December 2022 archive

Dec 30

Mastodon Tip – Filter Languages To See Only The Ones You Understand

Screenshot of Mastodon preferences panel allowing you to filter posts based on languages

A tip for all the newcomers to Mastodon - if you are seeing a lot of posts in your timelines in languages that you don’t know, there is a very simple way you can filter those posts out. You just:

  • In the web client, click on the gear icon to go into Preferences
  • Select the “Other” panel under Preferences (see screenshot above)
  • Scroll down to “Filter languages"
  • Check the boxes next to the languages that you want to see
  • Scroll up to the top and press the “Save changes” button

Now your Mastodon timelines will only show you posts that indicate they are in the languages you have specified.

I made this change a few years back because I’m on a larger instance, and on the rare occasions when I actually looked at the Local timeline, it was full of posts in so many wonderful languages… but only a few of them I could actually understand. So I went into these preferences and changed it so that I only see posts in the three languages I know (at least somewhat): English, German, and French.

One important caveat - these filters are based on *the language the post indicates it is written in*. If you look at the screenshot above, in the middle right side you see a “Posting language” that is set as “Same as interface language”. And back on the main Preferences screen I have set my “Interface language” to English.

So all my posts are set by default to be in English. However, if I decide to go in and write a post in German or French, by default it will go out to everyone on Mastodon as “English”.

And so even with the filters on, you might still see posts in other languages if the author has their Mastodon client set to default to one of the languages you want to see. But setting these language filters should remove many of the posts in languages you don’t understand.

Setting a Post’s Language

BUT… what if you are a multilingual person and you want to post in multiple languages and allow people to filter based on languages?

In the web view of Mastodon, it’s very simple. When you are writing a post, you simply go to the bottom of the compose window where you will see the two letter abbreviation for whatever your default language is. Mine shows “EN” as English is my default.

screenshot of the window for posting a message to Mastodon showing the menu to change the language

When you press that language, you get a popup menu where you can change it to whatever language you are writing in. 

This changes the language setting ONLY for the post you are writing.

As soon as you hit “Publish!” and the compose window returns to being blank, the language will be reset back to your default language.

So if I wanted to send out a series of German posts or replies, I would have to REMEMBER TO CHANGE THE LANGUAGE SETTING for every single post. Which, to be honest, I will probably forget to do.

Additionally, I cannot find a way to change the language setting for a post in the Mastodon mobile app. When I go into the compose window, I see many options, but not to set the language. Some of the many other mobile apps may have this language support, but the one maintained by the Mastodon development team does not.

For both those reasons - people having to remember, and support on mobile clients - people writing in different languages may have the posts going out as whatever their default language is.

The point being that the language filters are great to have and can help adjust your timelines so that you are seeing content in only languages that you understand - you just need to know that they are not 100% perfect. 

Regardless, I’m very glad that they are there!

 

Dec 28

Techmeme Now Highlighting Mastodon Posts In Addition to Tweets

Screenshot of a section of the Techmeme.com news site with a red box around a section of Mastodon posts.

In a sign of the growth of Mastodon in the midst of the continuing drama at Twitter, Techmeme, the news site I use the most to keep up on tech news, has started to highlight Mastodon posts in addition to the way the site highlights tweets. In fact, in an interesting bit of prioritization, the site puts Mastodon posts first before tweets.

If you go to Techmeme.com now, you can see the Mastodon sections for some articles that are discussed on Mastodon. It’s actually an interesting view into what groups of people have moved from Twitter to Mastodon.

For example, at the moment when I am writing this article, the top of Techmeme has 9+ stories all around cryptocurrencies, the FTX debacle, and the latest news of more bankruptcies and other issues. There are no Mastodon sections but this makes sense as most of “crypto twitter” seems to be sticking with Twitter right now… or trying to look at other “web3” social media.

However, when you get past all the cryptocurrency stuff, the next current article is about LastPass and has a large Mastodon section… because a substantial amount of the Twitter “infosec” / security community has moved to Mastodon.

