feditips

When you're signing up on a server or moving your account to a different server, you have to choose a username. This is the name that appears when people mention you in posts (when they @ you). It's worth spending a bit of time on choosing a good one, because it's difficult to change it later.

Here are some tips on how to choose a good username:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/choosing-a-good-username-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse

It also goes over options for changing the username if you have to.

#FediTips

You don't need to use your real name or photo on here. It is 100% fine to be anonymous, or to use whatever name or image suits you best (as long as you're not trying to impersonate/abuse someone else).

Also, don't assume that a blank profile picture means anything bad. Some people have a permanently blank profile image as they are blind, and they use the internet via audio-only tools.

#FediTips

One of the big advantages of being on here is that it's easy to talk directly to the people who run your server 🙂

If you want to contact your server's admin on Mastodon:

1. Go to your server's website
2. On the mobile web click ⋯ at the right, or on the desktop web click the higher "About" link on the left. Both of these will take you to your server's About page.
3. Your admin's Mastodon account is listed under "Administered by", and their public email address is under "Contact".

#FediTips

In case you missed it, the Fediverse's livestreaming platform OwnCast has official apps:

iPhone, iPad, Apple TV
https://apps.apple.com/app/owncasts/id6451178968

📺 Roku
https://channelstore.roku.com/details/2179326b6b85869a1a3a18d48ca76de6/owncasts

You don't have to use these though, all of OwnCast's features are available through the web.

(OwnCast is like the Fediverse's alternative to Twitch, it's a livestreaming platform with a built-in chat service. More info at https://fedi.tips/owncast-live-streaming-and-chat-on-the-fediverse)

#OwnCast #FediTips #LiveStreaming #Twitch #Alternatives

If you're wanting to discuss a particular year, you might have noticed that number-only hashtags don't work on here.

To get round this, a lot of people use the word "year" before the number, for example #Year2024 or #Year2025

(By the way, there is a discussion about this issue on Mastodon's Github page at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/9709)

#FediTips

Ω🪬Ω
#FediAlgo, the customizable timeline algorithm / filtering system for your Mastodon feed, is now deployed on Github Pages and can be used from your web browser.

* Link: https://michelcrypt4d4mus.github.io/fedialgo_demo_app_foryoufeed/
* Code: https://github.com/michelcrypt4d4mus/fedialgo_demo_app_foryoufeed
* Video of FediAlgo in action: https://universeodon.com/@cryptadamist/114395249311910522

#activitypub #algorithm #algorithmicFeed #algorithmicTimeline #Fedi #FediTips #FediTools #Fediverse #Feed #FOSS #Masto #MastoAdmin #Mastodon #mastohelp #MastoJS #nodejs #nod #opensource #SocialWeb #timeline #TL #webdev

Hey book fans, did you know there is a Fediverse alternative to Amazon's Goodreads called BookWyrm?

➡️ https://fedi.tips/bookwyrm-a-social-network-for-people-who-enjoy-reading

Just like Mastodon, there are lots of different BookWyrm servers that talk to each other:

➡️ https://joinbookwyrm.com/instances

You can also follow BookWyrm accounts from Mastodon etc.

BookWyrm lets you import your existing data from Goodreads, LibraryThing, StoryGraph, OpenLibrary & Calibre:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/importing-your-data-into-bookwyrm-from-goodreads-librarything-storygraph-openlibrary-or-calibre

#FediTips #Books #Reading #Goodreads #Fediverse

If you see "🧵 1/3" or "2/5" or "🧵" or similar at the end of a post, it means it's part of a thread of posts.

You can create a thread here by replying to your own post, then replying to that reply, and repeating this until you have a long chain of posts called a thread.

You can see the thread a post comes from by clicking on it, this takes you to an enlarged view where you can scroll up or down to see the whole thread.

More info about creating threads at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-post-a-thread-on-mastodon

#FediTips

There are four main timelines on Mastodon:

Home - Your default timeline, posts from people & tags & groups you follow

Explore/Trending - Shows most boosted recent posts, most used tags, most shared links

Local - Latest public posts from people on your server (also called Live Feeds: This Server)

Federated - Latest public posts visible to your server from across the Fediverse (also called Live Feeds: All)

More info about these on the timelines guide:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/what-are-the-local-federated-home-timelines-how-do-i-stop-them-scrolling-too-quickly

#FediTips

Have you posted a link on Mastodon and noticed an additional "More from..." link at the bottom?

If you click this, it will take you to the Mastodon profile of the person who wrote the article or runs the site you linked to. It's a special feature designed to help journalists and website owners connect with their readers.

You can find out more about it including step-by-step instructions on how to activate it for your own articles or sites at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/when-i-post-a-link-on-mastodon-why-is-there-a-more-from-link-at-the-bottom-of-the-link-preview-what-is-author-attribution

#FediTips

Mastodon lets you browse which hashtags you are already following:

- On the official app go to your profile page and click # at the top

- On the web interface go to your profile page, click ⋯ and then "Followed hashtags"

- On third party apps there will be various interfaces either on your profile or in settings

More info about hashtag following at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-follow-hashtags-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse

#FediTips

Mastodon supports post editing, you can edit any of your own posts any time by clicking ⋯ and then "Edit".

If you forget to add an image description, you can edit your post to add the description afterwards.

(Just mentioning this because still seeing people forgetting descriptions and adding them in replies, it seems they don't know about post editing.)

