This is a great guide on how to join Mastodon by @stefan it's a nice companion piece for anyone who has thought about trying it after seeing me on #FLOSSWeekly this week (although, if so, then you probably need to have seen this link elsewhere... ...

[andypiper@macaw.social]

This is a great guide on how to join Mastodon by @stefan it's a nice companion piece for anyone who has thought about trying it after seeing me on @FLOSS_Weekly this week (although, if so, then you probably need to have seen this link elsewhere... so I will go share it elsewhere as well!)
https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/how-to-join-mastodon/

[stefan@stefanbohacek.online]

@andypiper Really glad you enjoyed the article, thank you so much for sharing it!

[dgoldsmith@mastodon.social]

@andypiper @stefan @FLOSS_Weekly I still cringe whenever I see advice to “pick a server at random." That doesn't tend to end well for people who are frequently targets online: women, people of color, LGBT, etc. Those people need an instance with good moderation, which many don't have.

The Fediverse lost a large fraction of the people who tried it a couple of years ago because of this issue.

Otherwise a great guide and it does mention moderation a couple of times.

[stefan@stefanbohacek.online]

@dgoldsmith @andypiper @FLOSS_Weekly Very good point! Are there any you'd personally recommend? Happy to add them to the list!

[dgoldsmith@mastodon.social]

@stefan @andypiper @FLOSS_Weekly Sadly no; I’m not aware of any data collection on how good various instances' moderation is. I think for newcomers highlighting a few known good instances is enough. What I would change is just emphasizing how important moderation is for most people, and maybe omitting “pick a server at random” as that has the potential to go very wrong.

Personally, I just tell non-tech people “mastodon.social or .online and then move later if you find one you like better.”

[andypiper@macaw.social]

@dgoldsmith @stefan I think this is broadly what I suggested on the @FLOSS_Weekly episode, as well (along with communities that are relevant, in the case of in the show where I was talking with someone who works with computer hardware, for example). Good note here Debbie, thanks for pointing it out.

[stefan@stefanbohacek.online]

@dgoldsmith @andypiper @FLOSS_Weekly Fair enough!

I removed the part about picking a random server, that was very helpful. Thank you, again!