├── Guide to Mastodon.pdf
├── LICENSE
├── Moderation.md
├── README.md
├── Readme-es.md
├── contributing.md
├── index.html
├── lattentacle.png
├── lattentacle_sm.png
├── red_candle.png
├── red_candle_sm.png
└── replies.png


/Guide to Mastodon.pdf:
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https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/275ca6ca9cdab92db5b533ab08aad682d77bfc5d/Guide to Mastodon.pdf


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/LICENSE:
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 1 | MIT License
 2 | 
 3 | Copyright (c) 2018 Noëlle Anthony
 4 | 
 5 | Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 6 | of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 7 | in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 8 | to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 9 | copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
10 | furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
11 | 
12 | The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
13 | copies or substantial portions of the Software.
14 | 
15 | THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
16 | IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
17 | FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
18 | AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
19 | LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
20 | OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
21 | SOFTWARE.
22 | 


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/Moderation.md:
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  1 | # Mastodon Moderation Run-Down
  2 | 
  3 | This is a quick guide to the tools currently available to Mastodon moderators. It is not intended to tell you *how* to use the tools, only what they are and what they do.
  4 | 
  5 | In your moderator account's Preferences page, you'll have a section called Moderation that gives you access to the moderator tools. Primary among these are the **[Mod Audit](#mod-audit)**, **[Reports](#reports)**, and **[Accounts](#accounts)**.
  6 | 
  7 | ## Audit Log
  8 | 
  9 | `https://<your server>/admin/action_logs`
 10 | 
 11 | The Mod Audit shows you every action any moderator has taken, in reverse chronological order. It's handy if you need to figure out which of your site's moderators took a particular action. If you're the only moderator on your site, you can usually safely ignore this tool.
 12 | 
 13 | ## Reports
 14 | 
 15 | `https://<your server>/admin/reports`
 16 | 
 17 | The Reports queue is typically where you'll spend most of your moderation time. It's a list of reports made to or from your instance. This page defaults to showing unresolved reports, but you can toggle over to resolved reports at the top of the page.
 18 | 
 19 | When you view an individual report, you can see who filed the report and whom the report is about. You can also see the text of the report - if the reporting user filled that out; they don't always - and any toots associated with the report.
 20 | 
 21 | *Reports that come from other instances are **anonymized**: they do not have the username of the reporting user attached to them. This is a deliberate choice in order to protect the privacy of non-local users who want to report local users, in order to prevent bad actors who happen to be instance admins from harassing users who report people on their instances. When you see a report from another instance, you will only see the name of the instance from which the report was issued. If you need more information, contact the listed administrator of that instance (if there is one) and ask what’s going on.*
 22 | 
 23 | An individual report gives you a bunch of potential actions. Some of them have the same name but different functions depending on whether the reported user is a local user or a remote user.
 24 | 
 25 | **Resolve report:** This will just mark the report resolved, with no note left or action taken against the reported user.
 26 | 
 27 | **Resolve with note:** This resolves the report, but lets you leave a note saying why you resolved it without taking further action.
 28 | 
 29 | **Add note:** Use this if you want to leave a note but don't want to resolve the report outright. If you want to leave the report open because you want a second opinion, here's where to leave your notes.
 30 | 
 31 | The behavior of the next set of tools varies depending on whether the user is local (on your own instance) or remote (on another instance).
 32 | 
 33 | ### For Local Users
 34 | 
 35 | **TOOT-LEVEL ACTIONS**
 36 | 
 37 | These are available if the reporting user has included any toots with the report.
 38 | 
 39 | **Add sensitive-content overlay to toot:** Select one or more toots using the checkboxes to the left, then click Mark as sensitive at the top of the list of toots. This will add the “Sensitive Content (18+)” overlay to any images attached to the toot. It will not add a content warning to the toot. (We don’t currently have a way to do that.)
 40 | 
 41 | **Delete individual toot:** Select one or more toots using the checkboxes to the left, then click Delete at the top of the list of toots. This will remove the toot from your local database. This does request that other servers delete the toot as well. They may not respect that request!
 42 | 
 43 | **ACCOUNT-LEVEL ACTIONS**
 44 | 
 45 | **Warn user:** This does not do anything to the user’s account, but will send them a warning by email.
 46 | 
 47 | **Disable login:** This will not remove any information from the user’s account, but will log them out immediately and prevent them from logging in.
 48 | 
 49 | **Silence user:** This allows the user to continue logging in and posting, but prevents the user from posting to the local timeline and from appearing in the notifications of users who aren't following the user. Silencing someone doesn't prevent them from posting - but of the people on your local instance, only the people who follow them will see it. **However, their posts will still federate out normally.**
 50 | 
 51 | **Suspend user:** **This is a destructive action. Don’t use this unless you mean it.** This will delete all the data from the user's account. All their followers, all the people they're following, all their posts, all their media. 
 52 | 
 53 | All four account-level actions (Warn, Disable, Silence, and Suspend) allow you to send a note to the reported user telling them what’s going on. You can create pre-written notes for common report reasons, and you can add your own custom note at the bottom even if you've selected a prefab note. If you have multiple moderators on your instance, the user is not told which moderator sent the note or took the action.
 54 | 
 55 | ### For Remote Users
 56 | 
 57 | **Add sensitive-content overlay to toot:** Select one or more toots using the checkboxes to the left, then click Mark as sensitive at the top of the list of toots. This will add the “Sensitive Content (18+)” overlay to any images attached to the toot. It will not add a content warning to the toot. (There isn't currently a way to do that.) This only affects your instance's copy of the toot. Copies on other instances are unaffected.
 58 | 
 59 | **Delete individual toot:** Select one or more toots using the checkboxes to the left, then click Delete at the top of the list of toots. This will remove the toot from your database, but it will not affect other instances’ copies of the toot, and it can be re-added to your instance if someone else on your instance boosts it or interacts with it.
 60 | 
 61 | **Silence user:** This will prevent the user's posts from appearing on your federated timeline and in the notifications of people who don't follow them. Anyone who follows the user can still see their posts and interact with them.
 62 | 
 63 | **Suspend user:** This will forcibly remove the user from all of your instance's timelines. It will force anyone on your instance who is following that user to unfollow them, and prevent them from ever showing up to anyone on your instance. You can safely be a little freer with this option than with a local suspension, since you can un-suspend a remote user and their information will start federating across again.
 64 | 
 65 | A note: Silencing or suspending a user from the reports interface will also automatically resolve all other reports about that user.
 66 | 
 67 | ## Accounts
 68 | 
 69 | `https://<your server>/admin/accounts`
 70 | 
 71 | The Accounts page is where you can get information on specific accounts. You have the option of searching for users based on their username, display name, email, or IP, or, for remote users, their domain (the URL of their server). You can also filter by user status (Active, Silenced, or Suspended) and by user rank (all users or just moderators and admins). *By design, any search for staff on a remote instance will come up empty.*
 72 | 
 73 | You get different information depending on whether an account is local or remote. On each account's page you can also see how many reports they've filed and how many have been filed against them. On an individual account page, you can take several actions, listed in order:
 74 | 
 75 | **Remove Avatar** and **Remove Header** are self-explanatory. They will only appear if the user has an avatar or a header set, respectively.
 76 | 
 77 | **Change Email:** This changes the email address associated with an account. **This is a dangerous action since the email address is used to log in.** 
 78 | 
 79 | **Disable Login:** Logs the user out and prevents them from logging in again. This is useful as a holding action while you debate more serious action or wait for a response from the user. It’s described in more detail below.
 80 | 
 81 | **Silence:** Prevents a user’s posts from reaching your instance's local timeline. Described in more detail above.
 82 | 
 83 | **Suspend:** This destroys the user's account! It’s described in more detail above. 
 84 | 
 85 | **Reset Password:** Sends the user a password-reset email. Use this if you believe an account has been compromised or if the user has requested it.
 86 | 
 87 | **Leave Note:** This lets you leave a note on the account directly, not associated with a given report. This is handy for making sure that future moderators know your thoughts.
 88 | 
 89 | ### Pending Accounts
 90 | 
 91 | `https://<your server>/admin/pending_accounts`
 92 | 
 93 | If you have account approval turned on, the Accounts page will appear to have a fourth moderation filter: **Pending**, which will also display the number of accounts currently awaiting approval. Clicking on that will take you to the above URL, which lists all of the pending accounts. 
 94 | 
 95 | Each item in the list will show the user's email address, their requested username, the IP address (v4 or v6) they used to register, and any note they left when they registered. (In the registration form, this field is labeled "Why do you want to join?" in the default configuration.)
 96 | 
 97 | In the most recent version of Mastodon (*which may not be a tagged release yet*), each pending account will also tell you how long the account has been waiting for approval.
 98 | 
 99 | You can select individual users to approve or reject, using the checkboxes on the left and the text buttons at the top right. Alternately, to save on clicking, you can use the large blue buttons at the bottom of the page to approve all pending users or reject all pending users.
100 | 


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/README.md:
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  1 | # An Increasingly Less-Brief Guide to [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org)
  2 | 
  3 | <p style="text-align:center;"><h1>DON'T PANIC.</h1></p>
  4 | 
  5 | **Mastodon has several important differences from Twitter, but you'll get used to it.** I've tried to mark all of the important differences with the :bangbang: emoji; forgive me if I missed some. It's been a while since I've been on Twitter!
  6 | 
  7 | I've done my best to make this understandable, but you're welcome to suggest changes! If you have a Github account, you can submit change requests directly; otherwise, feel free to contact me [on Mastodon](https://elekk.xyz/@noelle) or by email at `noelle AT noelle.codes`. 
  8 | 
  9 | When linking to this page, please use the link http://guidetomastodon.com, and please credit [@Noelle@elekk.xyz](https://elekk.xyz/@noelle). Thank you!
