With today's update, we've improved the look of the alt text modal you see when composing new posts on #Mastodon, and added some information about the significance of alt text for accessibility and how to write it.
For those migrating to the #fediverse from #Facebook, the experience can be a bit overwhelming. Choosing an instance/server can be daunting, not to mention trying to match basic need with feature set. One thing I can recommend when inviting folks to the fedi is to gently get across that it's not exactly what they're used to. They have to be a bit more hands-on, since there is, for the most part, no algorithm.
From working in tech support for about 13 years, I learned that when introducing something new to the user, it's best to take one aspect and focus on teaching that to them. Get them a foundation, help them get comfortable, then move on to the next aspect. Education = empowerment.
Here's a list of the protocols I use/have used and my experience with them. I've done a little footwork, and made a list of servers by protocol for users to peruse. Courtesy of FediDB! I recommend going to each instance's about page and reading up on such info as character limit, location, instance focus, blocklists, and who they federate with.
One thing I can say for sure: My interactions in the fediverse - with a couple of exceptions - have been pleasant and rewarding. Fedi is truly a breath of fresh air when compared to the mainstream platforms.
Mastodonfedidb.org/software/mastodonOf course, the most widely known of the protocols. I've had more experience on it than any other. Mastodon instances usually have a 500 character limit. If one is particularly verbose, it may not be ideal, as you have to create a thread in order to have a longer post. There are other mastodon instances with larger character limits. Again, best to look at an instance's about page to get the lowdown.
Sharkeyfedidb.org/software/sharkeyProbably my favorite thus far. Sharkey is a fork of the MisKey protocol, and has a rich feature set. It has a selection of reaction emojis, so you can do more than just "like" a post. If you're versed in MFM formatting language, Sharkey also has you covered. Character limits are usually higher. Sharkey.world (the instance I'm on) has a 5000 character limit.
Friendicafedidb.org/software/friendicaFor a more Facebook-like experience, and a practically unlimited character limit, Friendica offers a bit more familiarity to a fediverse newcomer's experience. It has events, calendars, and you can create groups, though you actually create a new page to act as a group. In all honesty, I find Friendica a bit clunky, but that's just personal opinion.
And that's my offering. I hope this is useful, and as always, if what I presented needs correction anywhere, please feel free to let me know, just be constructive.
By popular demand, a single post to boost global switch day across multiple platforms on February 1st 2025.
For those who can no longer get behind Musk or Meta's new policies and feel like switching (e.g. from #Whatsapp to #Signal, from #Instagram to #Pixelfed or from #X to #Mastodon) I made you some graphics to use freely in communicating with your contacts.
In einer Welt, die von rechtspopulistischen Figuren und Tech-Giganten beherrscht wird, stellt das #Fediverse (#Mastodon) eine essentielle Alternative dar. Es bietet einen Raum für dezentrale Kommunikation, der frei von kommerziellen Interessen und der Manipulation durch zentrale Plattformen ist, und fördert eine digitale Kultur, die Unabhängigkeit, Vielfalt und respektvollen Austausch anstelle von Hass und Desinformation in den Mittelpunkt stellt. ✊
🌟 OSCLOUD: Od malého projektu k velké Open-source komunitě! 🌟
Začali jsme jako malý projekt na podporu Open-source aplikací, dnes máme: ✅ Dva Mastodon servery ✅ PixelFed s 1000+ uživateli ✅ PeerTube VHSKY pro videa ...a další! 💻 A teď s radostí představujeme nový web 👉 web.oscloud.cz/ Za jeho podobou stojí @cynik_obecny – díky za skvělou práci! 🙌 Připojte se a objevte svět Open-source – svoboda, soukromí a bezpečnost u nás vždy na prvním místě!
Je viens de faire mon #eXit! L’exode de X est massif. Ne perdez pas un seul de vos abonnés. Grâce à #HelloQuitX j’ai inscrit 1003 nouveaux passagers pour partir vers #BlueSky & #Mastodon. Retrouvez automatiquement vos communautés le #20Janvier via app.helloquitx.com !
