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

[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

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

and one last bit of advice: *most* instances do not have "on-topic" rules, i.e. if you're on a gamedev server you're not expected to *only* talk about gamedev

[bean@twoot.site]

@eniko In fact: Do shitpost.

The idea that there's no shitposting on here comes from journalists who joined the biggest instance, followed the ten journalist accounts they follow everywhere and saw no shitposting.

Since there's no "For You"-style feed, what you see is what your follows post and boost, so if you only follow strictly business accounts you'll only see strictly business.

[eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@bean it is very important to shitpost

[sabik@rants.au]

@eniko
Another option for finding people to follow is to check out the timelines on other servers, for example https://wandering.shop/public/local for SF&F

Some of the apps (eg. Fedilab) have this as built-in functionality ("Manage timelines"), or you can do it on the web

#FediTips

[tealfuleyes@mastodon.art]

@eniko
I'm used to shifting services and platforms when things don't satisfy my expectations.
- Check your mutual contacts to see who you might know already is here and what instance they're on.
- Choose a reputable instance, you can always migrate later.
- Make a clear and easy to see notice/link so your followers and mutuals know where to find you. This is easier if you have a site.
- Make use of tags in your post, but also follow tags you're interested in.
- Alt text is HIGHLY encouraged.

[congusbongus@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@andyprice @eniko well there’s https://fedidevs.com/starter-packs/?q=gamedev&order_by=popular_day for example

[damonwakes@mastodon.sdf.org]

@eniko I don't know if anyone officially encourages this, but my feeling is that posting something off-topic on that kind of server probably adds some welcome variety. I joined mastodon.sdf.org because it was a general purpose server, and it still seems to skew towards retrocomputing regardless.

[tealfuleyes@mastodon.art]

@eniko
- Don't be afraid to ask for help. Most people in my experience are gladly willing to explain features and options.
- Ultimately the name of the game is shaping your experience with "intention". There is a kind of "firehose" feed that spits out EVERYTHING, but for the beat experience curating your timeline and making conscious choices with how and what you want out of your space is generally in your hands.
- Also make backups of your profile just in case your instance goes poof.

[sabik@rants.au]

@0x0961h @eniko
The other thing about using tags is that it lets people filter things out, whether because they're not interested, or because they are interested and they need to pick their battles and already have too many battles

[greenwhale@dice.camp]

@eniko don't start at .social. many servers block that awful, unmoderated mess.

[tealfuleyes@mastodon.art]

@eniko Some tips that artists specifically might want to read.
- Mastodon.art is probably the easiest instance option to start with.
- As you add tags you can see how often a tag is used, but common tags I've seen work best are Art, traditional/digital art, and MastoArt.
- You can change the focal point to generally adjust the cropping/scaling on timelines.
- You can use custom content warnings for your post if you feel your subject matter is something specific you want to warn people about.

[stein_der_iii@mastodon.social]

@lachlan @eniko this I don’t understand about Mastodon.
When following a hashtag you are seeing EVERY post on Mastodon with that hashtag. I followed a hashtag an my Whole Feed was Spammed with just This hashtag.
Why Not make it like „Follow a hashtag and just Show me every Post above 10 Stars“

[neutronstar@infosec.exchange]

@eniko
This is a copy of a reply I made regarding finding accounts and servers on mastodon. Therefore it might read a bit weird but I’ll paste it in and change some stuff and hopefully it’s acceptable.

Let me recommend this website for general activitypub recommendations, including mastodon. It asks a few questions and gives some recommendations. https://fedidb.com/welcome
——
**My advice on finding a server**
Firstly, the server/instance you choose has little effect on what you actually see on the network. So choosing a server, I would say, is more about the people you want to associate yourself with and also what level of administration you want, with what rules.

For example: I’m part of the server infosec.exchange which I joined because of an interest in infosec. It is a fairly large instance that many security minded individuals call their home. That doesn’t mean there’s exclusively infosec talk, but also cat photos and general life updates. It’s not that big a deal in reality, what server you choose.
So just try to find a server with, maybe a shared interest, a good ruleset or just well known administration. You could also use mastodon.social but most recommend against that.
——
**My advice on finding accounts**
Just give it some time. Yes, that easy.
When I got here I knew not just nothing about mastodon but nothing about microblogging at all. But I just clicked a few buttons and gave it a month, and now I got a steady feed.

There really is no trick other than, find accounts on the server or trending feed, follow some accounts, unfollow some accounts, take part in some discussions and be kind to others.

One thing I can say is joining in on discussions under popular posts. There you may find people to follow who may also follow you back. That can give your feed that alive feeling, with real, genuine people.

From there it evolves dynamically.
——
*So, just try your best, be kind, maybe migrate to a server with good administration and give it some time.*
*Hopefully this helped, and that my absolute blob of a post didn’t give you a headache.* XD
*And that you’ll join us here on Mastodon too.”