Other articles such as the one I show in the image above have a more balanced mixture of Mastodon posts and tweets. (Although seeing the prevalence of “@geoffreyfowler”, I’m guessing he is cross posting between Mastodon and Twitter and Techmeme’s algorithm has picked up both.) Another example shows the Mastodon posts and tweets combined in a single block (at the time I’m writing this).

It’s great to see this recognition of the growth of Mastodon’s usage. It’s also great because it shows to all the readers of Techmeme who are NOT yet on Mastodon that there *are* conversations happening on Mastodon. Perhaps this may cause some others to try it out!

Techmeme is, of course, on Mastodon themselves. You can follow them at https://techhub.social/@Techmeme (or search for "@techmeme@techhub.social” in your Mastodon account).

P.S. As a daily reader of Techmeme, I noticed this change when it was happening, but I must give a tip of the hat to Will Oremus who was the first I saw posting about this change on Mastodon. 

Dec 27

ACM Launches Public Mastodon Server – Mozilla Planning To Launch Fediverse Instance in 2023

The text "MOAR mastodon!!!" on a blue and white gradient background

It’s great to see nonprofit organizations getting into the business of operating public Mastodon / Fediverse instances. Two announcements recently caught my attention.

First, Mozilla, the makers of Firefox, announced that they would launch a public server (“instance”) in early 2023:

In early 2023, Mozilla will stand up and test a publicly accessible instance in the Fediverse at Mozilla.Social. We’re eager to join the community in growing, experimenting, and learning how we can together solve the technical, experience, and trustworthiness challenges inherent in hyper-scale social systems. Our intention is to contribute to the healthy and sustainable growth of a federated social space that doesn’t just operate but thrives on its own terms, independent of profit- and control-motivated tech firms. An open, decentralized, and global social service that puts the needs of people first is not only possible, but it’s absolutely necessary.

Now, they did not specifically say it would be a *mastodon* instance, although I’ve seen many people assume it will be. But if they use some other Fediverse / ActivityPub software, that’s perfectly fine! It will just be great having Mozilla in the Fediverse with their lengthy experience in operating Internet systems at scale.

Second, the 75-year-old Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), has already launched their own publicly available instance at mastodon.acm.org. From their intro message, that includes the link to join:

Hi there! This is ACM, the world's largest computing society. As you might have noticed, we have opened not only our official #Mastodon account but also our own #instance! 

Please consider joining @mastodon.acm.org, a community for #computing researchers & practitioners to connect & exchange ideas with each other, whether you are an ACM member or not. 

They’ve also tweeted about it and from the server stats it seems 548 people have so far joined.

Addressing The Two Major Challenges

The importance of these entities relates to what I described as two major challenges for operating Mastodon servers: scaling and content moderation.

If we are to bring millions of more people (or even 10s or 100s or millions) into the Fediverse, we will need many more servers. It will be helpful if we have some servers operated by companies or organizations that know how to operate Internet infrastructure at scale. This is what excites me most about Mozilla. With their operation of the Firefox browser, plus services like Pocket and their VPN product, they understand how to do this. They can potentially help provide an example for others.

I don’t know much about whether the ACM can also address the scaling (I’m not a member), but it’s good to see organizations like this getting into the space. The ACM’s announcement, though, does highlight the challenge around content moderation. Already, a couple of people are asking for specifics around content moderation:

screenshot of two Mastodon replies asking the ACM for more details around their content moderation policies

And another apparent member was questioning the ACM’s ability to manage a server.

These are questions that organization will have to be ready to handle.

As Mozilla gets ready to launch their server, they can expect to be similarly grilled about what level of moderation they will or will not do.

It’s tough to find the right balance - which is why I think organizations have to be sure they are ready to commit the necessary staff time, energy, and finances before they plunge into it.

Regardless, I think it is great for both Mozilla and ACM to be entering the Fediverse with their own servers. I wish them all the best!

