Mastodon is NOT Twitter: How to Understand it, Join, and Follow People

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Music: zweihander.com
Website: teksyndicate.com
TOC:
Mastodon is NOT Twitter 00:00
Whokeys Ad: 1:22
Understanding Mastodon: 2:45
Mastodon is NOT a Business: 5:30
You do NOT "join Mastodon" (how to join a server) 6:26
How to Follow People 12:35
Find your Twitter Friends: 14:03
The Media Doesn't Get This: 14:52
Why We Need to Go Back to This Version of the Internet: 16:24
Listen to my music you beautiful people! 17:26
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Mastodon may seem like a totally new idea, but it's not. It's based upon some of the key fundamentals of what the internet used to be... before all the huge tech companies showed up to take over the internet. Mastodon is not about harvesting user data, forcing algorithms down your throat, and serving ads. It's an old-school community-driven platform... but what even is it and how do you join?
Just watch the video.
Cool mastodon servers:
gaming/game dev
easymode.im/ (I'm running this one)
mastodon.gamed...
dosgame.club
indiepocalypse...
idlethumbs.social
mastodon.chase...
zork.social
tabletop/RPG
dice.camp
tabletop.social
peoplemaking.g...
nerdy stuff
tenforward.social
ani.work
mage.town
anime.kona.moe
famichiki.jp
mastodon.lol
Some people to check out (mostly artists, devs, and industry people):
www.one-tab.co...
Discord: / discord
Twitch: / midnightdojo
Twitter: / teksyndicate
For marketing (sponsorship opportunities) inquiries email [e-mail]
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[@JohnWiku]

Ofc not, mastodon is a heavy metal band

[@RecklessFables]

I started out thinking Mastodon was just a discord channel for heavy metal fans

[@JohnWiku]

@@RecklessFables that'd be cool af man 🤣🤣

[@mhmrules]

Oh now I understand! Thanks! :D

[@xRegenQueenx]

Bro this whole time I thought it was them. My ass started singing "Curl of the Burl" until I realized that that's not them 😂😂😂

[@RaymondGibsonReverend]

As a techie from the mid-'80s, you have given me something to think about. There was a philosophy of sharing and cooperation, in the midst of IBM vs UNIX. Happy New year!

[@MightyBOBcnc]

Small note: That article on Ars Technica was republished from Wired; it's not an Ars original piece (highly recommend reading the article comment thread, though). That said, I fully agree with the critique. An alarming number of people seem to take it as an unspoken baseline expectation or understanding that 'well *of course* we should think about this through the lens of massive growth, profits, and business' as if that should be the default for everything; as if there are no other lenses or motivations to do anything in life.

[@teksyndicate]

Ah cheers! Weird is great but generally looks at things through the tech startup lens... Which is exactly what you just said: business, growth etc. I'll head over to read those comments.

[@evenblackercrow4476]

Thanks, helpful--needed some motivation to join. Like your music, too.

[@abdelnajjar8191]

Actually it sounds like mastason is more sustainable than Twitter etc. because it's self maintained. The user base may fluctuate but that's the point, it's available when people wanna use it.

[@teksyndicate]

Correct. Even if the main mastodon instance goes down, others will be there. I'm using calckey for the server I set up. It's a fork if misskey, which was around before mastodon and works better imo... But it is all connected, so there are many platforms for users to choose from... Kinda like the old internet.

[@OGBhyve]

I could tell this was going to be a good video before ever clicking on it and I was right. Job well done.

[@MrJeffcoley1]

As a veteran of the great Twitter Purge of 2020 I can assure you, all of the off-brand Twitter wannabes by any name have one thing in common: They suck. Clunky interface, weird controls. Not intuitive at all for the most part.

[@LBP2Saperoth]

i had been telling my family that the federated social media was just as good, and better imo. thanks for the video i can point them to to help them understand it as they don't listen to me

[@homeslices3]

so kind of like reddit?

[@futureshock7425]

yep.

[@Neumah]

Where do you see similarities to Reddit?

