Dear Fedi friends,

[ephemeral@mograph.social]

@_elena when I was on commercial social media I felt like I was drowning. On fedi I can breathe.

[crowjane@mastodon.sdf.org]

@_elena

I appreciate this platform. I don’t need to be fed by an algorithm. I want organic real people. When one asks a question or advice here they get real answers, from truly kind people wanting to assist you. This has become a novelty on other platforms. Here on the Fediverse it is the norm, not the exception. Plus there are some really smart, funny and compassionate people here. It’s fun, we all need fun.

[juergen_hubert@mementomori.social]

@_elena

It's the trust that I have in the Fediverse. The trust that, even if individual instances come and go, the Fediverse will remain - and so will my presence here. And that it will only get better over time, instead of worse.

I put a lot of time and effort into Google+, but then it was gone. Then I put a lot of time and effort into Twitter, but then it was bought my Elon Musk. With the Fediverse, I don't have to fear any rug pull, and that does _woners_ for my peace of mind.

[eetschrijver@mastodon.social]

@Marabilles
Ben alors, pas de problème, c'est de toute façon d'une trivialité quasi gênante.
@_elena

[marabilles@piaille.fr]

@Eetschrijver @_elena
Je sais déjà que c'est un vélo, je ne veux pas m'encombrer avec des détails triviaux, comme tu dis

[nathan@ublog.hurel.me]

@_elena@mastodon.social Le fediverse permet de penser un modèle de web social qui nous est propre. Si les réseaux commerciaux ne veulent pas respecter les règles, alors c'est à nous de créer notre propre jeu.

[kikebenlloch@mastodon.social]

@_elena https://old.mermaid.town/@futzle/116368951953895991

[matttutt@mastodon.social]

@_elena tagging @firesidefedi as I'm sure he'll have something nice to say too! Good luck!!

[jimgar@hachyderm.io]

@_elena @defuneste I joined a server that explicitly shares my values, and I feel SAFE here. It’s the only place online that’s ever provided me with that feeling. And, if it stops being that way, I know with minimal effort that I can go to another server. All this, and there’s no intrusive ads or recommended posts, so I’m in total control of my reading experience. All the big tech apps absolutely barrage me with information, and/or lock me in. They also don’t feel as safe.

[eetschrijver@mastodon.social]

@Marabilles @_elena

[hambier@mastodon.opencloud.lu]

@_elena J'aime le fédivers parce qu'il est conçu pour faire profiter des communautés en tous genres, qu'elles soient thématiques, créatives, régionales, etc. Par opposition les grands réseaux commerciaux ont pour seul but de monétariser chacun de mes clics en nourissant leurs algos optimisés pour le ragebait, le clickbait, l'addiction, la manipulation, la propagande, etc.

Humain vs. inhumain.

[kikebenlloch@mastodon.social]

@_elena https://diario.kikebenlloch.com/?4879

[gunstick@mastodon.opencloud.lu]

@_elena pendant un certain temps j'avais twitter et mastodon en parallele.
Tandis que sur twitter il y avait des centaines de messages dans mon flux, je passais que 10 minutes par jour dessus.
Sur mastodon, il a avait très peu de messages. Et je passais 2 heures par jour dessus.
Le contenu est vachement plus interessant sur le fediverse.

[varpie@peculiar.florist]

@_elena Le Fédivers, c'est comme Twitter il y a 10 ans : on peut connecter avec des gens partageant nos passions, sans subir la négativité constamment poussés par les algorithmes des réseaux sociaux cherchant à monopoliser notre attention. C'est rafraîchissant, et ça donne l'impression de revenir dans un environnement familier.

[wjmaggos@liberal.city]

@_elena

it's #DemocracyOfReach.

freedom of speech is not enough if the wealthy determine who gets attention. decentralized social media can displace them, allowing the public to collectively decide what information, ideas and art goes viral. based purely on human boosts. no owners, no algos, no ads. that's the revolutionary potential here. while there's other ways to find and participate in community and be entertained, nothing else can do this. nothing else can so empower all the people.

[icewolf@masto.brightfur.net]

@_elena I really like the culture of consent and respect. CWs let you give people notice before blasting them with political shit, or severe depression or anxiety attacks, or just plain old lewdposting. Or spoilers. Or the punchline to a joke!

I also really love how public doesn't mean Public. When you make a post, it doesn't instantly go to the entire world at once. It just goes to the servers your server knows, and then if someone boosts it, the servers their server knows, etc. Things bubble outward naturally.

This means you get real communities on here in a way that's probably harder on a more centralized site. I'm in a big furry bubble, which rocks. But there's also a large contingent of Firstname Lastname Human Fedi and we see them occasionally but it's not like, constant.

It also really cuts down on harassment when the trolls/queerphobes/anti-furry haters/whoever just don't even know your server exists, and/or have been blocked. They can go be hateful in their little hate bubble. :3

Oh yeah that's another thing. "You're allowed to say anything you want, but people don't have to listen" is actually a thing here! Nobody's censoring the nasty people, they can and do still exist in their little corner. But nobody talks to them. And this wasn't some decision handed down from on high, it's just that all the admins of the servers in our region of fedi went "nah, go away" and blocked them. We didn't have to block them (we selfhost our own server and are our own admins), we just never ran into them 'cause we keep a low profile and don't federate much.

Speaking of... if you're queer, furry, marginalized, or otherwise a target for being banned for no reason in corporate places – around here, you can find a server ran by someone like you, full of people like you. That gives you both community /and/ assurance that you won't get banned just for being yourself. Even if the credit card companies push to get you labeled Evil and scrub you from existence. (...I wish I was joking.)

There's a lot of good here that comes out of it being (unlike Bluesky) truly decentralized.

[willow@chaosfem.tw]

@_elena

The Fediverse is a great place to learn about queer identities and anti-capitalism stuff that the super rich don’t want you to know about.

Plus it’s a pretty solid dating app.

[wizardofdocs@wandering.shop]

@_elena Mastodon is unique because it doesn't sell me anything or prevent me from seeing what I've asked it to show me. If I see advertising, it's for real things, posted by their creators, who are people I have chosen to follow, or that they have chosen to follow. Mastodon lets me build trust with others in a way other platforms no longer do.

[nobsagile@mastodon.social]

@_elena My biggest plus: No Algorithm. That is the main reason why we have really good content here!

[ciela@mastodon.ie]

@_elena what makes fedi special is that it helped me to move away from my big social addiction and showed me that a social media system without ads and algorithm is possible.