Dec 26

Hallmark Christmas Movie Bingo Cards – and the Fascinating History of the Hallmark Channel

Two printed bingo cards for Hallmark Christmas moviesThis past holiday weekend our older daughter brought a new fun activity - “Hallmark Christmas Movie Bingo”. If you are familiar with the “Hallmark Channel” here in the USA, they produce many seasonal romance movies. They vary widely in quality and some are a bit cheesy and cringe-worthy. Many of the movies follow a common formula … something like… high-powered marketing exec in New York City finds out her fiancé is cheating on her, and so goes away to spend Christmas with one of her old friends at her house in some rural location (often Vermont). While there, something happens (car breaks down, big town event is in chaos), and she meets some hunky man who she is initially repelled by… but by the end of the movie they are either kissing, getting married, or she is leaving her job in New York to relocate to this ideal life in the rural town. Or something like that. Usually the main character seems to be female, although I’ve seen a few male. Often they are cynical and think Christmas is just a consumer spending experience.

Anyway, this formulaic production model turns out to be perfect for a bingo card. Here are just some of the squares on one of the free sites that offer these cards:

  • Trip to a Christmas tree lot
  • Main character is a single parent
  • Main character is a workaholic
  • Setting is a Christmas-obsessed town
  • Characters pretend to be dating/engaged
  • Town's major industry/historical landmark/major tradition is in peril
  • Character from the big city grows to love small-town life
  • Unexpected help from angel/Santa
  • Main character is keeping secret that could ruin everything
  • They lost their Christmas spirit when a parent or spouse died
  • Reliving Christmas traditions past helps renew someone's Christmas spirit
  • Love interest comes to her rescue by doing something manly
  • Cute dog
  • Delayed flights
  • ...

You get the idea.

It was a fun addition to watching the movies - and quite honestly kept me watching one very cringe-y and unrealistic movie when I might have just left the room to do something else. Hallmark staff clearly understand this, as they have written about it, and even sell a bingo kit. There are, of course, many free sites offering such cards.

What fascinated me, though, was to learn a bit more about the Hallmark Channel itself. A Wikipedia article traces its history from its origins in the late 1980s and early 1990s with two religious cable channels. These combined to become first the “Faith and Values Channel” in 1993 and then the Odyssey Network in 1996. In 1998, Hallmark Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company (think of the Muppets) became investors and the channel further reduced its religious programming to focus more on “family” shows.

In 2000, the ownership structure changed and in 2001 it was rebranded as the “Hallmark Channel”. The Wikipedia article goes on to detail the evolution of the channel, including the involvement of both Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart at different times - things I was not aware of - as wall as the development of the seasonal content that many of us may be aware of today. I also was not aware of all the animal programming, although that makes sense in the context of their historic “family friendly” programming.

The article also notes some of the Hallmark Channel’s struggles between its more conservative origins and the more inclusive society we are in today. And noting the evolution of the channel to include LGBTQ characters or stories.

I seldom watch the Hallmark Channel myself, and I don’t know that this weekend’s experience will change that, but it was an enjoyable way to spend some time together - and it was interesting to learn of this larger history.

Dec 26

FIR #305: We See You And You Can’t Come In

A petulant venue owner is using facial recognition software to keep people with whom he has issues from entering his spaces — including a mom with a Girl Scout troop. Also in this monthly long-form episode of the “For Immediate Release” podcast, Neville and Shel discuss the value of virtual goods and whether brands should start taking them seriously; business schools are exploring the potential for teaching in the metaverse — especially classes about digital technology; it hasn’t been a great year for metaverse activations, but at least brands are learning; it has been a year since Lush closed its Instagram and Facebook accounts, which means it’s time to see how that decision turned out; and the better ChatGPT (the AI text-generating chatbot) gets, the more worried some people get about its impact on truth; and Dan York shares a year-end Tech Report with a range of updates including using WordPress for newsletters, WordPress’s State of the Word 2022, and Tumblr Live.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, December 26.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

Links from this report:

Links from Dan York’s Report

The post FIR #305: We See You And You Can’t Come In appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Dec 25

The Christmas Story, As Told by ChatGPT in Iambic Pentameter

the text "An AI christmas story" on a red and green gradient background

For those who celebrate Christmas, as I do… MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

As I am off celebrating the holiday with my family, I thought I’d ask an AI to tell the Bible’s Christmas story. So I went to ChatGPT and asked:

> Tell the biblical Christmas story in iambic pentameter

Why iambic pentameter? I don’t know… other than thinking it could be more interesting than just having Chat GPT regurgitate blocks of text. This requires a little bit more effort.