 10 | 
 11 | ## Table of Contents
 12 | 
 13 | * [What is Mastodon?](#what-is-mastodon)
 14 | * [How is it like Twitter?](#how-is-it-like-twitter)
 15 | * [How is it like email?](#how-is-it-like-email)
 16 | * [How is it not like either of those; or, What are the Local and Federated Timelines?](#how-is-it-not-like-either-of-those-or-what-are-the-local-and-federated-timelines)
 17 | * [What is the Fediverse?](#what-is-the-fediverse)
 18 | * [How do I establish my brand's presence on Mastodon?](#how-do-i-establish-my-brands-presence-on-mastodon)
 19 | * [How do I get verified on Mastodon?](#how-do-i-get-verified-on-mastodon)
 20 | * [Okay, how do I let people know that I am who I say I am?](#okay-how-do-i-let-people-know-that-i-am-who-i-say-i-am)
 21 | * [HOW DO I PICK AN INSTANCE?](#how-do-i-pick-an-instance)
 22 | * [I've found another instance I like better. Can I move my account?](#ive-found-another-instance-i-like-better-can-i-move-my-account)
 23 | * [How can I change my username?](#how-can-i-change-my-username)
 24 | * [How do I mention someone who's not on my instance?](#how-do-i-mention-someone-whos-not-on-my-instance)
 25 | * [What are the rules?](#what-are-the-rules)
 26 | * [What if I see someone breaking the rules?](#what-if-i-see-someone-breaking-the-rules)
 27 | * [What are the different kinds of posts?](#what-are-the-different-kinds-of-posts)
 28 | * [How do privacy settings work?](#how-do-privacy-settings-work)
 29 | * [How private is "Private"?](#how-private-is-private)
 30 | * [What happens when someone follows me?](#what-happens-when-someone-follows-me)
 31 | * [So if I lock my account, only approved people can see my posts?](#so-if-i-lock-my-account-only-approved-people-can-see-my-posts)
 32 | * [What if someone's following or interacting with me and I don't want them to?](#what-if-someones-following-or-interacting-with-me-and-i-dont-want-them-to)
 33 | * [How will I know if someone's muted or blocked me?](#how-will-I-know-if-someones-muted-or-blocked-me)
 34 | * [What if I go over the character limit?](#what-if-i-go-over-the-character-limit)
 35 | * [What are hashtags?](#what-are-hashtags)
 36 | * [What does "CW" mean?](#what-does-cw-mean)
 37 | * [I just attached a picture to my toot. What's with the new 'eye' icon?](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-whats-with-the-new-eye-icon)
 38 | * [I just attached a picture to my toot. How can I add a caption to it?](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-how-can-i-add-a-caption-to-it)
 39 | * [Why should I add a caption to my picture?](#why-should-i-add-a-caption-to-my-picture)
 40 | * [How do I use my server's custom emoji?](#how-do-i-use-my-servers-custom-emoji)
 41 | * [How come my friend on another instance can use this emoji, but I can't?](#how-come-my-friend-on-another-instance-can-use-this-emoji-but-i-cant)
 42 | * [Can I search for a specific word or phrase?](#can-i-search-for-a-specific-word-or-phrase)
 43 | * [Why can't I quote someone's toot, like a quote-tweet?](#why-cant-i-quote-someones-toot-like-a-quote-tweet)
 44 | * [The Mastodon culture seems pretty weird?](#the-mastodon-culture-seems-pretty-weird)
 45 | * [What does ![:red_candle:](red_candle_sm.png) mean?](#what-does--mean)
 46 | * [What's the generally-accepted Mastodon etiquette?](#whats-the-generally-accepted-mastodon-etiquette)
 47 | * [I like mastodon but I prefer the way twitter looks.](#i-like-mastodon-but-i-prefer-the-way-twitter-looks)
 48 | * [I like mastodon but I want to use it on my phone.](#i-like-mastodon-but-i-want-to-use-it-on-my-phone)
 49 | * [How can I back up my Mastodon account?](#how-can-i-back-up-my-mastodon-account)
 50 | * [Can I use the keyboard to navigate Mastodon?](#can-i-use-the-keyboard-to-navigate-mastodon)
 51 | * [How do favorites work on other server types?](#how-do-favorites-work-on-other-server-types)
 52 | * [Weird, my server doesn't have a bunch of these features.](#weird-my-server-doesnt-have-a-bunch-of-these-features)
 53 | * [Weird, my server has a bunch of extra features.](#weird-my-server-has-a-bunch-of-extra-features)
 54 | * [I have other questions.](#i-have-other-questions)
 55 | * [How can I contribute to the Guide?](#how-can-i-contribute-to-the-guide)
 56 | 
 57 | ## What is Mastodon?
 58 | 
 59 | Mastodon is a social networking software platform. It allows someone to run their own social media site (and let other people use it too, if they want), and each Mastodon site is capable of talking to all of the other Mastodon social media sites (as well as [many others](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivityPub)). It's like a cross between Twitter and email, but it's not exactly like either of those.
 60 | 
 61 | Mastodon is named after [the heavy metal band](https://www.mastodonrocks.com/), but themed after [the extinct megafauna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon).
 62 | 
 63 | ## How is it like Twitter?
 64 | 
 65 | You post relatively-short status updates, and you can see a streaming list of your friends' status updates. You can keep notifications (replies, boosts, favorites, and DMs) in a separate column.
 66 | 
 67 | Mastodon's statuses are called "toots", like Twitter's are called "tweets". A toot can be up to 500 characters long - or more, depending on your server's settings.
 68 | 
 69 | Mastodon also supports hashtags, which are words prefixed by #, like "#gaming" or "#pineapple". You can click on a hashtag to search for other posts containing that tag.
 70 | 
 71 | ## How is it like email?
 72 | 
 73 | :bangbang: Each Mastodon instance is independent but networked, like email servers. If you sign up for an email account on gmail.com, you don't automatically have an account on hotmail.com or aol.com, but you can send and receive messages to and from users on hotmail.com and aol.com. 
 74 | 
 75 | Likewise, if you sign up for an account on mastodon.social, that doesn't make an account for you on every other instance, but you can talk to users from other instances and they can talk to you. 
 76 | 
 77 | You can make accounts on multiple instances if you want to talk about different things separately. You could have an account on https://hackers.town to talk about technology, an account on https://elekk.xyz to talk about gaming, and an account on https://mastodon.online for general chatter. You have to sign into each account separately and keep each open in a separate browser tab or window. (The various mobile apps all allow multiple accounts, too.)
 78 | 
 79 | **Keep in mind that in general, when talking about Mastodon, "instance" and "server" mean the same thing.**
 80 | 
 81 | ## How is it not like either of those; or, What are the Local and Federated Timelines?
 82 | 
 83 | :bangbang: Mastodon has timelines that you can view beyond what you might be familiar with from Twitter: the Local timeline and the Federated timeline.
 84 | 
 85 | Mastodon starts with your **Home** timeline, which is roughly equivalent to Twitter's "Latest Tweets" timeline. This contains posts that you've made, posts that the people you're following have made, posts that the people you're following have boosted, and posts from any hashtags you're following. It also has a **Notifications** timeline. By default, this shows you any time anyone's interacted with any of your posts at all; there's a slider button at the top of the column that you can use to curate which notifications (favorites, boosts, replies, etc.) you see in that column. You can also easily set it to just show mentions - any time someone uses your @handle in a post.
 86 | 
 87 | The **Local** timeline is every post with a public status posted by users on your instance, with the exception of replies. (A reply is any toot posted in response to another toot - NOT any toot that simply mentions another user!)
 88 | 
 89 | The **Federated** timeline is every post with a public status posted by any user that your instance knows about, even from other instances. Your instance knows about a remote user if at least one user on your instance has EVER followed them.
 90 | 
 91 | The Local and Federated timelines can turn into firehoses sometimes. Be careful!
 92 | 
 93 | Unless there's a server hiccup, **all timelines in Mastodon are reverse-chronological**. If you see posts out of order, it doesn't mean there's an algorithm at play; it means your server received the posts out of order.
 94 | 
 95 | ## What is the Fediverse?
 96 | 
 97 | ~~Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Fediverse is~~
 98 | 
 99 | The Fediverse is the vast array of servers that communicate via the ActivityPub or OStatus protocols. (Generally speaking, unless you're making or editing software to interact with the fediverse, you don't need to know what those are.) There are lots of different kinds of server software on the fediverse, like Pixelfed, Pleroma, Misskey, or WriteFreely. Mastodon is one of the most popular of these, and it's what this guide is about. If you're using one of the others, this guide probably won't help you much.
100 | 
101 | ## How do I establish my brand's presence on Mastodon?
102 | 
103 | :bangbang: The short answer: **Very carefully.**
104 | 
105 | We've had fifteen years of Twitter, Facebook, and heaven knows how many other social media platforms becoming platforms for Search Engine Optimization, Brand Awareness, and Corporate Synergy, and I'll be blunt: most of us are really, really tired of it.
106 | 
107 | Mastodon isn't about leveraging followers into customers. It's not about SEO or brand loyalty. **Mastodon is about people.** Don't treat people like potential customers who might buy your stuff; treat them like *people* whom you might want to get to know.
108 | 
109 | If you're a person who makes or does something and you think someone might want to buy your product or use your service, great! You can tell people about it - just *treat them like people*, not marketing targets.
110 | 
111 | There's one behavior that companies often engage in that drives people nuts, and you *really* shouldn't do it: **don't send unsolicited messages to people advertising your product or service**. Get to know someone, engage in conversations with them, and if you think someone you know would be interested and doesn't already know about what you do, *then* tell them about what you do or what you make.
112 | 
113 | If you represent a company and your boss has told you that your company needs a Mastodon presence, here's what you can tell them (and you can tell them I told you to say it):
114 | 
115 | > Mastodon doesn't really work like that. If we're going to have a Mastodon presence, it needs to be one person who's free to *be* a person on that account, instead of a corporate mouthpiece. That means the person on the Mastodon account isn't going to get along with everybody (although they should certainly try to) and is going to treat other users like they're people instead of marketing targets. If you're okay with that, then I'll get right on it. If not, then you need to do some more research into Mastodon before you establish a presence there.
116 | 
117 | ## How do I get verified on Mastodon?
118 | 
119 | :bangbang: Unlike Twitter, Mastodon has no built-in verification. We assume you are who you say you are. If you see someone with a checkmark by their name (like :white_check_mark:), they've just typed that emoji into their display name. 
120 | 
121 | That being said, some instance admins do require proof of identity before allowing a user to register, but **don't rely on this being the case**.
122 | 
123 | **If someone's impersonating you, contact the admin of the instance they're on to get it sorted out.**
124 | 
125 | ## Okay, how do I let people know that I am who I say I am?
126 | 
127 | Mastodon instances will allow you to add metadata to your profile - up to four items displayed in a table on your profile page that don't count against the length of your profile text. If you use these fields to link to your other websites, some instances will allow you to verify that you *own* those websites by providing a link on those websites back to your Mastodon account. For instance, if you have a personal website, you can include the link to your website in your Mastodon metadata, and then include a link to your Mastodon account in the header of your website, and Mastodon will verify that you're the person who owns your website.
128 | 
129 | A Mastodon instance that allows this will have instructions on your **Edit Profile** page telling you how to add the verification link.
130 | 
131 | # HOW DO I PICK AN INSTANCE?
132 | 
133 | This one's big on purpose.
134 | 
135 | Picking an instance can be hard. Many instances have a specific focus: `hackers.town` is a haven for computer touchers, `wandering.shop` is built for fans of science fiction and fantasy, and `botsin.space` focuses on the hosting and development of automated bots. On `oulipo.social` it's illicit to post a toot containing any "e"s. 
136 | 
137 | If you haven't created a mastodon account yet, you might find it useful to try one of the larger instances, like `mastodon.social` - the flagship instance, with over 100,000 users - or `mas.to` . These instances have large, usually-friendly populations that will help you find a more niche instance if that's what you're looking for. Be warned, though, that because of their size, the Local timelines on these instances can move *very* quickly.
138 | 
139 | (*A brief note about mastodon.social: it **is** the largest general-purpose instance (the largest overall is a Japanese-language instance, [mstdn.jp](https://mstdn.jp)). Many people go there and never check out other instances. If you make an account on mastodon.social, consider treating it as a temporary waypoint while you find an instance that better fits your needs and interests. Once you've found one, you can export all the people you're following, muting, and blocking on mastodon.social and import them at your new account, so you don't have to go around and find everybody again.*)
140 | 
141 | If you've already registered on an instance but you're not sure if it's a good fit for you, try asking around for instances where you might be a better fit. Also, try searching for a #hashtag that interests you; if you see a lot of people on one instance talking about that subject, it might be a good place for you to check out.
