This essay is not a review of anything, it’s not a polemic, it’s not aimed at convincing you to act or refrain from action, it’s not a comprehensive introduction to a subject — it’s certainly not advice! It’s not essential, it doesn’t generalize, and I’m not even choosing my words carefully.¹ I’m only writing it to avoid writing the essay I’m writing to avoid writing the essay I know I have to write. But it’s more than just a way to avoid writing other stuff, it’s some things I wish I could have read about Mastodon a few months ago, so I thought I’d write them down for other people.

First, I had to choose a server and make an account, which I did through the web. None of the advice I found about making this choice helped me at all, so I’m not repeating it, but it is necessary to choose one. First I joined OneWilshire.la, which I chose just because a bunch of people I knew on Twitter were on it. I’m not sure what was lacking, it might just have been that I didn’t yet understand how to use the client software, but for whatever reason it didn’t quite scratch that itch, you know the one I mean. Next I tried Kolektiva.social for essentially the same reason, a bunch of people I knew on Twitter were on it. It’s working really well for me, but as I said, it’s just as likely that I now know my client better. Someone I know chose mastodon.social from the start and were happy. If I had done that I feel like I would have been happy with that choice too.

Then I had to choose a phone client. I tried a few, but I don’t remember which ones. I settled on Fedilab because it’s on F-Droid, even though I ended up installing it from Google for some reason. It’s nice, and I especially like the robust multi-account support, which even the official web interface doesn’t do well (as far as I know). But it wasn’t until I learned to follow hashtags that I began to feel at home.

When you follow a hashtag the tagged toots² show up in your timeline just like followed accounts. It essentially lets you construct your own toot-promotion algorithm from subjects that interest you. ³ Once I got a critical mass of hashtags my timeline really started popping, I started finding people to follow, and all of a sudden recently I realized I hadn’t even noticed that I hadn’t used other socials in like a really long time and I liked it! Then I had to put Fedilab in my app blocker so I could get some writing done. And now I feel at home in the Fediverse, where I’m @AdrianRiskin@Kolektiva.social. Maybe I’ll see you over there some time!?

1. This is the only intentionally false statement in here.
2. Not a name I would have chosen.
3. In some important technical ways this is not like an algorithm in the social-media-vernacular sense, but it helps me to think of it that way.