Hello fellow people of #Mastodon. My name is Nick and I'm 25 years old. I'm currently looking for a full-time job and have been since the beginning of this year. I have years of experience with Microsoft Excel and data aggrigation, as well as other Microsoft products though I'm also willing to use other programs. I also have some experience with accounting and I'm willing to learn quickbooks through on the job training if necessary. My resume is available here for reference: 1drv.ms/w/s!AlLCVRViUqvZhp1TBf… I'm looking for a full-time position because I feel I am ready for it and I do have to start paying my student loans in 6 months so please, if you're able #Boost so I can #GetFediHired. If you're looking for someone who's willing to work hard and do quality work, I'm your guy. #Employment, #Jobs, #Blind
One of the most important things I consider when choosing a social media platform is whether people can read what I post without being nagged or forced to create an account. For many of my friends who don’t really care about #Mastodon, gultsch.social is just a website they can drop by occasionally to see what I’m up to.
This is NOT Twitter.
This is MUCH better 🐘
Take the time to familiarize yourself with this new way of life.
Interact with others genuinely,
let go of the numbers.
Discover new features,
let go of the old ways.
Read about the culture here.
Meta unveiling big changes to Threads, Instagram, and Facebook today. Zuckerberg is abandoning fact checkers in favor of an X inspired Community Notes system in a move to restore “free expression” and reduce moderation mistakes
Dass #Follower zahlen von Accounts auf kommerziellen, sog. #SocialMedia Plattformen keine Messgröße mehr für den #Erfolg/ #Reichweite sind, veranlasst Marketing-Agenturen seit Jahren die sog. Organic Reach Rate (#ORR) zu ermitteln. Also die Zahl der Accounts, in deren Timeline Posts ohne Bezahlung tatsächlich angezeigt werden, z.B. socialstatus.io/insights/socia… Was meint Ihr? Auf Mastodon müsste die doch 100% sein?
Wäre das nicht ein Punkt, an dem man die theoretische Reichweite z.B. mit #Facebook und #Instagram vergleichen könnte?
Ja, ja, ich weiß, #Statistik ist im FediVerse nicht soo populär. Aber für Institutionen und Organisationen ist es schon wichtig, ob es vergleichbare Kriterien gibt, z.B. für @OeRR_bewegen@chaos.social oder #HochschulenInsFediVerse und vielleicht hat @mho@social.heise.de als Experte für SoMe-Referer auf Webartikel dazu einen Gedanken?
Weather has always influenced our lives: from agriculture to outdoor activities, to extreme events that, thanks to modern technology, can now be predicted with greater reliability. Personally, weather plays a significant role in my daily decisions, which is why I decided to create a service tailored for the Fediverse.
FediMeteo uses Open-Meteo data to publish updates every 6 hours, including current weather conditions, forecasts for the next 12 hours, and predictions for the upcoming days. Each country is served by its own dedicated instance (e.g., it.fedimeteo.com for Italy), managed through snac to ensure simplicity and efficiency in publishing.
You can follow FediMeteo directly in the Fediverse (on Mastodon and compatible platforms), via RSS, or by visiting the dedicated page for your city (e.g., fr.fedimeteo.com/paris).
Currently supported countries include: Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands – with many more regions coming soon!
FediMeteo is hosted on a FreeBSD-based VPS, with each country isolated in its own jail to ensure security and scalability.
Visit the main site to explore the national instances and start following your local weather updates today: fedimeteo.com
Happy weather monitoring to all! 🌦️
FediMeteo is dedicated to my grandfather, who every evening would give me the weather forecast based on TV, radio, and his personal experience. He would convince me that the weather would be bad, so he had an excuse to accompany me to school instead of me going alone.
FediMeteo brings real-time weather updates to the Fediverse, covering cities across multiple countries. Explore country-specific weather forecasts and RSS feeds.
As 2024 comes to an end, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve built together during the first full year of life for BSD Cafe. Launched on 20 July 2023, this project has grown far beyond what I could have imagined. While I haven’t tracked full uptime data, I can confidently say that the downtime was less than 30 minutes overall - even though the main VM hosting our services moved multiple times (including a switch from a Proxmox hypervisor to bhyve on FreeBSD, for the sake of alignment with our mission). In a world filled with over-engineered HA systems, we’ve outperformed many “big-name” cloud providers. Not bad for a community project, right?