After getting the first version, I found the focus on Herod to be a bit odd, so I pressed the “Regenerate response” to get a second version. Then I did it three more times, and decided to include all five versions here. I find the differences very interesting, as each takes a different view on the story, and includes or excludes different aspects of the story. For instance:

  • Herod, Egypt, and Nazareth only show up in version 1.
  • The shepards only appear in 2, 3, and 4.
  • The wise men are only in 2 and 3.
  • Gold, frankincense and myrrh only appear in 2.
  • Angels only appear in 3 and 4.
  • Version 5 has almost no details but instead focuses on the religious meaning.
  • None of them mentioned why Joseph and Mary where traveling (to register for a census in his home town for tax purposes for the Roman government).

It also shows that you can’t just take ChatGPT’s answer as gospel (quite literally). Imagine if you asked ChatGPT and got only version 1? You would have a very different view of the story from the other ones.

No matter which story you may or may not agree with, including none of these, I wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Version 1

Once in the land of Judah, long ago
A virgin fair was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter
But in her womb, a child was set to grow
Conceived by power of the Holy Ghost, as told by angel Gabriel

This child would be the savior of us all
A king, descended from the line of David
His birth had been foretold by prophets tall
And now, the time had come, the promise given

But in the land, a ruler did hold sway
A cruel and wicked man, by name of Herod
He heard the news of this newborn king at play
And in his jealousy and fear, did order

That every male child, two years and under
Should be put to death, in Bethlehem and near
To try and kill this child, the Son of Thunder
But Joseph took Mary and the babe in fear

And fled to Egypt, till the danger passed
They stayed in hiding, till the coast was clear
Then returned to Israel, at last
And settled in a town called Nazareth

Thus Jesus grew, in wisdom, age, and grace
And when the time was right, he took his place
As savior of the world, in love and peace
This is the story of the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Version 2

In Bethlehem, a city of Judea,
A child was born, the savior of mankind.
This infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes so new,
Was laid in manger, for there was no room
In inns of Bethlehem, on that holy night.

The news of this great birth was quickly spread
To shepherds in the fields, who did not stay
But hurried to the stable, where they found
The newborn king, lying in a bed of hay.

The shepherds marveled at the sight they saw,
And they returned to their fields, praising God
For sending them the savior of the world.

But news of this great birth was not confined
To shepherds in the fields or Bethlehem's town.
Three wise men, guided by a shining star,
Came from the East, bearing gifts of gold,
Frankincense, and myrrh, to honor him.

And so, on this most holy night, the world
Was blessed with the arrival of the one
Who came to save us all, the son of God,
Jesus, the Christ, the savior of mankind.

Version 3

In Bethlehem, a town so small and poor,
A child was born to Mary, pure and fair.
This blessed babe, the Son of God, was sure
To bring salvation, love, and mercy rare.

The angels sang, and shepherds came to see
This newborn king, in stable low and mean.
Three wise men, led by a bright star, did flee
To offer gifts, and worship on their knees.

This holy child, so pure and innocent,
Was sent to save us all from sin and death.
He lived and loved and healed with great intent,
And willingly submitted to his earthly death.

But death could not contain him, as was plain,
For he rose again, and lives forevermore.
He brings salvation, hope, and joy, and reigns
As Lord of all, forever and always.

Version 4

The Christmas story, as told in the Bible,
Is one of joy and love, a miracle true:
It starts with Mary, chosen by the Lord
To be the mother of His only son,
A son who would redeem the world from sin.

The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary
And told her she would bear a son, and he
Would be the savior of the world, a king
Descended from the line of David, great.
Mary, though frightened, knew that this was right,
And so she said, "I am the Lord's servant.
May it be to me as you have said.”

The time came for Mary to give birth, and so
She and her husband Joseph traveled far
To Bethlehem, the city of David's birth.
But when they arrived, they found no room
In any inn, and so they had to stay
In a stable, where the baby Jesus lay.

The shepherds, watching over their sheep by night,
Were startled by a bright and shining light,
And saw an angel, who told them the news
Of Jesus' birth, and said, "Do not be afraid.
I bring you tidings of great joy today:
A savior has been born in Bethlehem, a boy.”

