet again, thanks for all the boosts and extra thanks to those that subbed to my channel.
youtu.be/bjzetO-zl3Q

#twittermigration #twitterexodus #Feditips #youtube

How to Move Data Between Mastodon Accounts

Moving accounts on Mastodon is a relatively easy process to do - See the link below - but being able to migrate the list of people you are following, muting ...

^YouTube

Seeing a little too much #Caturday in your feed? Want to hide #spoilers for a TV Show until you see the episode?
#Filters are easy to set up and customise on #Mastodon. This short video walks through how to use them step by step to make it as easy as possible for you to manage your feeds.

As always, thanks in advance for the boosts, and a sub to my channel would mean a lot, I am aiming for 1000 subs. 😜👍
#twittermigration #twitterexodus #Youtube #feditips

youtu.be/2yt5JvFoGrw

How To Use Filters on Mastodon to Hide Content

If you are seeing too much of a particular piece of content on Mastodon, a filter is an easy way to put a block on it for a set period of time without needin...

^YouTube

Another day, another video.
A lot of us already have a large #Twitter #Network and would love to be able to easily search #Mastodon for them to fill out our network here.
The #Fedifinder site helps make this a reality and it recently got some updates.
This video walks through the steps to #Migrate your network across in minutes.
As always, any boosts are appreciated to spread the word... And a sub would be lovely. 😜 #twittermigration #twitterexodus #youtube #feditips

youtu.be/37S246Wr_JE

How To Easily Find Your Twitter Network on Mastodon

The Fedifinder service - https://fedifinder.glitch.me/ - is a great site that can make locating your existing network from Twitter on Mastodon significantly ...

^YouTube

Yet another short video to add to the list of guides.
This one covers how to make use of the Advanced Web Interface to really tailor your web experience for #Mastodon.

For those that are used to things like #tweetdeck or the app #tweeten on Windows, this will be very familiar to you. And best of all, it is built right into Mastodon natively.

As always, boosts are appreciated to get the message out to all the newcomers.
#twittermigration #twitterexodus #feditips
youtu.be/I4l9FjzGywc

How to Use the Advanced Web Interface for Mastodon - Tweetdeck Style

A lot of people love using Tweetdeck for Twitter and would love something similar to get the most out of Mastodon. I am happy to report that this functionali...

^YouTube

This seems to be becoming a habit of mine now as I begin to use Mastodon more and continue to learn more about it each day.

This one covers the options available to you when posting content such as Alt Text and Content Warnings but also talks about language settings and using filters to tidy up your timelines.

Any boosts will be greatly appreciated so we can help everyone get the most out of Mastodon.
#twittermigration #MastodonTips #accessibility #language #feditips

youtu.be/Pg0rtrUOoJY

How to Compose a Post on Mastodon (all the options)

Whilst Mastodon is similar to other social media services, there are some really cool features available as part of Mastodon that can help you make your post...

^YouTube

OK, well this is getting far more interesting for me! 😎
Given the open nature of the #ActivityPub protocol, it is possible to pull in the Instagram alternative, Pixelfed, into your Mastodon Home Timeline.
This is great for those looking for an alternative to Instagram, but not wanting to use yet another app.

Here is another short video on how this works and how you can use it yourself!
#twittermigration #twitterexodus #Instagram #Pixelfed #feditips

youtu.be/iPq-NqtTEqU

How To Add Pixelfed Feeds to your Mastodon Timeline - Instagram Replacement

Most of us think of a Twitter replacement when we think of Mastodon, but it is capable of being far more than that courtesy of the federated nature of Mastod...

^YouTube

Following on from this Initial Mastodon Guide, I have been seeing a lot of people asking for tips on how to find people and content to fill in their Home Timeline.
I decided to make a follow up video on how to best use search and also cover why sometimes you don't get the results you expect.

youtu.be/9cIbSPPszIE

Any boosts will be appreciated to help others improve their Mastodon experience.
#TwitterExodus #TwitterMigration #Search #feditips

How to Find and Follow People and Content on Mastodon

Most people join up to Mastodon and then have difficulty finding people and content to follow and fill out their home timeline with. This guide shows you how...

^YouTube

For those that joined #Mastodon and grabbed the first server they could find, but would prefer to #migrate to a different one, I created a short guide on how to do this quickly and easily.
It also allows you to easily move any followers across to your new profile and leaves a redirection on your old profile for those that find it.😁👍

And be sure to check out the threaded replies for more tips. I will continue to add more. 👍🏼
#twitterexodus #twittermigration #feditips
youtu.be/BpI-SplOXVE

How To Easily Migrate your Mastodon Account to Another Server without losing your Followers

You have Signed up to Mastodon, but after using it for a bit and understanding it better, you have chosen to make the switch to another server as your main o...

^YouTube

A little known feature of #Mastodon is the ability to create your own personal notes about an account.
This is a great way to potentially remind yourself why you follow particular accounts (or just about any other reason you can think of).

Also, these notes are private. The account does not know what you have written down, nor the fact that you have even made these notes.

