hey fedi i'm trying to coax more people over here from bluesky.

[lachlan@mastodon.social]

@eniko Follow a couple of #tags that interest you, and then mute the folk who spam it (I follow #python but blocked a number of accounts, follow #startrek but blocked a few) - and then, you get a great idea of other folk to follow as a start.

I think I also used a bot that identified who I was following on Twitter who had Masto in their bio, so I could switch my following across here.

[webbop@tech.lgbt]

@eniko Follow someone or a few people that are cool, then follow cool people that they boost, comment on, or mention.

[lachlan@mastodon.social]

@eniko (that latter isn't helpful, because I couldn't identify where it was, or even if that's what I actually did)

[gabrielesvelto@mas.to]

@eniko definitely start with https://fedi.tips/

[enigmavoice@mastodon.ml]

@eniko the hardest part is to choose a server, I believe.

[0x0961h@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@eniko

1). Don't worry TOO much about choosing the instance:
1a). if you are interested in gamedev, mastodon.gamedev.place is the best place to start
1b). art? maybe mastodon.art then?
1c). have no idea? mastodon.social could be an entrance point in this case
1d). try to search for your interests/see where your friends are and join it

1 EX). Even if you feel like you made a mistake with choosing the instance, you can later move to another one keeping as much followers/followings as possible

[cuirass_entertainment@mastodon.social]

@eniko

I'm here, I used to use this as my primary before bsky, but looking more useful by the day.

[nini@oldbytes.space]

@eniko Gotta do the ol' "follow and see what's being boosted" hustle. Someone seems interesting? Follow them, especially if they're not often boosted themselves. See what they boost and continue on down the trail of following. It's old school networking essentially, very manual but usually yields good results if you put the time in.

There's also the unspoken secret of following the "trending" feed from a bigger server should yours not have one or you want a wider net to pull potential follows from. It'll be politics heavy most likely but that's why you have filters if that doesn't interest you. It's the easiest onramp if you're used to an algorithmically derived feed though this one's pure boost-driven.

[andyprice@mastodon.social]

@eniko You could promise to create a Mastodon "Collection" of people to follow when that feature finally gets rolled out.

[0x0961h@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@eniko

2) Get ready that there is NO algorithm to bring you "content" to consume like a good consumer. Mastodon is more akin to the old Twitter, where you needed to follow people to get your feed filled with cool posts.

3) There IS a centralized feed, filled with posts from the whole federation and your instance, but what's more important is you need to follow people and follow hashtags to shape your feed to be more of what you want to see than to what's hot right now on your instance

[daj@gofer.social]

@eniko it's not really any different form starting fresh in any platform. They have just forgotten that at one point they were new there too.

• Look at public times lines
• Search for hashtags / topics that interest you
• Follow people
• Have something in your bio about you. Generally, people will not follow a blank profile
• Most importantly, interact with posts
• Use the  block / mute feature to control your timeline if someone is overpowering.

[brettm@swarm.coiloptic.org]

@eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place

post some things before doing an intro post so ppl can see the kind of things that will show up on their timeline if they follow you

don't post or boost pol, especially uspol, without content warnings, do not listen to the "my opinions are too important for content warnings" liberals who tell you you don't need cw because of hashtags, content warnings were specifically invented to warn of content

be patient, no algorithm so it takes more time to find good people to follow

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

my personal fedi tips include:

- follow some hashtags (#CatsOfMastodon is pretty good)

- use mute liberally. if you click "show options" you can do a timed mute that expires automatically, and or can only mute someone's posts but not their replies to you

- make a filter called like "00 filtered posts". then when you want to hide a post click the meatballs menu on the bottom right (3 dots), click filter this post, then type 00 and click your filtered posts filter

[0x0961h@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@eniko

4) Use tags

5) Please, for the love of any entity you worship, u s e t a g s

6) Like, seriously, find out good tags to follow: gamedev, art, 3d, blender, gaming and just follow them

7) Tag your posts to reach people interested in the same things you do

Blocks are free. But be aware that technically they are public (instances exchange this among each other). Mutes however are not public. And they are also free.

[robinkuiper@mastodon.nl]

@eniko transition help for me is bridging mastadon and bluesky using @bsky.brid.gy , both from your bluesky account & encouraging bluesky mutuals to do the same so you can keep following them

[0x0961h@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@eniko

9) Some instances have increased symbol limits, some instances have markdown formatting

10) ALT text is important

11) Sometimes admins of your instance might block the other instance. Be it for the good will (there are some wild instances around here) or just a result of a pissing match, you can't follow anyone on the blocked instance. If that's important, might as well move to the less strict instance.

[mjdxp@labyrinth.zone]

@eniko i've been meaning to write a full guide on moving to fedi on my website. my personal advise is to just follow as many people as you can. if you find anyone who seems even somewhat interesting, follow them. since fedi doesn't have an algorithm, it's important to have plenty of posts on your home timeline instead. just make sure to read bios and complete any special requests before sending a follow request to someone

[docjosiahboone@wien.rocks]

@eniko
IMO the most important advice is: be patient!

Take your time, don't expect too much in the first few days or even weeks!

The fediverse does not try to grab your attention like common social media do. Until you have got into it, sometimes it might even feel a bit boring. Over here there are no tools to *keep you interested*, since the fediverse does not get more revenue the longer you stay here. Actually, there is no *here* at all. It's a federation of thousands of separate heres.)

You have total control. That means that you might have to work a little bit to establish whom to follow.

The other advices: be kind; try hashtags.

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@mjdxp this is particularly good advice imo

[snailerotica@chitter.xyz]

@eniko talk to people who seem cool + see who theyre talking to. it is that shrimple

read bios and pinned before following _especially_ if its a locked account, the most interesting people do not take kindly to cold follows out of nowhere. doubly so if you're new. talk to people first, get acquainted w/ the culture