The shepherds went to see the baby Jesus,
And when they saw him lying in the manger,
They knew that this was the son of God, and so
They spread the word throughout the countryside.
And so it was that Christmas came to be
A day of joy and celebration, free
From sin and sorrow, as the world rejoiced
In the birth of Jesus, our beloved Lord.

Version 5

The Christmas story, as told in the Bible, is a tale of hope and redemption. It begins with the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, in a humble stable in Bethlehem.

Joseph and Mary, betrothed in marriage,
Were traveling to the town of David's line
When Mary, heavy with the child she'd carry,
Was forced to stop and give the baby time.

And so, in poverty and low estate,
The Son of God was born, a lowly king.
But though His birth was humble and sedate,
His purpose was to save the world, and bring

Salvation to all those who would believe.
For He was sent to be the sacrifice,
To bear the weight of sin upon His sleeve
And through His death, bring us to paradise.

And so the Christmas story, full of grace,
Brings hope and joy to all who seek His face.

Dec 24

Two Major Challenges For Operating Mastodon Servers – Scaling and Content Moderation

The text "2 major challenges" on a blue and white gradient background

As more people embrace the decentralized world of the Fediverse - and as we WANT more people to migrate to the Fediverse - we are seeing an explosion of new Mastodon servers/instances set up by all sorts of people and groups. Friends of mine have launched their own just running in simple virtual machines. There are now “Mastodon hosting” springing up - ex. masto.host, although the person running it has paused new customers due to the high demand.

But there are two major challenges for people or organizations getting into the space:

1 - SCALING - If you just run a small server for yourself and maybe a few friends, you can limit the system administration workload. But if you launch a public server… you have to be able to handle the influx of new accounts, particularly during the current Twitter migration/exodus. This might be very cool initially, but at some point it starts to become a serious amount of work. You have the technical challenges of scaling to support more users - and you also have to meet the expectations of members in terms of availability, reliability, etc. You have to answer their questions, feature requests, etc.

Running a Mastodon server at scale (or really any kind of public server with user accounts) takes a considerable investment of time, energy, and money. You need to think about how you involve multiple people, how you will support all your users, and how you financially support it all.

[UPDATE - It was noted to me that there can be very real technical and cost requirements with growing a server in particular with storing media. Whenever someone uploads an image or video to the server, it must be stored on that server. Additionally, your server will host media coming from other servers with which you are federated. So as your server gains more users, who follow more people on other servers, there is more and more demand for file storage on your server.]

2 - CONTENT MODERATION - This is perhaps the BIGGEST challenge for hosting a public server. If you again run a small server for yourself and people you trust, then this may all be fine. You set clear expectations with your friends or people you think you can trust, and that may be all you need to do.

But the minute you start letting the broader public into your server, you run into all sorts of legal compliance issues you have to be aware of. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently wrote, there are a range of legal concerns in the USA for operators of any service that hosts “user-generated content”. One big issue is copyright law and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). EFF also mentions FOSTA/SESTA, law enforcement requests for identity information, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

And this is just for the USA. Add in the need to potentially comply with European Union (EU) legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the recently passed Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA). And… the legislation popping up in many other parts of the world. And, of course, your content moderation abilities needs to be able to grow as you scale to support more users.

[UPDATE - Aswath Rao pointed out in a comment on Mastodon that as a server operator its not enough that you trust the people who have accounts on your server. For every person your users follow on other servers, that person’s content and media are also copied onto your server. So you wind up hosting content on your server from all of those other external users, too. ]

These are also just the legal compliance issues around content moderation. You also have to think about what kind of community you want to foster on your server. Will you have additional moderation policies to create the kind of community you want? (For example, specifically not allowing “hate speech”.) If so, how will you then enforce those policies?

You need to again have the time, energy, and financial resources to be able to comply with the legal requirements, which may end up involving some level of monitoring / enforcement.

For both of those reasons, it will be interesting to see where the Fediverse goes - and in particular where Mastodon goes - in the time ahead. Will we continue to have the wide range of public servers as we do right now? Or over time will we see larger ones emerge that have the time, energy, and financial resources to address these challenges?