142 | 
143 | You can also try the instance picker on [joinmastodon.org](https://joinmastodon.org/communities) or the wizard at [instances.social](https://instances.social/), although these have *lots* of instances listed and you might be overwhelmed. Take it slow and easy.
144 | 
145 | ## I've found another instance I like better. Can I move my account?
146 | 
147 | Yes and no.
148 | 
149 | There are two ways to accomplish this: you can **redirect** your account or **migrate** your account.
150 | 
151 | If you **redirect** your account, your old account will have a redirection notice added to it, and you won't be able to fully use it (I believe this mostly means you won't be able to post from it anymore). You'll still be able to export your account's data, and you can reactivate your account at any time. Users who go to your old account's profile will be told that they can find you at your new account. Nothing else will be transferred automatically. You can do this by going to `[your server]/settings/migration/redirect/new` (for example, elekk.xyz/settings/migration/redirect/new). There's also a link on the account migration page. All you have to do is put in the name of the account you're redirecting to and Mastodon will handle the rest.
152 | 
153 | (You can manually move a bunch of your information over if you redirect your account. See steps 4-6 below.)
154 | 
155 | If you **migrate** your account, all the same things will happen as redirecting your account. **In addition**, all of your followers will be moved to your new account (so nobody has to find and re-follow you). You *can*, in addition, manually move your follows, lists, blocks, mutes, domain blocks, and bookmarks over, but the system won't automatically do that for you.
156 | 
157 | **In neither case will your posts move over. You'll be starting with an empty post history on your new account.**
158 | 
159 | Here are the steps for **migrating** your account, including optional steps. (It looks like a lot of steps, but I've split some things up to make the instructions easier to follow.)
160 | 
161 | 1. Create your **new** account. This can be on the same instance you're on now, or on a different instance.
162 | 2. On your **new** account, click `Preferences` in the right-hand Getting Started panel, then go to `Profile > Appearance`. Below your header and profile picture, make sure **Require follow requests** is *unchecked*. (If it's checked, you'll have to manually approve every follower the automated process tries to bring over.) Click **Save changes** at the top or bottom of the page if you had to uncheck the box.
163 | 3. On your **new** account, in Preferences, go to `Account > Account Settings`. At the bottom of that page, under the `Moving from a different account` header, click "**create an account alias**".
164 | 4. Type in the `username@instance` of the **old** account (for example, `noelle@elekk.xyz`) and click "**Create Alias**".
165 | 5. (Optional) On your **old** account, in Preferences, go to `Import and export > Data export`.
166 | 6. (Optional) You'll see a list of account... statistics, I guess? Next to "Follows", "Lists", "You block", "You mute", "Domain blocks", and "Bookmarks", you'll see :arrow_down:`CSV`. Click that for each thing you want to move over to your new account; this will download a list of each of those in a standardized format. Make a note of where the downloads go.
167 | 7. (Optional) On your **new** account, in Preferences, go to `Import and export > Import`. For each of the files you just downloaded (except Lists, which doesn't have an import function yet):
168 |   * Use the drop-down menu at the top (under `Import type`) to select the appropriate kind of thing to import.
169 |   * Under `Data`, click the "**Browse...**" button to pull up a file selector, and select the CSV file you just downloaded.
170 |   * Select "**Merge**", if it's not already selected.
171 |   * Click "**Upload**".
172 | 8. On your **old** account, in Preferences, go to `Account > Account Settings`. Near the bottom of that page, under the `Move to a different account` header, click "**configure it here**".
173 | 9. Enter the `username@instance` of your **new** account, along with the password for your **old** account. This verifies that you're the owner of the account (in case you forgot to log out and someone else is using the computer). Then click "**Move Followers**".
174 | 
175 | And you're done! Please note that it might take a while to migrate everything over and to import everything you've uploaded, especially if you're moving to or from a large or old server.
176 | 
177 | :bangbang: **Important**: This process is the closest thing Mastodon has to changing your username.
178 | 
179 | Special thanks to [Ted](https://peoplemaking.games/@esdin) and arachnomyrmex for helping me make sure I got this right!
180 | 
181 | ## How can I change my username?
182 | 
183 | :bangbang: The short version: you can't. Once you choose a username for your account, it's immutable, so choose wisely.
184 | 
185 | The long version: The only way to kind of change your username is to migrate your account (see above), but again, you won't take your post history with you no matter what you do. 
186 | 
187 | Some enterprising admins have tried changing someone's username directly in the database (at their request), and for whatever reason, doing so breaks federation for that account; they can no longer reliably send messages to other instances or receive mentions.
188 | 
189 | ## How do I mention someone who's not on my instance?
190 | 
191 | :bangbang: Mastodon usernames take the form @*username*@*instance*. My account on mastodon.social is @<span>noelle</span>@mastodon.social; my account on elekk.xyz is @<span>noelle</span>@elekk.xyz. If you're mentioning someone on a different instance, you have to type the whole thing (although the toot input box will help you auto-complete the username if it's a name the instance knows already). 
192 | 
193 | If you're mentioning someone on your own instance, you just have to type the first part; if you're on elekk.xyz, @noelle will get to me just like @<span>noelle</span>@elekk.xyz will. If you leave off the "@*instance*" Mastodon understands that you want to talk to the local user.
194 | 
195 | ## What are the rules?
196 | 
197 | The rules depend on which instance you're on. Each instance has a page at https://<span>*instance*</span>/about/more that usually contains more information about the instance and often describes the community guidelines. For example, mastodon.social has its community guidelines posted at https://mastodon.social/about/more .
198 | 
199 | Keep in mind that these are usually guidelines and not hard-and-fast rules. Since each instance is run by a separate team of moderators - often just one person! - they have the final say over what's allowed and not allowed on their instance. Your instance admins might even go so far as to block an entire other instance if their users turn out to be incompatible with your instance's values and the other instance's moderators won't help.
200 | 
201 | ## What if I see someone breaking the rules?
202 | 
203 | If you see someone breaking the rules, you can send a report. Click on the `...` under the offending post, and select `Report @user` (which is usually at the very bottom of that menu). This will bring up a window where you can select additional recent posts from that user, if you need to, and also type out a *reason* for the report, so that the moderator who receives the report will understand why you sent it. 
204 | 
205 | If the user is from a different instance, then underneath the report reason, you will also see a switch next to "Forward to *their instance*". This not only reports the user to the moderators on your instance, it sends the report to the other user's instance as well. Before you do this, **check the rules of the instance they're on**. They may not be breaking their local rules.
206 | 
207 | **The moderators and administrators of *your* instance will be able to see that it was you who sent the report. If you forward the report to a remote user's instance, the moderators and administrators of that instance *will not* be able to see who sent the report — only that it came from your instance.**
208 | 
209 | By default, you will not get any notification about actions that any moderators or administrators take in response to your reports. You can ask them, but be prepared to hear something like "we don't comment on how we resolve reports".
210 | 
211 | ## What are the different kinds of posts?
212 | 
213 | :bangbang: Mastodon (and other fediverse) posts can be chained together in different ways. I use three terms to refer to different kinds of posts. These might not be the terms other people use.
214 | 
215 | * **Stand-alone posts** are posts that are not replies to any other post. (That is, you did not click on the Reply button to start the post.) They are at the head of a chain. You can include people's usernames in stand-alone posts to tag them; doing that does not make the post a reply. **For example:** You use the standard compose box ("What's on your mind?" in the default Mastodon settings) to create a new post.
216 | * **Self-replies** are posts that are a direct reply to *one of your own* stand-alone posts or another self-reply. Again, they can include references to another person. You can continue to reply to your own posts as long as you like, and *as long as someone else's post isn't above what you're currently writing in the chain*, they'll continue being self-replies. **For example:** You click on the reply button on one of your own stand-alone posts to reply to yourself, then click on the reply button on *that* post to reply to yourself again.
217 | * **Replies** are posts that are replies to someone else *or replies to a reply to someone else*. **For example:** You click on the reply button on someone else's post to reply to them, **or** you click on the reply button on one of your own posts that's a reply to someone else's post.
218 | 
219 | I've included a diagram [here](replies.png) (it's a link because it's big). Notice how as soon as someone else's post enters the chain, your replies stop being self-replies. This is important, because self-replies and replies work differently in your followers' timelines.
220 | 
221 | If you click on a post, you'll see it in a kind of "tree view"; you'll see all of the direct ancestors to that post, and all the replies to it (and any replies to those replies, and so on). This is good for focusing in on the replies to a single post, but if you want to see the whole discussion, then scroll up to the top, to the very first post, and click on that; that will show you every reply to the first post in the chain, then every reply to those posts, and so on. It's possible you won't be able to view the very first post for a variety of reasons; if that's the case, you can select the `...` menu from a given post and then select "Open original page..." at the top, which will open a new browser tab with the conversation tree in it; you can proceed from there. (Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to view conversations in a true tree view.)
222 | 
223 | ## How do privacy settings work?
224 | 
225 | Under each post, you'll see three icons: a camera, a globe or a padlock, and the letters "CW". Click on the globe or padlock to choose the privacy settings for your post. *You can set the default privacy level for your posts under **Preferences > Other > Posting Privacy**.*
226 | 
227 | * **Public** means that everyone can see your post. It will appear on your list of posts and in your followers' Home timelines. Your *stand-alone posts* and *self-replies* that are public will appear in your list of toots, in your followers' Home timelines, in the public local and federated timelines, and in the Mentions of anyone you mention by username. Your *replies* that are public will appear in your list of *toots and replies* (*not* the primary list of toots; it's a separate list!), in the Home timelines of any of your followers who *also* follow the person you're replying to, and in the Mentions of anyone you mention by username.
228 | * **Unlisted** means that everyone can see your post, but it won't appear on the public timelines - either Local or Federated. Other than that, Unlisted posts behave exactly like Public posts.
229 | * **Followers-Only** means that only people who follow you and people mentioned in the post can see your post in their timelines or on your profile page. If someone who doesn't follow you views your profile, they won't see your followers-only posts. *For your followers*, followers-only posts behave exactly like Unlisted posts. **Your followers-only posts that mention another user will also appear in that user's mentions, even if they don't follow you!**
230 | * :bangbang: **Mentioned People Only** means exactly that: only people who are mentioned in your post can see it, and **every** person who's mentioned can see it (unless they've blocked or muted you). It will appear in their mentions and, on Mastodon servers above version 3.0, will appear in their Direct Messages column.
231 | 
232 | Keep in mind that some servers, which run software that's compatible with but not the same as Mastodon, will ignore these privacy settings if you send a message to their users, so be careful!
233 | 
234 | ## How private is "Private"?
235 | 
236 | I cannot stress this enough: **Mention-only toots ("DMs") are not encrypted or secure.**
237 | 
238 | The admin of your server may be able to read *any* toot posted on their server, as well as *any* toot sent to a user on their server. **However**, it's a pain in the ass to do so. Your private posts will not appear in the admin panel on the website; your admin has to manually, directly access the database -- typically through logging into the server's command line -- in order to access them. This isn't something admins do on a whim; they only do it when they absolutely have to, and this is because:
239 | 
240 | This is a necessary security precaution. Admins *don't want* to read your private toots, but they have to be *able* to because otherwise private toots allow some users to secretly harass others or to conduct illegal dealings without the admin's knowledge, and under many laws the admin will be responsible for enabling the harassment or illegal behavior *even if they didn't know it was happening*.