Lots more info and questions answered about post editing on Mastodon at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-edit-posts-in-mastodon/

#FediTips

There are lots of different ways to discover accounts to follow on here, have you tried them all?

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-find-accounts-to-follow-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-how-do-i-find-my-friends

#FediTips

Carrying weapons across the Pomerium is not allowed

#feditips

If a profile on here looks blank, it might not actually be blank!

You can check if a profile is blank by clicking on ⋯ and then "Open in browser" or "Open original page". These will take you to the profile on its own server's website, which is the most up to date version of the profile.

Profiles may appear blank if no one on your server has followed it before. If you follow the account, its posts will start showing up on your server.

More info at https://fedi.tips/why-does-someones-account-page-look-completely-blank-is-it-really-blank

#FediTips

A good way to discover interesting accounts is to follow hashtags. When you follow a hashtag, posts with that tag will start appearing in your timeline even if you don't follow the post's author.

To follow a hashtag:
1. Search for a hashtag
2. Click on the specific hashtag you want from the suggestions
3. Click "Follow" button at the top

To manage your followed tags, go to your own profile page, click ⋯ and then "Followed hashtags".

More info at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-follow-hashtags-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse

#FediTips

Hey new people, do you want help with using Mastodon? Feel free to ask by replying, or message me if you prefer. 🙂 Any question is fine, there is no such thing as a stupid question!

There is also lots of help for beginners on the website at https://fedi.tips (especially in the "Quick Start" section at the top).

If you're just wondering what the heck is going on here and want someone to explain Mastodon briefly and simply, watch this video: https://tilvids.com/w/f747058d-3991-4046-a1c9-29c184daa0ff

#FediTips

Lots of questions about Pixelfed right now! 😅

The most common Pixelfed questions are answered on the Fedi.Tips website at this link:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/pixelfed-photo-sharing-on-the-fediverse

If you want to find people to follow on Pixelfed, there's more info here:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/finding-people-to-follow-on-pixelfed

Here's how to import your data from Instagram to Pixelfed:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-import-my-instagram-account-data-to-pixelfed/

If you want to receive DMs from strangers on Pixelfed, you need to activate that option:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/dms-arent-getting-through-to-me-on-pixelfed-what-do-i-do

#FediTips #Pixelfed

There's a really useful thing on here called a "Fediverse address".

All accounts on Mastodon, Pixelfed and other Fediverse platforms have a unique address:

@ username @ server name

If you paste an account's Fediverse address into the search box on Mastodon, Pixelfed etc, the account's profile page will appear, even if it never showed up in searches before! You can tell people your Fediverse address so they can follow you on here more easily.

More info:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/whats-my-accounts-address-how-do-i-follow-other-peoples-addresses-how-can-people-follow-my-address

#FediTips

Reminder that if you just want Pixelfed tips I've now got a dedicated account you can follow:

➡️ @PixelfedHelp

You can also follow it from within Pixelfed, search for this account address in Pixelfed with the spaces removed:

@ PixelfedHelp @ pixey.org

(REMOVE THE SPACES WHEN YOU SEARCH FOR THIS)

#FediTips #Pixelfed #PixelfedTips

You can set Mastodon's web interface to be in another language if you want:

1. Log in through your server’s website or the web app
2. Click ⚙️ Preferences
3. Select the language you want from the dropdown "Interface Language" menu
4. Click "Save Changes" button

You don't have to use your server's default language, all the languages are available on all the servers.

This only works when you're signed in though, so you will still see your server's language on the sign-in page.

#FediTips

If you've tried to send a DM on Pixelfed and you get an error message saying "You need to wait a bit before you can DM another account", don't worry. Your DMs will start working 72 hours after you've joined a server, and the error message will stop appearing.

Apparently this was introduced to stop spammers, although since then other anti-spam measures have been introduced and there's some discussion that it might be removed.

#Pixelfed #PixelfedTips #FediTips

Hey new people on Mastodon, do you want your posts to be as visible and discoverable as possible?

If so, you might want to opt into "full text search". This means the entire contents of your public posts would be searchable and much easier to find.

If you don't opt in, your posts are only searchable by hashtag.

This guide tells you how to opt in, and answers common questions:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-opt-into-or-out-of-full-text-search-on-mastodon

(This only affects public posts. Non-public posts aren't searchable.)

#FediTips #Mastodon

There is no algorithm on Pixelfed, it's entirely up to you to decide what goes in your timeline. One of the best ways to fill your timeline with stuff you're interested in is to follow hashtags:

1. Search for a hashtag remembering to include # at the beginning
2. Choose the hashtag you want from the list of suggestions
3. Click the "Follow" button at the top

Once you've followed a hashtag, posts with that hashtag will gradually start to appear in your timeline even if you don't follow the person who made it.

If you want to keep track of your followed hashtags go to Account Settings > Relationships > Hashtags

#FediTips #Pixelfed #PixelfedTips

Are you using Mastodon on a computer? If so, you might want to try out Mastodon's "Advanced Web Interface". It has a multicolumn layout similar to TweetDeck, and is built into all Mastodon servers:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-to-activate-mastodons-tweetdeck-style-advanced-web-interface

This guide tells you how to activate and use it, as well as answers to lots of common questions about it.

Some people find multicolumn mode essential, while others find it overwhelming. You can use whichever interface you prefer 🙂

#FediTips #Mastodon