Dec 22

Automattic Promotes WordPress.com as a Platform for Email Newsletters (and provides improved support)

Screenshot of WordPress.com's page about setting up a newsletter, with the heading "Sign in. Set up. Send out."

Just as Twitter is killing off it’s Revue newsletter service, Automattic is promoting their hosted WordPress.com service for newsletters - and providing some new tools to make that easier. In their announcement blog post, they note that WordPress.com has already had the features to email posts out automatically. This “newsletter” functionality has been there for quite some time. What they’ve done now, though, is to bring those newsletter features together in a new theme - and they’ve also simplified the process of setting up a newsletter site.

[NOTE - this feature is part of the WordPress.*COM* hosted service, not part of the WordPress software (sometimes referred to as "WordPress.ORG”) that you can install on your own servers. However, they indicate that the theme used for this newsletter feature will be made more widely available in the future.]

In the announcement, they mention these features:

  •     Add unlimited email subscribers
  •     Import subscribers from other platforms
  •     Launch with a beautiful, ready-made theme or customize every detail with a myriad of Block Patterns 
  •     Stylize your newsletter with a background image, site icon, and accent color 
  •     Schedule email publishing
  •     Monetize your site (stay tuned for more paid subscription features)
  •     Use a free .blog subdomain or connect a custom domain with one of our paid plans
  •     Publish on the go with Post by Email – making writing a newsletter as simple as sending an email

They also mention that you can start up a new newsletter or add the features to an existing hosted blog.

Giving It A Try

Naturally, I had to try it out. 😀 I started by going to the newsletter page and simply choosing the link “Start building your newsletter”. I logged in with my existing WordPress.com account and was brought to a page to set up my newsletter:

Wp set up newsletter screen

This was simple and easy. After I took the screenshot I added a logo, which needed to be circular. 

Here is one place Automattic will monetize - the “Favorite color” allowed me to use blue for free. Several other colors are available as part of a premium upgrade.

Next they prompt you to set up a custom domain, and offer you some options while allowing for more. You can, of course, skip this (I did in my test) and just use the free default domain they give you.

screenshot of a screen where you can choose a domain to use with your new site.

As I noted, I skipped this part and just moved on to the new screen where I was asked to choose a plan - or start with a free plan.

screenshot of a screen labeled "choose a plan" with sections for the Personal plan at $4 per month and the Premium plan at $8 per month

I chose for the moment to stick with the free plan for this test. After clicking that link, I had one more screen where I could add some initial email addresses and then… ta da… I was at a screen to start publishing

screen shot of a WordPress editor screen and the works "You're all set to start publishing"

 

What Do I Think?

First, to be clear, there is not really any dramatically new functionality here. This is how WordPress has worked for quite some time. Even the field for someone to subscribe has been there as part of the “Subscribe Block”.

All that’s really new is this “Newsletter” theme and some of the onboarding screens.

Having said that… I think it can be a great way to get started with a newsletter!

You have all the power of WordPress editing. You can run it on your own domain. You can use it on your laptop or mobile device.

It’s WordPress!

Now, it’s not clear to me that you will get the kind of statistics that you will get from a Substack, Revue or other newsletter platform. I couldn’t see any way to find, for instance, the open rate, or to know how many people clicked which links. Maybe it’s there and I’ve just missed it. Or maybe there is the expectation that you might use Google Analytics for that as part of a paid plan.

I don’t know… and it doesn’t really matter for me, personally. But I could see people who want to use this as a newsletter platform wanting that kind of information.

My one criticism was with the information about the plans. I couldn’t find any easy matrix showing what I get on the free plan versus the paid plans. I could see the features across all the paid plans… but not how that compared to the free plan. It would be helpful to understand as it might cause me to jump into a paid plan.

All in all I think it is a very useful reminder that WordPress can support these kind of interactions over email.

I may consider moving an older newsletter over to this platform and trying it out in 2023.

What do you think about this news?

Dec 21

Ceremonies of Light and Dark

Fire in firepit

I have always enjoyed our ceremonies of light and dark, here in the cold mid-winter of northern New England.