241 | 
242 | That said, in general, your admin will only look over the toots you've marked Private if they have reason to believe harassment or illicit dealings are going on. Make sure you trust your admin to act like this, and if you don't, it might be time to look for another instance.
243 | 
244 | While we're on the subject, it's worth noting that this is true of nearly any social media software. Twitter admins can read your DMs. Forum admins can read your private messages. This is not a novel or unusual feature of Mastodon; I'm just making sure you know about it.
245 | 
246 | **As a general rule, if an application you're using isn't [end-to-end encrypted](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-to-end_encryption), the information you're sending isn't secure unless you take [extra steps outside the application to secure it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy).**
247 | 
248 | ## What happens when someone follows me?
249 | 
250 | ~~If someone follows you, you incur a life debt to that person. You will be required to lay down your life for that person when they need it. Once you've done so, they will unfollow you and, if you survived, you are free to go about your life normally.~~
251 | 
252 | Just kidding.
253 | 
254 | If someone follows you, they will see your posts on their Home timeline and they will be able to see your followers-only posts. If you want, you can limit the people who can follow you by clicking on **Edit profile** and selecting **Lock account**, which will allow you to manually approve and reject people who want to follow you.
255 | 
256 | ## So if I lock my account, only approved people can see my posts?
257 | 
258 | Yes and no.
259 | 
260 | With a locked account, you get to approve who can follow you *through the Mastodon interface*. This means that only the people you approve will be able to see your **followers-only** posts. Your **unlisted** posts will still show up on your profile, and your **public** posts will still show up on your profile and on the local and federated timelines.
261 | 
262 | **However.**
263 | 
264 | :bangbang: Every Mastodon account (on an unmodified server) also creates an RSS feed of their public and unlisted posts - i.e. the posts that appear on the account's profile. It does not include followers-only toots or direct messages, and if you've [put a CW on a toot](#what-does-cw-mean), only the CW appears in the RSS feed, not what's underneath it. 
265 | 
266 | Your RSS feed appears at `https://<your-server>/users/<your-username>.rss` ; for example, since I'm `https://elekk.xyz/@noelle`, my RSS feed is `https://elekk.xyz/users/noelle.rss` . (Remember to remove the `@`!)
267 | 
268 | **Anyone can subscribe to these feeds using an RSS reader to see your public and unlisted posts when you post them.** You can't control who can see these feeds, but they do not (and, by design, cannot) contain your followers-only or private toots. *If you only post followers-only toots, your RSS feed will be empty.*
269 | 
270 | Remember, you can set the default privacy level for your posts under **Preferences > Other > Posting Privacy**. If you have a locked account, you might prefer to set that default to followers-only so you have to make an active effort to post an unlisted or public toot.
271 | 
272 | ## What if someone's following or interacting with me and I don't want them to?
273 | 
274 | You have a couple options.
275 | 
276 | * **If you just don't want to see them in your feed anymore**, you can *mute* them. This will prevent their posts from showing up in any of your feeds; you can optionally block notifications (Favorites, Boosts, and Mentions) from them, so that if you don't want to see someone's stand-alone posts but do want to see their attempts to interact with you, you can.
277 | * **If you don't want to see them and you don't want them to see you**, you can *block* them. This will automatically mute them; if they were following you and/or you were following them, it will sever those as well. They will not be able to follow you or show up in *any* of your feeds unless you unblock them. (But see below.)
278 | * **If they are harassing you or otherwise breaking the rules**, you can [report them](#what-if-i-see-someone-breaking-the-rules), and hopefully, your moderator will deal with it.
279 | 
280 | All three of these options are available by clicking the `...` under one of the user's toots or on their profile inside the Mastodon web interface.
281 | 
282 | **However.**
283 | 
284 | Just like with a [locked account](#so-if-i-lock-my-account-only-approved-people-can-see-my-posts), any user — even ones you've blocked or that have been suspended by a moderator — can go to your public page or your RSS feed to view your public and unlisted toots. There is not a good way around this, unfortunately, except to make all of your toots followers-only.
285 | 
286 | ## How will I know if someone's muted or blocked me?
287 | 
288 | You will not get a notification if someone mutes or blocks you.
289 | 
290 | If someone's muted you, there's really no way for you to tell. If they consistently don't reply to you when you mention their username, you might get suspicious, but Mastodon deliberately makes it almost impossible to know if you've been muted. (Among other things, this is a stopgap to try to prevent someone harassing you by creating multiple accounts to get around mutes.)
291 | 
292 | If someone's blocked you, you will no longer be following them, their posts won't appear in your feed, and when you view their account profile *within Mastodon's web interface*, none of their posts will load. (It is worth noting that if you're looking at the profile of someone you *don't* follow, sometimes their posts won't load and it's just because the server is being slow, not because they've blocked you, so don't be *too* quick to make an assumption.)
293 | 
294 | If someone has blocked you, you *can* still go to their public page and see their public and unlisted toots; public profiles don't require authentication (i.e. you don't have to be signed into that instance to view them) and so they can't tell who you are or that the user has blocked you. **That said**, let's be honest. If someone's blocked you, they don't want you around. You *can* keep reading their public and unlisted posts, but maybe don't? In a substantial way you're invading their privacy and deliberately crossing a boundary they've set up, and "the software allows me to, so it must be okay" is a pretty flimsy justification. Just leave them alone, please.
295 | 
296 | ## What if I go over the character limit?
297 | 
298 | Don't worry. First, you can't; Mastodon won't let you post a toot over the instance's character limit. You won't get in trouble or anything.
299 | 
300 | If you find that what you want to say is too long for a single toot, or if you think of something else after you've posted a toot, you can *reply to your own toot*. Mastodon supports toot threads, so you can toot as many times as you want to, replying to each toot in sequence, and the whole series will show up when someone clicks on any of the toots in the thread.
301 | 
302 | So if your toot is too long, just split it up and make the second half a reply to the first; if you think of something else later, just reply to your original toot and the reply will show up whenever anyone clicks on the original toot.
303 | 
304 | ## What are hashtags?
305 | 
306 | To make a hashtag, type "#" and then any number of letters or numbers. Accents count; punctuation, spaces, symbols, and emoji don't. #howismydaygoing is a valid hashtag; #höwísmydàygôíng is valid; #how-is-my-day-going isn't (it'll just catch #how).
307 | 
308 | A hashtag is metadata about your toot: it provides additional information that doesn't necessarily belong in the body of the toot, but is useful for understanding. If you're a programmer, it's sort of like a code comment.
309 | 
310 | As a bonus†, hashtags are tracked by each instance. Clicking on a hashtag takes you to a list of public posts with that hashtag. You can use them to track #politics, check out the users people are recommending on #FollowFriday, or see people's artwork using #mastoart. With Mastodon release 4.0.0 you can follow individual hashtags so that toots containing a followed hashtag show up in your timeline.
311 | 
312 | Don't go overboard with hashtags. As a guideline, your hashtags probably shouldn't be more than 10% of the total length of your toot. If you find yourself going over that, you might be spreading things a bit too thin.
313 | 
314 | † *This was actually the original intent of hashtags, but the usage has moved on since then.*
315 | 
316 | ## What does "CW" mean?
317 | 
318 | :bangbang: CW stands for Content Warning. It hides your post behind text (which you get to choose); it's like a Read More link.
319 | 
320 | You might use CWs for:
321 | 
322 | * Politics
323 | * Sex
324 | * Gross topics
325 | * Common phobias, like spiders or blood
326 | * Health discussions
327 | * Punchlines to jokes
328 | * Long posts that might otherwise fill up people's timelines
329 | * Commentary on discussions that are going on elsewhere in the fediverse, often with the CW "meta" or "discourse"
330 | 
331 | Some common abbreviations you'll find in CWs are:
332 | 
333 | * mh: mental health
334 | * ph: physical health
335 | * alc: alcohol
336 | * pol: politics, sometimes plus locale, like "uspol" means United States politics
337 | * pda: public display of affection
338 | * nsfw: not safe for work
339 | * ec: eye contact, usually used when there's a photograph attached
340 | 
341 | In general, just use your best judgment; think "is there a reason someone might not want to see this?". You have the opportunity to take an extra moment and make the fediverse a nicer place for people to be. Why wouldn't you take that opportunity?
342 | 
343 | **An important note:** Mastodon *does not* track hashtags that are in the text of a CW. Mastodon *does* track hashtags that are *under* a CW. Always put your hashtags in the body of your toot, never in the content warning.
344 | 
345 | ## I just attached a picture to my toot. What's with the new 'eye' icon?
346 | 
347 | :bangbang: Clicking that will hide your image behind a "Sensitive content" overlay. This is good for nudity, gore and violence, political topics, etc.
348 | 
349 | You'll notice that if you have both an image and a CW on a toot, the "Sensitive content" overlay is turned on automatically and can't be turned off. That's on purpose.
350 | 
351 | ## I just attached a picture to my toot. How can I add a caption to it?
352 | 
353 | :interrobang: When you attach an image, you'll see "Edit" (plus a pencil icon) at the top right of the image. Clicking this will pop up a dialog box that lets you determine what part of the image should show in the preview; it also allows you to set alt-text for the image, which people can read if they mouse over the text, and which screen-readers (such as for the visually-impaired) can read instead of just saying "embedded image".
354 | 
355 | For images that are largely text (for example, a screenshot of a Tumblr post), Mastodon has built-in optical character recognition (OCR) and can often transcribe the image for you, although you should probably double-check the transcription to make sure it's accurate. If, for some reason, your instance's OCR isn't working, you can use an online tool like [Online OCR](https://www.onlineocr.net) to transcribe your image. And if all else fails, there are OCRBots on the fediverse that will reply to your post with a transcription if you @mention them.
356 | 
357 | Text in the description box has its own character limit of 1,500 characters; it **does not** count against the character limit for your toot!
358 | 
359 | ## Why should I add a caption to my picture?
360 | 
361 | In a word: Accessibility. 
362 | 
363 | Some people who use Mastodon are visually impaired and use screen readers. Some people who use Mastodon have images turned off to conserve their data usage. Sometimes disk errors or server errors happen, or your admin decides to prune old files, and your image just doesn't load anymore. Captioning an image allows people in these conditions to participate in your toots with full context.
364 | 
365 | You can also use image captions to insert additional jokes (like webcomics often do) or additional commentary on the image. Take advantage of the fact that image descriptions have their own separate character limit and put whatever you like in there. The sky's the limit.
366 | 
367 | ## How do I use my server's custom emoji?
368 | 
369 | You can insert an emoji your server has installed by putting its name between colons, like this: `:blobheart:`. If you type a colon (`:`) and then start typing after it, with no space, Mastodon will suggest emoji for you to use. You can also select one directly; at the top right of the Compose box is an emoji (currently "cry-laughing"), and if you click it, you'll get a context menu full of the emoji that are available for you to use.
370 | 
371 | Mastodon users often call custom emoji "emojos". The reasons for this are lost to time.