For me, this has been an incredible journey. The users here are not just participants - they’re collaborators, and their positivity has been inspiring. The content shared and created at BSD Cafe has been valuable not only to the BSD community but beyond. What truly sets BSD Cafe apart is the openness for dialogue and exchange. Whether it’s social media posts, Matrix discussions, repositories in our brew, or RSS feeds, people seem to genuinely appreciate what we create and the conversations we foster.
BSD Cafe is a journey - one that grows, evolves, and continues. Our goal isn’t endless growth (we’re a community, not a business) but rather to maintain a welcoming, inclusive space where everyone feels a sense of positivity and belonging. For me, opening any service with “bsd.cafe” in the domain brings joy and pride. That’s the spirit I’ve tried to convey, and I hope it resonates with all of you, whether you’re active BSD Cafe users or friends of the community.
Promoting self-hosting and #OwnYourData has, as a side effect, inspired some users to “go solo” with their own setups. But even then, they remain part of BSD Cafe - in spirit, in purpose, and in connection.
Here’s a look at what we’ve achieved together this year:
- mastodon.bsd.cafe: 370 total users Active in the past month: 207 Active in the past six months: 286 - snac.bsd.cafe: 14 total users Active in the past month: 7 - blendit.bsd.cafe: 61 registered users - matrix.bsd.cafe: 23 users - brew.bsd.cafe: 29 users - 80 repositories - freshrss.bsd.cafe: 25 users - miniflux.bsd.cafe: 11 users - press.bsd.cafe: 9 users - myip.bsd.cafe: Constantly used by various users - wiki.bsd.cafe: Could use a bit more love and content, but it fulfills its role as a functional homepage. - tube.bsd.cafe: Still in testing - Peertube 7.0 update is on the way.
For detailed stats from our reverse proxy and general router (excluding media services, which generate most traffic but are handled via caching reverse proxies), you can check here - updated hourly: netstats.bsd.cafe
The journey of BSD Cafe continues, and I look forward to seeing where 2025 will take us. Together, we’ve built something special - something driven by passion, shared purpose, and a little bit of the BSD magic that makes all of this possible.
Here’s to a new year full of joy, serenity, and connection. Thank you for being part of this adventure.
Wishing you all a fantastic 2025 - and THANK YOU! Stefano
🚀 Phanpy byl aktualizován! 🎉 Právě jsme nasadili novou verzi phanpy.cz ! 📢 Verze 2024.12.28.119d4b0 💬 Máte návrhy nebo jste našli chyby v překladu? Lokalizace stále není kompletní, takže uvítáme jakékoliv návrhy na zlepšení a pomoc s překladem. A big thank you to the developer @cheeaun for his amazing work on this project! 🙌 #Phanpy #Mastodon #Update #Localization #OpenSource
Interested in **supporting this instance?** :blobcatreachrev::MastodonDE::blobfoxfloofreach:
Feel free to **donate** using one of the below links:
:blank: • :liberapay: [Liberapay](https://liberapay.
so glad I moved to static hosting + #mastodon comments for my blog all those years ago. I do worry about the wider #wordpress ecosystem though. A lot of web developers make a living customising and theming wordpress.
Esa cuenta de @/Google@x-activitypub-bridge.deno.dev es un puente desde twitter y dice que se unió en 2009 en su cuenta de mastodon y eso es falso, que cuenta mas rara. #Mastodon empezó en 2016. La fecha esa es de cuando se hizo la cuenta en twitter, no me gusta eso.
Abrir la pagina original me lleva su cuenta en Twitter, puajjjjj....
Nevím, jestli je to od poslední verze, ale uvítací e-mail na Mastodonu je skvěle propracovaný! 🎉 Nově registrovaným uživatelům nabízí:
Přehled prvních kroků (přizpůsobení profilu, sledování uživatelů, první příspěvek). Doporučení, koho sledovat na základě aktivity na instance. Populární hashtagy, které mohou být inspirací. Odkazy na oficiální aplikace pro Android a iOS.
Musím říct, že to vůbec není špatný nápad – pomáhá to nováčkům rychle se zorientovat a zapojit do komunity. #tip_mastodon #mastodon
Support Mastodon's Giving Tuesday campaign to fund a Trust & Safety Lead, ensuring a safe, inclusive, and thriving community. Donate today to make a difference!