The winter solstice here is always a time of celebration. For us, it is the shortest “day” in terms of daylight - and the longest night. It is cold here at this time of year.

The solstice gives us hope. From here on out, the days only get longer… and at some point will start to actually get warmer. (We have to go through some much colder periods first, though!)

We celebrate here so often with candles… with fires… with flames… with light to drive away the darkness.

In the Christian tradition, there are the candles of advent, the Christmas trees with their lights, and… today… the many lights that people decorate their houses with. In the Jewish tradition, there is the menorah with its 8 candles that are lit during the days of Hanukkah. In older pagan traditions, there were similar ceremonies of light. Today, in our less religious times, we cover our houses with “holiday lights”. In a school our daughters attended when they were younger, there was a beautiful advent spiral walk with candles.

Many of the ceremonies have different meanings, of course,

Yet each in their own way brings light into a time of darkness.

There is beauty and magic in that.

Dec 19

Mastodon – The Server You Are On Is Most Important When You Are Starting Out

The text "What server are you on?" on a blue gradient background

“How do I choose which Mastodon server to join? It’s SO CONFUSING! I just want to sign up to ‘Mastodon’!” 

This seems to be a common refrain from some people exploring Mastodon as part of the Twitter migration/exodus. 

The reality is that the Mastodon server you join is most important in the beginning when you are trying to discover new users. Over time, and as you follow more and more people, the server you are on becomes less important.

Let me explain...

I routinely point out to people asking these questions that it is a lot like choosing your email provider - do you use the email address your ISP gives you? Or Gmail? Hotmail? Yahoo mail? Protonmail? Or even run your own email server? 

No matter where you have an email address, you can send email to anyone else using email. Similarly, when you sign up on a Mastodon server (or “instance” to use the older term), you can view and interact with people on any other Mastodon server.

But that still doesn’t seem to register for some folks in an era when we are used to centralized, monolithic social platforms. You just join Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or… whatever service. Mastodon is different - you have to make a choice.

I’ve been using Mastodon since December 2016, and in my opinion, which server you are on really matters the most when you are first starting out and seeking to discover new users. Here’s why. In your Mastodon view on the web or in apps, there are three “timelines” (or “feeds”) that you can view:

  • Home - all the posts (or “toots”) of people you follow
  • Local - all the posts of people on your local server
  • Federated - all the posts of people across the Fediverse who are followed by people on your local server[1]

When you are starting out, your home feed will likely be pretty empty, and so Mastodon will be a bit of a ghost town to you. What’s the point of going into it if you only see a couple of posts?

This is where the Local and Federated timelines are important. They help you discover new users to follow.

With the Local timeline, you get to see posts from all the people on your server. So if, for instance, you join techpolicy.social, you will discover posts and people to follow interested in technology policy. If you join mastodon.art, you will discover more people interested in art. If you join fosstodon.org, you’ll discover posts and people interested in free and open source software. If you join ipv6.social… you guessed it, you’ll discover people interested in IPv6. 😀

Beyond the Local timeline, the Federated timeline will help you discover all the Mastodon users on other servers that people on your server follow. So on techpolicy.social, odds are that you will discover other people interested in tech policy, as well as probably tech news sites, and all the other kinds of accounts people there follow. If your account is on mastodon.art, your Federated timeline will probably tend to have more artistic people mixed in. On fostodon.org, your Federated timeline will probably have more people using Linux, developers, and people advocating for free and open source software.

By viewing the Local and Federated timelines, you can find people to follow!

Each person you follow will then start to appear in your Home timeline.

At some point, you will follow enough people that your Home timeline is all you really need to pay attention to. There are sufficient people posting that you only really have the time to read your Home timeline.

The Local and Federated timelines aren’t as important any more. I mean… you still might dip into them from time to time to see if there are new people to discover, but you don’t really need to do so anymore.

This is the key point. The server you choose to join is most important in the beginning when you are trying to find people. But you don’t have to worry too much. Pick one you like and start there.

Over time, much like what email server you are on, it won’t matter quite as much.

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[1] Yes, it’s a little more complicated than that, but I’m simplifying for the purpose of this article.