Please #boost to help spread the knowledge around your networks. ☺️
#MastodonTips #Feditips #Notes
youtu.be/npoBM9Ev2CQ

How to Use the Notes Feature on Mastodon

Once you begin following accounts on Mastodon, you can use the Personal Notes feature to help you keep track of why you followed a particular account (or any...

^YouTube

I've been looking for a good way of describinng comics in alt text and found a nice article about it written by a screen reader user

veroniiiica.com/2018/11/29/how…

I thought you might find it interesting!
It made me want to do a pinned post to describe how my recurring characters looks without having to repeat it in all images if it's not relevant, smart and convenient!

#fediTips

Heads up for fans of the #Metatext #Mastodon app

- its lead developer @metabolist has stopped updating it, for health reasons.

If someone else would like to help out, please email them at info@metabolist.org

mastodon.social/@metabolist/10…

Web: metabolist.org/

#feditips #opensource #accessibility

If your instance is blocking an instance with folks you'd like to still read, you can add any Mastodon account to your feed reader (I like NetNewsWire myself) by using the following formula:

instance.name/@user.rss

#feditips #rss #mastodontips #feeds #fediverse #twittermigration #migration

I'm not blind or have impaired vision, so take this with a grain of salt (feel free to correct me), but people who put nondescript one sentence alt texts are almost worse than those who put no alt text.

At least if I'm about to boost a picture without, glitch-soc will warn me about it. If a picture has an alt text like "screenshot of my tweet", that's less than useless but it will slip through the alt text detector.

Write good alt text ffs. Describe the picture. Not a title or a TLDR, a proper description. If it's text, copy the text into the image description. If it's selfies, don't write "a selfie of me", describe your selfies. Describe film scenes, descripe paintings, descripe charts and infographics. You have, on this instance at least, 1500 characters to describe your pictures. Do it.

And if 1500 isn't enough, you can add a second picture to keep describing it.

#feditips #accessibility #alttext

#FediTips

If you want to "close" your DMs on Mastodon, it's really easy to do -- via the web client.

Go to your Preferences, to Accounts, then to Notifications. Put a check next to "Block direct messages from people you don't follow."

No es norma pero se va convirtiendo en convención: nuestros fediversantes ciegos no suelen personalizar su avatar, les queda el predeterminado (imagen adjunta).

Tiene lógica y está chido porque nos permite identificar de un vistazo cuando conversamos con quien tiene esa discapacidad.

Les invito a que, si no son ciegos, personalicen su avatar tan pronto como puedan.

#EsViernesDeSeguirA @blindscribe @jaguarunileiro
#FF #FollowFriday

#FediTips #Accesibilidad #Accessibility #Blind #Ceguera

I have version 1.1 of "The many branches of the Fediverse" ready for you. 😄

Thank you to everyone who pitched in with suggestions of improvement (all visible in the thread).

You can download PNG and PDF versions on my blog post, which also has a bit more info and links to the applications.

Download for free and use as you please. Preferably to spread the word about the benefits of federated publishing and local instances. 😊

axbom.com/fediverse/

#FediTips

It's Friday and version 1.2 of "The many branches of the Fediverse" is published. Thanks everyone for your interest and engagement.

There is a changelog at the bottom of the post with more info, and you are welcome to download hi-res PNG and PDF versions of the diagram.

Do feel free to use this visual in any way you like, in your presentations, publish in your own spaces, etceteras. I'm just glad if you find it useful.

axbom.com/fediverse/

#FediTips

You may be aware that there is something called the #Fediverse.

But do you know about all the different types of applications that run on the Fediverse?

I made this visual to give myself and others something to point at when explaining "the big picture".

You may be surprised by how many services beyond Mastodon there are to explore.

Download it for free here and use as you please:
axbom.com/fediverse/

That post also has links to all the different applications.

#FediTips

Are you using Mastodon through a computer?

Do you wish there was a multi-column TweetDeck-style interface?

There is! It's called the "advanced web interface" and you can activate it any time you want. It lets you add many specialised columns, subscribe to hashtags and all kinds of stuff suited to large wide displays.

Log into the website, go to Preferences > Enable Advanced Web Interface, tick the box and click "Save Changes".

(To restore the default single column interface, do the same thing but untick the box instead.)

This used to be the default interface on Mastodon, and very old articles about the platform will have screenshots of the multicolumn interface.

#MastoTips #Mastodon #TweetDeck #FediTips #Interface

There has recently been a huge rush of people trying out Mastodon. I love it. This is also noticeable in the number of people reading my earlier Mastodon Guide. I wanted to take this opportunity to provide a brief list of usage tips that I wish I had at hand when first setting up my Mastodon home.

10 quick Mastodon tips:
axbom.com/mastodon-tips/

#FediTips

10 quick Mastodon tips

There has recently been a huge rush of people trying out Mastodon. This is also noticeable in the number of people reading my earlier Mastodon Guide.

^{Per Axbom (axbom.com)}

The free open source livestreaming platform OwnCast has set up a demo server at:

watch.owncast.online

It currently runs a loop of videos by people who self-host their livestreams using OwnCast, along with short videos promoting other libre projects.