372 | 
373 | ## How come my friend on another instance can use this emoji, but I can't?
374 | 
375 | :bangbang: Each instance can define custom emoji for their users to use, and many have taken advantage of this. Your instance admin can copy emoji that they like from other instances. If you see an emoji that you like and it's not available on your instance, ask your admin to copy it over. [iliana etaoin](https://iliana.fyi) has made a [custom emoji finder](https://emojos.in/) so you can see which emoji are available to you.
376 | 
377 | ## Can I search for a specific word or phrase?
378 | 
379 | Yes. Mastodon allows for searching posts, profiles, hashtags, and news commented by people on all Mastodon servers.
380 | 
381 | Starting from v4.2.0, Mastodon makes it possible to search post contents. The availability of this feature depends on the server settings and individual preferences of each person whose posts you want to search for. By default, this setting disabled in your account settings. You can activate it by going to 'Profile,' 'Privacy and reach' and selecting the option 'Show public posts in search results.'
382 | 
383 | Additionally, if you interact with a particular post (e.g., liking it or replying to it), that post will become searchable for you.
384 | 
385 | For many groups of people, full-text search may be a significant harassment vector. Harassers often search for particular words or phrases (e.g., "TERF," "homophobia," or "white supremacy") to attack and harass others. That's why the post search feature is turned off by default. That way Mastodon allows people to make a conscious choice whether they want to be visible to others.
386 | 
387 | ## Why can't I quote someone's toot, like a quote-tweet?
388 | 
389 | :bangbang: Like search, it's an anti-harassment feature. If you want to reply to someone's toot, you have to actually reply to it; you can't just broadcast it to your followers with a snarky comment.
390 | 
391 | *(Don't try to get around this by screencapping toots and attaching them as images. You **can** do it, but the Mastodon community tends to frown on it and you'll get a bad reputation pretty quickly if you keep it up.)*
392 | 
393 | ## The Mastodon culture seems pretty weird?
394 | 
395 | It can be! But it gets to be a comfortable weirdness.
396 | 
397 | Here are some common weirdnesses:
398 | 
399 | * :pineapple:: nobody really knows. [acw](https://cybre.space/@acw) posted it, someone else picked it up, and it's been going ever since. It's just silliness. When in doubt, just post a :pineapple:.
400 | * AWOO: [Awoo.Space](https://awoo.space) was one of the earlier Mastodon instances. "Awoo" is the sound of a wolf howling. It's fun to say. Awoo! (Pawoo.net has nothing to do with this; in Japanese, "pawoo" is the sound of an elephant trumpeting.) Someone got irritated at the awoos and instituted a $350 fine for awooing. Nobody's ever actually paid it, don't worry.
401 | * #gameing: There was (and still is) a perception that #gaming is "hardcore" and elitist, and there were (and are) worries about certain breeds of gamer overrunning the #gaming hashtag. #gameing was a pre-emptive strike; it's about a fun, lighthearted, and accessible approach to games, video and otherwise.
402 | * IT'S BEEN/SOME as CWs: a reference to the Barenaked Ladies song [*One Week*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC_q9KPczAg) and the Smash Mouth song [*All Star*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_jWHffIx5E) respectively. A common meme on Mastodon is to put the first word or two of the song into the CW and then subvert expectations by posting something else under the cut.
403 | 
404 | You'll get used to it.
405 | 
406 | ## What does ![:red_candle:](red_candle.png) mean?
407 | 
408 | In early November 2017 we lost a popular Mastodonian to suicide. ![:red_candle:](red_candle_sm.png) and ![lattentacle](lattentacle_sm.png) commemorate our friend Natalie Nguyen.
409 | 
410 | ## What's the generally-accepted Mastodon etiquette? 
411 | 
412 | There are no hard-and-fast rules for everybody, and (as noted above) different instances have different guidelines. That said, many people follow some simple guidelines meant to make Mastodon a friendlier place for everybody.
413 | 
414 | * If you attach an image to your toot but don't describe it in the toot, use [alt text](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-how-can-i-make-sure-its-accessible) to describe the image so that people using screen readers can understand it.
415 | * If you attach an image that contains **nudity, porn or sexually-suggestive content, gore, violence, or politics**, or any of a number of common PTSD/anxiety triggers (such as food, spiders, etc.), [mark it sensitive](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-whats-with-the-new-eye-icon).
416 | * If the *text* of your toot contains any of those subjects, [use a content warning](#what-does-cw-mean).
417 | * You don't need to use a URL shortener. Mastodon assumes that all URLs are exactly 20 characters long. Let people see what you're actually linking to.
418 | * If you make a bot that posts automatically, have it post using the [unlisted privacy setting](#how-do-privacy-settings-work). This avoids having your bot flagged as spam.
419 | * If you use a script that cross-posts your Twitter tweets to Mastodon, have the script set to use a CW. This avoids sensitive topics (see above) being cross-posted to Mastodon.
420 | * If you see a conversation and have a comment you'd like to add:
421 |     * Click through to the full conversation and make sure your thought hasn't already been expressed by someone else. 
422 |     * Make sure that your comment adheres to the tone of the conversation, is kind to the other posters in the conversation, and gives the other posters the benefit of the doubt.
423 | * "noadvice", as a hashtag or a CW, indicates that the user is just venting and is not looking for help or suggestions. Sympathy and comfort are welcome, though.
424 | * Remember that if someone doesn't reply to you, that doesn't mean they're ignoring you. They might be away from Mastodon; they might have so many notifications that they missed your post; they might have muted the conversation, so your reply didn't even show up! There are many reasons for someone to miss a toot, even one directed at them; don't take it personally.
425 | 
426 | ## I like Mastodon but I prefer the way Twitter looks.
427 | 
428 | You might get some mileage out of [Pinafore](https://pinafore.social/), an interface for Mastodon by [Nolan Lawson](https://toot.cafe/@nolan). However, Nolan has (as of January 2023) discontinued support for Pinafore; the website still works, but it will no longer be updated as Mastodon grows and changes, and it may break when Mastodon moves to version 5.x.
429 | 
430 | [Halcyon](https://notabug.org/halcyon-suite/halcyon) is a web client for Mastodon that replicates the Twitter interface. Since Halcyon is itself open-source software, there are [multiple servers running it](https://notabug.org/halcyon-suite/halcyon#instances); you can choose the one you like. Use your existing Mastodon login when you use Halcyon; for example, if you have an account on elekk.xyz, you would use `your-account@elekk.xyz` and your Elekk password to log in.
431 | 
432 | Remember that Pinafore and Halcyon are third-party clients, and make sure you trust them before you give them your login information!
433 | 
434 | ## I like Mastodon but I want to use it on my phone.
435 | 
436 | Mastodon has a responsive design, so you can use it in your phone's browser. Alternately, there are many apps available for Mastodon, including an official "Mastodon for iPhone" app released in August 2021. On iOS, try [Toot!](https://apps.apple.com/app/toot/id1229021451?ls=1). On Android, try [Tusky](https://tusky.app/).
437 | 
438 | *(NB: I've been told that "Tootdon silently forwards copies of posts you interact as well as the auth token to your account to its to own servers." I don't know if that still holds. As always, be cautious when giving apps your information.)*
439 | 
440 | ## How can I back up my Mastodon account?
441 | 
442 | [Alex Schroeder](https://octodon.social/@kensanata) has an excellent [Mastodon Archiver](https://github.com/kensanata/mastodon-backup/) that will help you back up your account and much more.
443 | 
444 | ## Can I use the keyboard to navigate Mastodon?
445 | 
446 | In the web interface, yes. The Mastodon web hotkeys are documented at `https://<your-server>/web/keyboard-shortcuts` , which you can access when you're logged into the web interface. (You can find the link at the bottom of the **Getting Started** column, labeled "Hotkeys".)
447 | 
448 | ## How do favorites work on other server types?
449 | 
450 | In general:
451 | 
452 | * If you click 'favorite' on a post from a different server type (Misskey, Pleroma, GNU Social, etc.) it will federate properly. Some of these servers allow multiple response emoji, and each of them selects a generic "favorite" emoji, which will show up on the recipient's post.
453 | * If someone on a different server type selects an emoji to respond to your post, it will federate to you on Mastodon as a favorite, *no matter what the emoji is*.
454 | 
455 | ## Weird, my server doesn't have a bunch of these features.
456 | 
457 | You might not be on Mastodon! The Fediverse - the vast collection of servers connected by the ActivityPub/OStatus protocol - has a lot of different kinds of servers on it. Your server might be running Pleroma, Misskey, GNU Social, or something else! Unfortunately, I don't know much about them, so you'll have to ask their users for a getting-started guide like this one.
458 | 
459 | ## Weird, my server has a bunch of extra features.
460 | 
461 | Because [Mastodon is open source](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon), you can make a copy of it and make any changes you want. Some people have decided to make their changes public; one of the most popular edited versions of Mastodon is [Mastodon Glitch Edition](https://glitch-soc.github.io/docs/), or "glitch-soc". (It's called that, as far as I know, because it originated with the instance [glitch.social](https://glitch.social). Glitch-soc has a bunch of extra features that users often appreciate, like the ability to use Markdown in toots and the option to make a given post only show up on your local instance and not get federated out to other servers.
462 | 
463 | ## I have other questions.
464 | 
465 | Ask around! People are usually pretty happy to answer questions and help out. Also, you might benefit from checking out one of these other guides, which have a different perspective:
466 | 
467 | * [FediThing](https://tech.lgbt/@FediThing) has [an excellent website](https://fedi.tips/).
468 | * [Ted](https://peoplemaking.games/esdin) maintains a [tips and FAQ document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gln7Lg92Vz3TbIjz6qZkpdPOxDAe63jof5snpR4xAa0/).
469 | * [elilla](https://transmom.love/@elilla) has written [a futuristic Mastodon introduction](https://wordsmith.social/elilla/a-futuristic-mastodon-introduction-for-2021).
470 | 
471 | If you really get stuck, ask me: https://elekk.xyz/@noelle
472 | 
473 | ## How can I contribute to the Guide?
474 | 
475 | Please check out [the contributions guide](contributing.md)!
476 | 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/Readme-es.md:
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  1 | # Una guía mucho más breve a [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org)
  2 | 
  3 | <p style="text-align:center;"><h1>NO SE ASUSTEN.</h1></p>
  4 | 
  5 | **Mastodon tiene unas cuantas diferencias importantes con Twitter, pero te acostumbrarás.** Se intentó marcar todas las diferencias importantes con el emoji :bangbang: ; disculpen si faltó alguna. ¡Ni quien escribió esta guía ni el que traduce andan en Twitter desde hace mucho!
  6 | 
  7 | Acá se hizo lo posible para que esto sea entendible, ¡pero se agradece cualquier sugerencia! Si tenés cuenta en Github, podés mandar tus pedidos de cambios de forma directa; o si no, podés contactarte con dos personas:
  8 | 
  9 | 1) Con quien hizo la guía original en inglés [en Mastodon](https://elekk.xyz/@noelle) o por mail en `noelle AT noelle.codes`. 