I am pleased to present you a small project that I have been working on these last weeks:
MARL (Mastodon Archive Reader Lite) is a small web app that allows you to explore in detail the content of your Mastodon posts archive, including attached files (images, videos, sounds), and with different search options.
Learn using BigBlueButton, the trusted open-source web conferencing solution that enables seamless virtual collaboration and online learning experiences.
I want to write my own cross-platform and accessible for blind users #Mastodon client. There are no #a11y friendly clients for Linux (only some TUI software) and there are only one buggy and unstable proprietary client for Windows called #tweesecake. I already know the stack I'll use but I have one problem. I don't know Mastodon well enough to be sure that I implement every feature which is supported there. For sure I can read the whole API reference but maybe there are easier ways, maybe some list of features, maybe some feature guide for developers, etc.
As a blind user I can't just install any popular and cool client and take all features from it... That's the problem: they are not accessible at all or not accessible enough for every day use.
So, maybe someone helps me with some sort of docs or I don't know :D
🚀 Phanpy byl aktualizován! 🎉 Právě jsme aktualizovali novou verzi Phanpy! 📢 Verze 2024.11.22.8f048af 💬 Máte návrhy nebo jste našli chyby v překladu? Lokalizace ještě není kompletní, takže uvítáme jakékoliv návrhy na zlepšení a pomoc s překladem. phanpy.cz #Phanpy #Mastodon #Update #Localization #OpenSource
One of the worst misfeatures of #Mastodon from a safety angle: If you get an abusive reply to your post, you can't remove it even by blocking the person. Even after blocking, your server still shows the abusive reply to everyone else.
There has been a patch ready to fix this for 2 years, 6 months, and 1 day. @Gargron has not approved it, and has provided *zero* explanation for why he will not allow it to be merged.
This is about the server not returning known subthreads started by people blocked by the post's author, not the viewer.
e.g., if we have A → B → C → D → E, where a → b means “b replies to a”, a...
Bluesky, Mastodon und Diaspora – dezentrale soziale Netzwerke bieten Menschen insbesondere aus Randgruppen die Möglichkeit, sich stärker in Diskussionen einzubringen, so eine Untersuchung aus England.
A couple years ago I opened a thread to add #AltText on #Mastodon banners and profile pictures. Now detailed todos are being posted. Is there anyone who could help in this case?
Pitch The banner and profile picts on the profile site has no ALT or ARIA tags. Blind people can't get information about the content of this images. Motivation Additional text information for image...
The wait is over*—The #Mastodon stuffed toy is now available for purchase in the EU! Other regions to come later. Share your pictures with the #Plushtodon hashtag!
We created a stuffed toy of the highest caliber. Deliberately friend-sized and friend-shaped, with a soft surface material and soft, squishy stuffing, the toy measures a height of 35cm.
About 2.5 years ago, dozens profiles on some supposedly "free speech" #Mastodon fedi were blocked for a few posts like this one. I was one of them. The fact that it's now a book is called vindication against some nazi friendly admins
Despite Chrystia #Freeland’s denials, her grandfather was complicit in the Nazi #genocide A new book provides the most authoritative study of Mykhailo Chomiak and the history of #Ukrainian_Nazis in #Canada
🚀 Phanpy byl aktualizován! 🎉 Právě jsme aktualizoval novou verzi Phanpy! 📢 Verze 2024.10.08 💬 Máte návrhy nebo jste našli chyby v překladu? Lokalizace ještě není kompletní, takže uvítáme jakékoliv návrhy na zlepšení a pomoc s překladem. phanpy.cz #Phanpy #Mastodon #Update #Localization #OpenSource
#Mastodon 4.3 is out! 🎉 We've made notifications easier to manage and improved the look and feel of the whole app across the board. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! See what you can expect once your server upgrades:
I'm just going to say it. Whoever designed the new notifications layout and design for Mastodon needs to go back to the drawing board (and UI design school). In some cases, esp if you start off with a tag, it looks and works horribly. (desktop view). Way worse than the old way just a month or two ago.
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