[@homeslices3]

@@Neumah the fact that on reddit you join different subs based where you see other like minded people, I don’t see how you don’t see the similarities obviously not the same but can you elaborate on what makes them so much more different than similar?

[@teksyndicate]

No. Reddit it's corporate and all owned by one person. It's like old forums and it's only like Reddit in that there are different niches... But it's really nothing like it

[@OGBhyve]

@@teksyndicate I agree with you that it's more like old school forums but I think these comments comparing to social media run by single corporations are likely evidence that many people have either forgotten or never knew what that was like.

[@gnatinator]

You're a great advocate dude. Gonna get moving on the Mastodon train.

[@Robert048]

I love Mastodon. Their new record Hushed and Grim is excellent.

[@AvocadoAtrocity]

Mastodon. Ivory Tower. Nice. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@animepussy8356]

I love how you have actual opinions/stances. Kinda refreshing.

[@green4green]

Thanks for the info. Good video

[@BearMeat4Dinner]

Great video man!!! I'm gonna try it out !!! TJ!!!

[@FeministCatwoman]

I got win10 finally installed for cheap on my almost 10yr old PC thanks to this channel (it was a headache and a scare, but worth it). I tried to use mastodon and figure out instances once and gave up, might revisit it again because the potential is honestly amazing.

[@Tinyflower1]

I for one believe in John E. Mastodon

[@gwizdolby]

You should talk with Wendell. You guys did great work and I think had the ears of the people who You wanted to reach.

[@SneakyJoeRu]

So like Google+ was but decentralized. Ok,

[@teksyndicate]

How.... It was all Google... Mastodon can't decide to discontinue service and shut down. If people quit developing for it, individuals can fork it or just keep running servers

[@SneakyJoeRu]

@@teksyndicate Yes, I understand the concept of decentralisation, and I mentioned it. But there were circles you could add people to or join each with it's interest. Looks really similar concept-wise. I liked g+, it's a shame Google liked killing projects I liked (still miss their RSS but feedly is good enough)

[@OGBhyve]

I think I see where you're coming from as a former G+ user. The Linux community over there was particularly good. I moved to Reddit when that died. Your comparison seems to be more about sharing the concepts and functionality. Less about the ownership and control.

[@SiimKuusik]

Thanks for spreading the info Logan!

[@LastofAvari]

There's no John Mastadon? This is what John Mastadon would've said! :D

[@Dannystanding1990]

Isn't this basically reddit but where you have to log in and out of each sub to view them?

[@kr00m]

Going back to the days of IRC and Usenet.

[@mozramdonclips]

The music on your videos adds so much

[@teksyndicate]

Thanks! Made it myself

[@mbsfaridi]

You can buy it. Link in the description.

[@LastofAvari]

Two concerns with Mastodon: 1. Server admins can read your private messages. 2. No recommendation system like on Twitter, so discoverabilty is close to zero.

[@MarcsYoutube]

Based take! Best wishes!!

[@More_Row]

I'm done with these kind of social media's

[@denverbasshead]

Why leave Twitter now?

[@D3Fanatic]

Why join now?

[@teksyndicate]

This is not a Twitter replacement. It's something better

[@snott_games3322]

Nice video! I have been using since 2018 and now help a friend run a Mastodon server on the bottom of the planet, as well as spun up my own Akkoma instance on a $5/month Linode VPS just to see if I could. It works brilliantly. I moved from Google+ originally, and a bunch did the same which meant a lot of "my people" were still able to be found. A lot of twitter folks moving recently are struggling with the culture; they want to push their agenda which on our server seems to be sharing political links as basically bait posts, or their business stuff but annoyingly like they are on twitter trying to beat an algorithm. Most older community members ignore those posts or shut them down, reminding them this is not twitter. Part of this is that we run a general regional server, I suppose. People need to be their genuine selves, share the projects and things they enjoy and they'll find their people. It might take a little time, but you'll find them. Regarding paying for servers, a lot have set up donation portals. Our large one uses Open Collective. We were using ko-fi but changed to keep things more transparent. The server donations have covered a second server we need to rack up to allor for growth and more redundancy, and enough to pay for the hosting and rack space for over a year. Some people are amazing. This is from people offering, we werent even asking for donations; people were asking. Remember, nerds often have decent paying jobs, so the server isn't going anywhere. Anyway, enjoy the fediverse everyone!