 10 | 2) Conmigo que hice esta traducción [en Mastodon](https://social.pueseso.club/@diazepan) o por mail en `juntapuchos AT firemail.cc`
 11 | 
 12 | Si vas a copiar un link de esta página, usá este link http://guidetomastodon.com, y acordate de darle crédito a [@Noelle@elekk.xyz](https://elekk.xyz/@noelle). ¡Muchas Gracias!
 13 | 
 14 | ## Tabla de contenidos
 15 | 
 16 | * [¿Qué es Mastodon?](#qué-es-mastodon)
 17 | * [¿Qué parecido tiene con Twitter?](#qué-parecido-tiene-con-twitter)
 18 | * [¿Qué parecido tiene con el email?](#qué-parecido-tiene-con-el-email)
 19 | * [¿Y qué tiene de distinto con ambas; o mejor dicho, qué son las Lineas de tiempo locales y federadas?](#y-qué-tiene-de-distinto-con-ambas-o-mejor-dicho-qué-son-las-lineas-de-tiempo-locales-y-federadas)
 20 | * [¿Qué es el Fediverso?](#qué-es-el-fediverso)
 21 | * [¿Cómo establezco la presencia de mi marca en Mastodon?](#cómo-establezco-la-presencia-de-mi-marca-en-mastodon)
 22 | * [¿Cómo puedo estar verificado en Mastodon?](#cómo-puedo-estar-verificado-en-mastodon)
 23 | * [Está bien, ¿Cómo hago para que la gente sepa que yo soy quien dice ser?](#está-bien-cómo-hago-para-que-la-gente-sepa-que-yo-soy-quien-dice-ser)
 24 | * [¿COMO ELIJO UNA INSTANCIA?](#como-elijo-una-instancia)
 25 | * [Encontré otra instancia que me gusta más. ¿Puedo mudar mi cuenta?](#encontré-otra-instancia-que-me-gusta-más-puedo-mudar-mi-cuenta)
 26 | * [¿Cómo cambio mi nombre de usuario?](#cómo-cambio-mi-nombre-de-usuario)
 27 | * [¿Cómo menciono a alguien que no está en mi instancia?](#cómo-menciono-a-alguien-que-no-está-en-mi-instancia)
 28 | * [¿Cuales son las reglas?](#cuales-son-las-reglas)
 29 | * [¿Qué pasa si veo a alguien rompiendo las reglas?](#qué-pasa-si-veo-a-alguien-rompiendo-las-reglas)
 30 | * [¿Cuales son los diferentes tipos de toots?](#cuales-son-los-diferentes-tipos-de-toots)
 31 | * [¿Cómo funciona la configuración de privacidad?](#cómo-funciona-la-configuración-de-privacidad)
 32 | * [¿Qué tan privado es "Privado"?](#qué-tan-privado-es-privado)
 33 | * [¿Qué pasa cuando alguien me sigue?](#qué-pasa-cuando-alguien-me-sigue)
 34 | * [Así que si hago privada mi cuenta, ¿Sólo la gente aprobada podrá ver mis toots?](#así-que-si-hago-privada-mi-cuenta-sólo-la-gente-aprobada-podrá-ver-mis-toots)
 35 | * [¿Qué pasa si alguien está siguiéndome o interactuando conmigo y no quiero que siga haciéndolo?](#qué-pasa-si-alguien-está-siguiéndome-o-interactuando-conmigo-y-no-quiero-que-siga-haciéndolo)
 36 | * [¿Cómo sé si alguien me silenció o me bloqueó?](#cómo-sé-si-alguien-me-silenció-o-me-bloqueó)
 37 | * [¿Qué pasa si me paso del límite de caracteres?](#qué-pasa-si-me-paso-del-límite-de-caracteres)
 38 | * [¿Qué son los hashtags?](#qué-son-los-hashtags)
 39 | * [¿Qué significa "CW"?](#qué-significa-cw)
 40 | * [Le adjunté una foto a mi toot. ¿Qué es eso de 'marcar como sensible'?](#le-adjunté-una-foto-a-mi-toot-qué-es-eso-de-marcar-como-sensible)
 41 | * [Le adjunté una foto a mi toot. ¿Qué es ese botón de editar?](#le-adjunté-una-foto-a-mi-toot-qué-es-ese-botón-de-editar)
 42 | * [¿Por qué debería agregarle un texto alternativo a mi foto?](#por-qué-debería-agregarle-un-texto-alternativo-a-mi-foto)
 43 | * [¿Cómo es que mi amigo en otra instancia puede usar este emoji y yo no puedo?](#cómo-es-que-mi-amigo-en-otra-instancia-puede-usar-este-emoji-y-yo-no-puedo)
 44 | * [¿Por qué no puedo buscar una palabra o frase específica?](#por-qué-no-puedo-buscar-una-palabra-o-frase-específica)
 45 | * [¿Por qué no puedo citar un toot?](#por-qué-no-puedo-citar-un-toot)
 46 | * [La cultura en Mastodon parece rara, ¿no?](#la-cultura-en-mastodon-parece-rara-no)
 47 | * [¿Cual es la etiqueta generalmente aceptada en Mastodon?](#whats-the-generally-accepted-mastodon-etiquette)
 48 | * [Me gusta Mastodon pero prefiero la apariencia de Twitter.](#me-gusta-mastodon-pero-prefiero-la-apariencia-de-twitter)
 49 | * [Me gusta Mastodon pero quiero usarlo en mi teléfono.](#me-gusta-mastodon-pero-quiero-usarlo-en-mi-teléfono)
 50 | * [¿Cómo puedo respaldar mi cuenta de Mastodon?](#cómo-puedo-respaldar-mi-cuenta-de-mastodon)
 51 | * [¿Puedo usar el teclado para navegar en Mastodon?](#puedo-usar-el-teclado-para-navegar-en-mastodon)
 52 | * [¿Cómo funcionan los favoritos en otros tipos de servidores?](#cómo-funcionan-los-favoritos-en-otros-tipos-de-servidores)
 53 | * [Qué raro, mi servidor no tiene muchas de esas cosas.](#qué-raro-mi-servidor-no-tiene-muchas-de-esas-cosas)
 54 | * [Qué raro, mi servidor tiene un montón de características extra.](#qué-raro-mi-servidor-tiene-un-montón-de-características-extra)
 55 | * [Tengo otras preguntas.](#tengo-otras-preguntas)
 56 | * [¿Cómo puedo contribuir a la guía?](#cómo-puedo-contribuir-a-la-guía)
 57 | 
 58 | ## ¿Qué es Mastodon?
 59 | 
 60 | Mastodon es una plataforma de software de redes sociales. Permite que alguien administre su propio sitio de redes sociales (y deje que otra gente lo use también, si quiere), y cada sitio de Mastodon es capaz de comunicarse con todos los otros sitios de redes sociales de Mastodon (y también [algunos otros](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivityPub)). Es como una cruza entre Twitter y el email, pero no es exactamente igual a cualquiera de estos.
 61 | 
 62 | El nombre Mastodon viene de [la banda de metal de ese nombre](https://www.mastodonrocks.com/), pero su temática viene del animal ya extinto conocido como [Mastodonte (o Mammut)](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammut).
 63 | 
 64 | ## ¿Qué parecido tiene con Twitter?
 65 | 
 66 | Allí escribís estados relativamente cortos, y podés ver una lista en constante actualización de los estados de la gente que seguís. Podés tener la notificaciones (respuestas, republicaciones, favoritos, DMs) en una columna separada.
 67 | 
 68 | Así como los estados en Twitter se llaman "tweets", los de Mastodon se llaman "toots". Un toot puede tener como mucho 500 caracteres.
 69 | 
 70 | Mastodon también soporta hashtags, que son palabras con el prefijo #, como por ejemplo "#software" or "#introduccion". Podés hacer click en un hashtag para buscar otros toots que tienen ese tag.
 71 | 
 72 | ## ¿Qué parecido tiene con el email?
 73 | 
 74 | :bangbang: Cada instancia de Mastodon es independiente pero dentro de una red, como los servidores de correo electrónico. Si te registrás para tener una cuenta de email en gmail.com, no hace falta que tengas una cuenta en hotmail.com o aol.com, pero podés mandar y recibir mensajes desde y hacia usuarios en hotmail.com y aol.com. 
 75 | 
 76 | Aquí pasa lo mismo. Si te hacés una cuenta en mastodon.social, no hace falta que te hagas una cuenta en cualquier otra instancia, pero podés conversar con usuarios de otras instancias y estos pueden conversar contigo. 
 77 | 
 78 | Podés crearte cuentas en varias instancias si lo que querés es hablar de cosas distintas de forma separada. Por ejemplo una cuenta en https://qoto.org para hablar de ciencia y tecnología, otra en https://mastodon.gamedev.place para hablar de juegos, y otra en https://mastodon.online para charlas en general. Tenés que loguearte en cada cuenta de forma separada y mantenerlas abiertas en ventanas o pestañas separadas. (Todas las aplicaciones móviles también permiten cuentas múltiples.)
 79 | 
 80 | **Tené en cuenta que en general, al hablar de Mastodon, "instancia" y "servidor" significan lo mismo.**
 81 | 
 82 | ## ¿Y qué tiene de distinto con ambas; o mejor dicho, qué son las Lineas de tiempo locales y federadas?
 83 | 
 84 | :bangbang: Mastodon tiene dos lineas de tiempo adicionales que podés ver: la Linea de tiempo local y la Linea de tiempo federada.
 85 | 
 86 | La Linea de tiempo local se hace con todos los posteos de estado público escritos por los usuarios de tu instancia, salvo las respuestas. (Una respuesta se refiere solo a los toots posteados en respuesta a otro toot - ¡NO a cualquier toot que sólo mencione a otro usuario!)
 87 | 
 88 | La Linea de tiempo federada se hace con todos los posteos de estado público escritos por cualquier usuario del cual tu instancia tenga conocimiento, incluso de otras instancias. Tu instancia conoce a un usuario remoto si al menos un usuario de tu instancia lo haya seguido ALGUNA vez.
 89 | 
 90 | Las Lineas de tiempo locales y federadas pueden a veces ser chorros de mucha información de lo rápido que van. ¡Ten cuidado!
 91 | 
 92 | ## ¿Qué es el Fediverso?
 93 | 
 94 | ~~Desafortunadamente, nada puede decirse sobre qué es el Fediverso~~
 95 | 
 96 | El Fediverso es esa gigantesca matriz de servidores que se comunican a través de los protocolos ActivityPub u OStatus. (Hablando en general, a menos de que desarrolles o edites software para interactuar con el fediverso, no necesitás saber qué son esos protocolos.) En el fediverso hay muchos y variados tipos diferentes de software para servidor, por ejemplo Pixelfed, Pleroma, Misskey, o WriteFreely. Entre ellos Mastodon es uno de los más populares, y esta guía es sobre este. Si estás usando alguno de los otros, esta guía quizás no te va a servir mucho.
 97 | 
 98 | ## ¿Cómo establezco la presencia de mi marca en Mastodon?
 99 | 
100 | :bangbang: Respuesta corta: **De forma extremadamente cuidadosa.**
101 | 
102 | Hemos llevado quince años de cómo Twitter, Facebook, y quién sabe cuantas otras plataformas de redes sociales se convirtieron en plataformas para la Optimización para motores de búsqueda (o por sus siglas en inglés, SEO), la Conciencia de marca (Brand Awareness), y la Sinergia corporativa, y acá se debe decir con franqueza: LA MAYORÍA DE NOSOTROS ESTAMOS MUY, PERO QUE MUY CANSADOS DE ESO.