If you run a free open project and have a short video (under 1 minute), you can have it added to this loop by contacting @owncast.

OwnCast servers include Fediverse compatibility, so you can follow them from Mastodon etc. When a stream you follow goes live, you'll see a message telling you about it in your timeline.

#FediTips #Fediverse #OwnCast #FOSS #Libre #LiveStreaming #Twitch #Alternatives

OwnCast is a sort of Fediverse alternative to Twitch. It lets people host their own video livestream with a chat window at the side, and OwnCast accounts can be followed from Mastodon etc.

You can find out more about @owncast at owncast.online, and they have a directory of streamers at directory.owncast.online

If you follow an OwnCast account from Mastodon, you will see a post from them in your timeline telling you when the account has gone live.

Also, if you follow an OwnCast account or boost its posts, this will appear in the livestream's chat window (see the attached picture).

Some OwnCast accounts you can try following right now include:

@live (soulful house music shows)

@hatnix (Linux gaming streams)

@Hamish - (retro gaming streams)

(Note that some OwnCast accounts do not have Fediverse switched on yet, so they won't be visible on Mastodon etc)

#OwnCast #OwnTips #FediTips #Fediverse #Twitch #Alternatives

RSS fans!

You can follow any Mastodon account via RSS by just adding ".rss" to the end of the account's public profile URL.

To find a user's public profile URL, click on their profile image within Mastodon.

For example, if you click on FediTips' profile image you get this page in a new tab:

mstdn.social/@feditips

So, to follow FediTips through RSS, use this address:

mstdn.social/@feditips.rss

This will only show that account's public posts. Other posts will not be visible on the RSS feed.

#RSS #MastoTips #FediTips #Mastodon

FediTips (@feditips@mstdn.social)

1.75K Posts, 541 Following, 12.8K Followers · Posting tips and hints about Mastodon and the Fediverse 🌍 @ or DM me if you have any questions, suggestions or comments 📨 There's no such thing as a silly question, if you're having difficulty usin…

^{Mastodon 🐘}

You can create your own Mastodon server even without technical knowledge 🐘

There are companies that provide Managed Hosting, where you pay a monthly fee and they do all the technical stuff including hosting, installation and updates.

You own and run the server, they do the tech stuff behind the scenes.

The best managed hosting companies for Mastodon are probably masto.host and federation.spacebear.ee

It's not just Mastodon either, there are lots of Fediverse platforms and other online services available through managed hosting. Try visiting growyourown.services for more options (or follow them at @homegrown).

#MastoTips #FediTips #Mastodon #Fediverse #ManagedHosting

Masto.host - Fully Managed Mastodon Hosting

Masto.host was built from the ground up to make running a Mastodon instance easy.

^Masto.host

If you're currently on a massive server like mastodon.social, you might want to consider moving your account to a smaller server.

You can keep your followers when you change servers, here's how to do it: mstdn.social/@feditips/1079394…

You can find reliable servers at joinmastodon.org/communities (all the servers listed there agree to the covenant at joinmastodon.org/covenant). Try to pick one with fewer people.

There are lots of good things about smaller servers:

-Better moderation, because there are more staff per member.

-Smaller servers tend to have more personality, with a village feel.

-The local timeline on smaller servers is much more readable.

-Smaller servers protect the Fediverse as a whole from being taken over, because lots of smaller servers are harder to buy than a few big servers.

-It's easier to make a difference on smaller servers. It's easier to discuss things with the admin and other members.

#FediTips #MastoTips #Fediverse #Mastodon

FediTips (@feditips@mstdn.social)

If you want, you can move your Mastodon account from one instance (server) to another. Moving lets you take your followers, follows and some settings with you. 1.

^{Mastodon 🐘}

Profiles and posts on Mastodon and the Fediverse have public versions you can share with people who aren't on the Fediverse.

To see the public version of a profile, click on the profile picture. This will open the public version of the profile in a new tab.

To see the public version of a post, click on the datestamp below the post. This will open the public version of the post in a new tab.

These "public pages" are handy for sharing with friends, because they don't require logging in to see them.

Public pages are also very useful for something else:

If you paste the URL address of a public page into the search box on Mastodon, and then search for it, the post or profile will appear within your server. This is handy if you cannot find a post or person by searching, but you know they exist on another server.

Searching for a URL like this forces your server to "notice" the profile or post.

It also works with URLs from PeerTube, PixelFed etc.

#MastoTips #FediTips #Mastodon

ℹ️ #Privacy is a major concern for us here on toot.wales as well as many other #Mastodon servers.

After joining, please check your profile (link below) to enable or disable:

1. Require follow requests
Manually control who can follow you by requiring your approval

2. Suggest account to others
Allow your account to be discovered by strangers

3. Hide your social graph
Don't let others see who follows you, and who you follow.

toot.wales/settings/profile

#FediTips

Tŵt Cymru | Toot Wales

The independent social network for Wales, the Welsh, and everyone else! | Y rhwydwaith gymdeithasol annibynnol i Gymru. Tŵt is the social media network that puts YOU in charge. No data mining, no silly ads.

^{Mastodon hosted on toot.wales}