Sven Slootweg (soft-deprecated) @joepie91@pixie.town

Admins don't read DMs, and I'm hoping that soon enough that'll be encrypted and I won't be able too.
Mastodon DMs should be considered "restricted messages" visible to people mentioned.

DMs are not that important when snapchat exists for sexts, and signal exists for crimes!

Real chat style DMs similar to Twitter/facebook is coming to the ecosystem soon and will be encrypted and secured from admins... but until then, you need to consider "DMs" in mastodon different than the normal style.

It's more of a direct toot, then a direct message.

and in fact, the #mastodev team really should rename Direct Messages to Direct Toots or restricted because people have mental associations with the word "direct message"... and I get annoyed when I see a DM in my timeline and the back of chat style DMs..

Rather annoyed at the way "let's not use Twitter" has turned into "but admins can read my DMs!"

We want decentralised indie systems, but refuse to trust anyone but a corporation with a mandatory arbitration clause in the TOS.

also this is a cold take probably but also worth saying that much as I like the fediverse as an alternative to twitter, its still just a website (or bunch of websites)

coming away from twitter could be as good an opportunity as any to get involved w yr local community and enact change on a smaller but more tangible level

not telling you what to do or suggesting this is realistic or possible for everybody (I'm hardly one to talk lol). but more just kind of throwing it out there that while online spaces and discourse obviously have their place and importance, that importance can be easily inflated, esp at times like this. so just something to be aware of

accessibility/etiquette
7) in addition to formatting your hashtags, add an image description to your media.

8) we use content warning to hide sensitive topics. we also use them to hide long posts and make question/answer type posts though. you'll notice CW of politics, common phobias and sometimes even fediverse related discussions like this (a lot of it happens) is also common. also different servers will have different rules

...

algorithm (there is none)

3) your home timeline is not curated. this means favorite/boost counts of your posts (or the links on them doesn't matter)

4) boosts however carry posts, consider boosting.

5) more importantly consider engaging in meaningful dialogues with people. not fly by comments but engaging in discussions.

6) hashtags are your friend. (use camelCaseToMakeThemScreenReadable for blind users)

because I have so many new users coming #mastodonTips #mastodon

discovery/discoverability

1) in addition to a bio, consider also making an #introduction / #introduction post also check this tag to find people who are also new and their interests

2) https://communitywiki.org/trunk is a wonderful place to find people who are active. it is human moderated. if you decide to stick around and have the bandwidth to do so, consider joining a list to welcome others as well.

....

so I'm gonna boost any info I think is useful, but the main thing I would say to any newcomers is to take your time with it all

it's a confusing place to get your head around at first and ESPECIALLY when everyone is posting their advice and opinions on how you should and shouldn't use the site. if you try and take it all in at once you'll probably be bamboozled

instances can be changed later. you don't have to form your opinions on fediverse etiquette or jump into discourse straightaway. and if it feels like too much you can turn off the computer

It highly depends on your server, but you're blessed with 500c or more here.

Adding a CW when you're threading means you can at a glance show people what it's about, where the conversation changes etc.
You can view it as a subject line, if that helps.

And people can open the entire thread and expand it with the click of a button.

We still read it, we just appreciate to be able to opt in.

And again, it also makes filtering easier when the words are in the CW.

(ty @CaribenxMarciaX for mentioning this)