103 | 
104 | Mastodon no se trata de aprovechar a tus seguidores para convertirlos en clientes. No se trata de SEO o lealtad de marca. **Mastodon se trata de gente.** No trates a la gente como clientes potenciales que puedan comprarte lo que vendés; tratalos como la *gente* a quien te gustaría conocer.
105 | 
106 | Si sos alguien que hace o crea algo y pensás que alguien querría comprar tu producto o usar tu servicio, ¡está bien! Podés contarle a la gente sobre eso - solamente *tratalos como gente*, no como objetivos de marketing.
107 | 
108 | Hay un comportamiento en que las compañías participan a menudo y que enloquece a la gente, y es algo que *de verdad* no deberías hacer: **no mandes mensajes promocionando tu producto o servicio a nadie y sin que te lo pidan**. Conocé gente, conversá con esa gente, y si pensás que alguien que vos conocés podría estar interesado y no sabe lo que estás haciendo, *entonces* contale lo que hacés o lo que creas.
109 | 
110 | Si representás a una compañía y tu jefe te dice que tu compañía necesita tener presencia en Mastodon, esto es lo que le podés decir (e incluso podés decirle que yo te dije que se lo dijeras):
111 | 
112 | > Mastodon no funciona así. Si vamos a tener presencia en Mastodon, debe ser alguien con tiempo para *ser* alguien en esa cuenta, y no un portavoz corporativo. Eso significa que la persona en la cuenta de Mastodon no se va a llevar bien con todo el mundo (aunque debería intentarlo) y va a tratar a los otros usuarios como gente y no como objetivos de marketing. Si está bien así, me encargaré de eso. Si no, tenés que hacer una mayor investigación sobre Mastodon antes de establecer una presencia ahí.
113 | 
114 | ## ¿Cómo puedo estar verificado en Mastodon?
115 | 
116 | :bangbang: A diferencia de Twitter, Mastodon no tiene incluida la verificación de cuentas. Acá asumimos que sos quien decis ser. Si ves a alguien con un check junto al nombre (tipo :white_check_mark:), simplemente escribieron el emoji junto al nombre y nada más. 
117 | 
118 | Dicho esto, algunos administradores de instancias requieren pruebas de identidad antes de permitir registrar a un usuario, pero **no cuentes en que eso sea lo normal**.
119 | 
120 | **Si alguien se hace pasar por vos, contactate con el administrador de la instancia en que está esa persona para resolverlo.**
121 | 
122 | ## Está bien, ¿Cómo hago para que la gente sepa que yo soy quien dice ser?
123 | 
124 | Las instancias de Mastodon te permiten añadir metadatos a tu perfil - hasta cuatro campos que se muestran en una tabla en tu página de perfil que no cuentan dentro del largo del texto del perfil. Si usás esos campos para enlazar a tus otros sitios web, algunas instancias te dejarán verificar que esos sitios web son *tuyos* al ofrecer un link en esos sitios web que dirijan a tu cuenta en Mastodon. Por ejemplo, si tenés un sitio web personal, podés incluir el link a tu sitio web en tus metadatos de Mastodon, y luego incuir un link a tu cuenta de Mastodon en el header del sitio web, y Mastodon verificará que sos la persona que es dueña de tu sitio web.
125 | 
126 | Una instancia de Mastodon que permita eso contendrá las instrucciones en la página de **Editar Perfil** sobre como añadir el enlace de verificación.
127 | 
128 | # ¿COMO ELIJO UNA INSTANCIA?
129 | 
130 | Las mayúsculas son a propósito.
131 | 
132 | Elegir una instancia puede ser difícil. Muchas instancias tienen un enfoque específico: `loa.masto.host` es un espacio seguro para gente LGTB+, `infosec.exchange` es un espacio para quienes les gusta la seguridad informática, `mastodont.cat` fue hecha para quienes hablan catalán, y `botsin.space` se enfoca en el desarrollo y alojamiento de bots automatizados. En `oulipo.social` no se permite escribir un toot que incluya la letra "e". 
133 | 
134 | Si no te creaste una cuenta en mastodon todavía, te podría ser útil probar en una de las instancias más grandes, como `mastodon.social` - la instancia principal, con más de 100.000 usuarios activos - o `mas.to` . Estas instancias tienen una población enorme y generalmente amigable que te ayudarán a encontrar una instancia más de nicho si eso es lo que estás buscando. Sin embargo, cuidado, porque debido a su tamaño, las lineas de tiempo locales en esas instancias pueden moverse *muy* rápido.
135 | 
136 | (*Una breve nota sobre mastodon.social: Esta **es** la instancia más grande de propósito general. Mucha gente va allí y nunca vuelve a buscar otras instancias. Si te hacés una cuenta en mastodon.social, considerá tratarla como una parada temporal mientras buscás una instancia que se adecúe más a tus necesidades e intereses. Una vez que la encuentres, podés exportar a toda la gente que seguís, silenciás y bloqueás en mastodon.social e importarlos a tu nueva cuenta, así no tenés que buscar a todos de nuevo.*)
137 | 
138 | Si ya te registraste en una instancia pero no estás seguro de si te sirve, intentá preguntar por allí si hay instancias que te podrían servir más. También, intentá buscar por un #hashtag que te interese; si ves a mucha gente en una instancia hablando de esa cuestión, puede que sea un buen lugar para que revises.
139 | 
140 | También podés probar el selector de instancias en [joinmastodon.org](https://joinmastodon.org/communities) o el asistente [instances.social](https://instances.social/), aunque estos tienen *muchas* instancias listadas y puede que te abrumes. Hacelo despacio y con calma.
141 | 
142 | ## Encontré otra instancia que me gusta más. ¿Puedo mudar mi cuenta?
143 | 
144 | Sí y no.
145 | 
146 | Hay dos maneras de lograr esto: podés **redirigir** tu cuenta o **migrar** tu cuenta.
147 | 
148 | Si **redirigis** tu cuenta, tu cuenta vieja tendrá una noticia de redirección añadida, y no podrás volver a usarla por completo (Creo que esto significa que no podrás postear toots desde esa cuenta). Igual podrás exportar los datos de tu cuenta, y podrás reactivar tu cuenta en cualquier momento. A los usuarios que van al perfil de tu vieja cuenta se les contará que te pueden encontrar en tu cuenta nueva. Nada más se transferirá automáticamente. Podés hacerlo yendo a `[tu servidor]/settings/migration/redirect/new` (por ejemplo, elekk.xyz/settings/migration/redirect/new). También hay un link en la página de migración de cuentas. Todo lo que tenés que hacer es colocar el nombre de la cuenta a la que estás redirigiendo y Mastodon hará el resto.
149 | 
150 | (Podés mudar manualmente una buena parte de tu información si redireccionás tu cuenta. Ver los pasos 4-6 más abajo.)
151 | 
152 | Si **migrás** tu cuenta, pasarán las mismas cosas que si redirigís tu cuenta. **Además**, todos tus seguidores se moverán a tu nueva cuenta (para que nadie tenga que buscarte y volverte a seguir). *Podés*, además, mudar manualmente tus seguimientos, listas, usuarios bloqueados, silenciados, dominios bloqueados, y marcadores, pero el sistema no lo hará de manera automática.
153 | 
154 | **En ninguno de los casos se mudarán tus toots. Estarás empezando con un historial vacío de toots en tu nueva cuenta.**
155 | 
156 | Estos son los pasos para **migrar** tu cuenta, incluyendo pasos adicionales. (Parecen muchos pasos, pero se dividieron algunas cosas para que las instrucciones sean más fáciles de seguir.)
157 | 
158 | 1. Creá tu cuenta **nueva**. Esto puede hacerse en la misma instancia en la que estás, o en otra instancia.
159 | 2. En tu cuenta **nueva**, hacé click en `Preferencias` en el panel de la derecha, luego a `Perfil > Apariencia`. Debajo de la imagen de cabecera y el avatar, asegurate de que **Hacer privada esta cuenta** *no esté marcado*. (Si está marcado, tendrás que aprobar manualmente cada seguidor que el proceso automatizado intente traer.) Hacé click en **Guardar Cambios** en la parte de arriba o abajo de la página si tuviste que desmarcar la opción.
160 | 3. En tu cuenta **nueva**, en Preferencias, andá a `Cuenta > Ajustes de la cuenta `. En la parte de abajo de la página, bajo el encabezado `Migrar de una cuenta diferente` , hacé click en "**crear un alias de la cuenta**".
161 | 4. Escribí el `nombredeusuario@instancia` de la cuenta **vieja** (por ejemplo, `noelle@elekk.xyz`) y hacé click en "**Crear Alias**".
162 | 5. (Opcional) En tu cuenta **vieja**, en Preferencias, andá a `Importar y exportar > Exportar información`.
163 | 6. (Opcional) Verás una lista de... ¿estadísticas de la cuenta, quizás? Junto a "Sigue", "Listas", "Personas que has bloqueado", "Tienes en silencio", "Bloqueos de dominios", y "Marcadores", verás un :arrow_down:`CSV`. Hacé click ahí por cada cosa que quieras mudar a tu cuenta nueva; esto descargará una lista de esas cosas en un formato estandar. Hacé una nota de endonde se descargan.
164 | 7. (Opcional) En tu cuenta **nueva**, en Preferencias, andá a `Importar y exportar > Importar`. Para cada uno de los archivos que descargaste (salvo las listas, las cuales no tienen una función para importar todavía):
165 |   * Usá el menú desplegable de arriba (debajo de `Importar tipo`) para seleccionar lo que querés importar.
166 |   * Debajo de `Información`, hacé click en el botón de "**Examinar...**" para que abra el selector de archivos, y selecciones el archivo CSV que acabás de descargar.
167 |   * Seleccioná "**Unir**", si no está seleccionado.
168 |   * Click en "**Cargar**".
169 | 8. En tu cuenta **vieja**, en Preferencias, andá a `Cuenta > Ajustes de la cuenta `. Al fondo de la página, bajo el encabezado `Mudarse a otra cuenta`, hacé click en "**configurarlo aquí**".
170 | 9. Escribí el `nombredeusuario@instancia` de la cuenta **nueva**, junto con la contraseña de la cuenta **vieja**. Esto verifica que sos el dueño de la cuenta (en caso de que te olvides de desloguearte y otro use la computadora). Y luego hacés click en "**Migrar Seguidores**".
171 | 
172 | ¡Y ya está! Notá por favor que puede tomar un rato migrar todo e importar todo lo que hayas subido, especialmente si te mueves desde o hacia un servidor grande o viejo.
173 | 
174 | :bangbang: **Importante**: Este proceso es lo más cercano que Mastodon tiene de cambiar el nombre de usuario.
175 | 
176 | ¡Agradecimientos a [Ted](https://peoplemaking.games/@esdin) y arachnomyrmex que ayudaron en que esto sea claro!
177 | 
178 | ## ¿Cómo cambio mi nombre de usuario?
179 | 
180 | :bangbang: Versión corta: no podés. Una vez que elegís el nombre de usuario de tu cuenta, no se puede cambiar, así que elegí con cuidado.