[@thehubbleton]

Great jorb!

[@TheMaro57]

damn dude, I got too excited thinking you're a mastodon fan...I know that you are def a metal fan..

[@AntiCookieMonster]

I think you need to be extremely particular in you language. 'Capitalism' is so rarely used by people in other context than Marxists do and it almost always means 'non-socialist'. If socialism means communal ownership of means of production that means anything and everything that produces any value. So instances of Mastodon running on *PRIVATE SERVERS* are not not(!) capitalist. Small business and self-employed are also 'capitalistic'. It's maybe not corporate, but it's definitely not socialist. Thank you for this video, and I hope to apply things I learned here in the coming year. 🎆Happy New Year Everyone!🎆

[@Neumah]

Why is it that every time someone mentions bad sides of modern capitalism people make it about socialism, communism, marxism etc.

[@teksyndicate]

Because the right are mostly cowards and have to invent boogiemen to be the evils they fear

[@henrywolf5332]

@@teksyndicate Cool cope and seethe video bro

[@MagnaRads]

@@teksyndicate good thing your gonna be a pink haired pregnant man soon!

[@AntiCookieMonster]

@@Neumah What's with these toxic generalizations and talking about me but not to me? What are you, my ex girlfriends? I feel very validated by your comments, though. Marxism was always trendy in the west. So was whitewashing atrocities committed by socialist states. As a person writing to you from ex-eastern block country I'm convinced that: you do not want socialism. In a place where you own nothing, you are at others' mercy. Doesn't matter if you get dispossessed by corporations in tandem with corrupt government or by corrupt totalitarian government alone. Under socialism you aren't even allowed to work for yourself to get out of poverty. Conservatives are so afraid of utopian movements, because unlike the latter they value things they have to lose and these aren't necessarily all material. Some of them you'll only know you miss when it's too late. If you are interested in the subject and not just making snide remarks I recommend 'The Righteous Mind' by Jonathan Heidt. He's left leaning, so don't sweat it.

[@Teknolyzed]

This just seems like Discord to me

[@teksyndicate]

It is nothing like discord

[@bushwickbillOG]

they all start this way

[@teksyndicate]

I'm using misskey... Created in 2014. Mastodon was created in 2016. They aren't starting. They are not centralized or controlled by a corporation. Even if one instance of mastodon decided to sell out, the others would not. It's just a platform like phpbb or whatever and anyone can run their own version, it's not a corporation.

[@joalchin]

You mean the Fediverse. I'm on an instance running Calckey, a fork of Misskey. I can interact with anyone using the ActivityPub protocol.

[@teksyndicate]

Did you watch the video? I show my instance a lot... And I'm on calckey too.

[@futureshock7425]

so you have no idea who is operating these servers? hah.

[@teksyndicate]

You can easily find out as they are not secrets... The person who runs then is almost always there, blatantly announcing themselves.

[@Sebastianbaraj5]

The band is better anyways

[@futureshock7425]

not a lot of servers right now, will check back later, reddit in the meantime is a viable alternative to the twitter shithole

[@teksyndicate]

There's plenty imo... The real question is, "is there a server that feels like home to you?" You can Google to see if one fits your niche.

[@brandonm.4187]

Mastodon is just like twitter in the sense that it's filled with CP.

[@TheBluePilledPebric]

Logan I’m a millionaire you messed up by not helping me out 10 years ago

[@teksyndicate]

Lol what

[@snott_games3322]

we can fix that, just buy a twitter

[@TheBluePilledPebric]

@@teksyndicate you made a video of me 10 years ago you know who I am bro