181 | 
182 | Versión larga: La única manera de cambiar el nombre de usuario es migrando la cuenta (ver más arriba), pero de nuevo, esto no muda los toots de una cuenta a la otra. 
183 | 
184 | Algunos administradores intentaron cambiar el nombre de usuario directamente en la base de datos (a pedido de los usuarios), y por alguna razón, al hacerlo se rompe la federación para esa cuenta; y no pueden mandar ni recibir mensajes a otras instancias ni recibir menciones.
185 | 
186 | ## ¿Cómo menciono a alguien que no está en mi instancia?
187 | 
188 | :bangbang: Los nombres de usuario en Mastodon tienen la forma @*nombredeusuario*@*instancia*. Por ejemplo quien hizo esta guía en inglés tiene su cuenta en mastodon.social y es @<span>noelle</span>@mastodon.social; y tambien tiene una en elekk.xyz y es @<span>noelle</span>@elekk.xyz. Si estás mencionando a alguien en una instancia diferente, tenes que escribir toda la dirección (aunque el cuadrito donde escribís el toot te ayudará a autocompletar el nombre de usuario si es un nombre que la instancia ya conoce). 
189 | 
190 | Si estás mencionando a alguien de tu propia instancia, sólo necesitás escribir la primera parte; si estás en mastodon.social, @Gargron te llevará a contactar con él de la misma forma que @<span>Gargron</span>@mastodon.social. Si omitís el "@*instancia*" Mastodon entiende que le querés hablar al usuario local.
191 | 
192 | ## ¿Cuales son las reglas?
193 | 
194 | Las reglas dependen de la instancia en que estés. Cada instancia tiene una página en https://<span>*instancia*</span>/about/more que por lo general contiene más información sobre la instancia y a menudo describe las normas de la comunidad. Por ejemplo, mastodon.social tiene las normas de su comunidad escritas en https://mastodon.social/about/more .
195 | 
196 | Tené presente que estas son normas en general y no reglas estrictas. Como cada instancia es administrada por un grupo separado de moderadores - ¡a menudo suele haber un solo moderador! - ellos tienen la última palabra sobre qué se permite y qué no se permite en sus instancias. Los administradores de tu instancia incluso pueden llegar hasta bloquear una instancia entera si sus usuarios resultan incompatibles con los valores que defiende tu instancia y los moderadores de la otra instancia no ayudan.
197 | 
198 | ## ¿Qué pasa si veo a alguien rompiendo las reglas?
199 | 
200 | Si ves a alguien que rompe las reglas, podés reportarlo. Hacé click en la parte `...` que aparece debajo del toot que rompe la regla, y seleccioná dentro del menú `Reportar`. Eso mostrará una ventana donde podés elegir otros toots recientes de ese usuario, si es necesario, y también escibir una *razón* para reportarlo, para que el moderador que reciba el reporte entienda por qué se lo mandaste. 
201 | 
202 | Si el usuario es de otra instancia, debajo de las razones del reporte, aparecerá un switch para "Reenviar a *su instancia*". Esto no solo reporta el usuario a los moderadores de tu instancia, sino que también manda el reporte a la instancia del otro usuario. Antes de hacer eso, **comprobá las reglas de la instancia en la que el usuario está**. Puede que no esté rompiendo sus reglas.
203 | 
204 | **Los moderadores y administradores de *tu* instancia podrán ver que vos mandaste el reporte. Si enviás el reporte a la instancia de un usuario remoto, los moderadores y administradores de esa instancia *no* podrán ver quién envió el reporte — sólo podrán ver que vino desde tu instancia.**
205 | 
206 | Por defecto, no te llegarán notificaciones sobre las acciones que los moderadores y administradores tomen en respuesta a tu reporte. Podés preguntarles, pero que no te extrañe si te responden "no hacemos comentarios sobre como resolvemos los reportes".
207 | 
208 | ## ¿Cuales son los diferentes tipos de toots?
209 | 
210 | :bangbang: Los toots de Mastodon (y de otros servidores del fediverso) pueden encadenarse de diferentes maneras. Se pueden usar estos tres términos para referirse a los tipos diferentes de toots. Puede que otra gente use otros términos.
211 | 
212 | * Los **toots sueltos** son toots que no son respuestas a ningún otro toot. (O sea, no hiciste click en el botón de responder para escibir el toot.) Estos están al principio de la cadena. Podés incluir los nombre de usuarios de otra gente en los toots sueltos para mencionarlos; hacer eso no hace que el toot sea una respuesta. **Por ejemplo:** Vos usás el cuadrito (El que dice "¿En qué estás pensando?") para hacer un toot nuevo.
213 | * Las **autorespuestas** son toots que son respuestas directas a *uno de tus propios* toots sueltos o a otra autorespuesta. De nuevo, estas pueden incluir referencias a otra persona. Podés seguir respondiendo tus propios toots lo más que quieras, y *mientras un toot de otro no esté encima de lo que estés escribiendo en la cadena*, seguirán siendo autorespuestas. **Por ejemplo:**  Vos hacés click en el botón de responder en uno de tus propios toots sueltos para responderte a ti mismo, y luego haces click en responder a *ese* toot para responderte de nuevo.
214 | * Las **respuestas** son toots que son respuestas a los toots de otra perona *o respuestas a una respuesta de otra persona*. **Por ejemplo:** Hacés click en el botón de respuesta del toot de otra persona para responderle, **o** hacés click en el botón de respuesta de un toot tuyo que sea la respuesta a un toot de otra persona.
215 | 
216 | [Aquí](replies.png) tenés un diagrama para ver mejor (es un link porque es una imagen grande). Vas a ver que apenas entre en la cadena un toot de otra persona, tus respuestas dejan de ser autorespuestas. Esto es importante, porque las autorespuestas y las respuestas funcionan distinto en las lineas de tiempo de tus seguidores.
217 | 
218 | ## ¿Cómo funciona la configuración de privacidad?
219 | 
220 | Debajo del cuadrado para escribir toots, verás unos íconos: entre ellos está uno que puede ser un planeta o un candado. Hacés click ahi y con eso elegis configurar la privacidad de ese toot que vas a escribir. *Podés elegir el nivel por defecto de privacidad en la parte de **Preferencias > Otros > Privacidad de publicaciones**.*
221 | 
222 | * **Público** significa que todos pueden ver el toot. Aparecerá en tu lista de toots y en las lineas de tiempo principales de tus seguidores. Tus *toots sueltos* y *autorespuestas* que sean públicas aparecerán en tu lista de toots, en las lineas de tiempo principales de tus seguidores, en las lineas de tiempo locales y federadas, y en las menciones de cualquiera a quien menciones por su nombre de usuario. Tus *respuestas* públicas aparecerán en tu lista de *toots y respuestas* (*no* en la lista principal de toots; ¡es una lista separada!), en las lineas de tiempo principales de cualquier seguidor tuyo que *también* siga a esa persona a la que seguís, y en las menciones de cualquiera a quien menciones por su nombre de usuario.
223 | * **No listado** significa que todos pueden ver el toot, pero no aparecerá en las lineas de tiempo públicas - tanto la Local como la Federada. Aparte de eso, los toots no listados se comportan de la misma manera que los toots públicos.
224 | * **Solo seguidores** significa que sólo la gente que te sigue y la gente que mencionaste en el toot puede ver el toot en sus lineas de tiempo o en tu página de perfil. Si alguien que no te sigue ve tu perfil, no verá tus posts que son solo seguidores. *Para tus seguidores*, los toots solo seguidores se comportan de la misma manera que los toots no listados. **Tus toots solo seguidores que mencionen a otro usuario también aparecerán en las menciones de ese usuario, ¡incluso si no te sigue!**
225 | * :bangbang: **Solo cuentas mencionadas** significa eso exactamente; que sólo la gente mencionada en tu toot pueden verlo, y **cualquiera** que sea mencionada puede verlo (a menos de que te haya bloqueado o silenciado). Aparecerán en sus menciones y, en los servidores de Mastodon por encima de la versión 3.0, aparecerán en la columna de Mensajes Directos.
226 | 
227 | Tené presente que algunos servidores, que corren un software distinto pero compatible con el de Mastodon, ignorarán esas configuraciones de privacidad si les mandás un mensaje a esos usuarios, ¡así que tené cuidado!
228 | 
229 | ## ¿Qué tan privado es "Privado"?
230 | 
231 | Esto no se puede enfatizar lo suficiente: **Los toots que son solo cuentas mencionadas (DMs) NO están cifrados ni son seguros.**
232 | 
233 | El administrador de tu servidor puede leer *cualquier* toot escrito en tu servidor, como también *cualquier* toot enviado a otro usuario en tu servidor. **Sin embargo**, es bastante difícil hacerlo. Tus toots privados no aparecerán en el panel de administrador del sitio; tu administrador tiene que acceder manualmente, directamente a la base de datos -- normalmente logueándose a la linea de comandos del servidor -- para poder acceder a estos. No es algo que los administradores hagan por capricho; sólo lo hacen cuando están obligados a hacerlo, y esta es la razón:
234 | 
235 | Esta es una precaución necesaria de seguridad. Los administradores *no quieren* leer tus toots privados, pero tienen que ser *capaces* de hacerlo porque si no los toots privados permiten que ciertos usuarios puedan acosar a otros en secreto o llevar a cabo acciones ilegales sin el conocimiento del administrador, y bajo varias leyes el administrador será considerado responsable por permitir el acoso o el comportamiento ilegal *incluso si ellos no sabían que esto ocurría*.
236 | 
237 | Dicho esto, en general, tu administrador sólo revisará tus toots marcados como solo cuentas mencionadas si tienen una razón para creer que está ocurriendo un caso de acoso o de acciones ilegales. Asegurate de que confiás en que tu administrador actúe de esa manera, y si no, puede ser un buen momento para buscar otra instancia.
238 | 
239 | Siguiendo con la cuestión, hay que mencionar que esto ocurre en casi todas las redes sociales. Los administradores de Twitter pueden leer tus DMs. Los administradores de un foro pueden leer tus mensajes privados. No es una novedad ni una característica inusual de Mastodon; Sólo queremos asegurarnos de que lo sepas.
240 | 
241 | **Como regla general, si una aplicación que usás no está [cifrada de extremo a extremo](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cifrado_de_extremo_a_extremo), la información que estás mandando no está segura a menos de que tomes [medidas extra por fuera de la aplicación para asegurarla](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy).**
242 | 
243 | ## ¿Qué pasa cuando alguien me sigue?
244 | 
245 | ~~Si alguien te sigue, sufrirás una deuda vitalicia hacia esa persona. Se te pedirá que sacrifiques tu vida por esa persona cuando esta lo requiera. Una vez que hayas hecho eso, te dejará de seguir y, si has sobrevivido, eres libre de seguir con tu vida normalmente.~~
246 | 
247 | Nah, es joda.
248 | 
249 | Si alguien te sigue, verá tus toots en su linea de tiempo principal y podrá ver tus toots que son solo seguidores. Si querés, podés limitar a la gente que puede seguirte haciendo click en **Editar perfil** y seleccionar **Hacer privada esta cuenta**, lo cual te permitirá aprobar y rechazar manualmente a la gente que quiera seguirte.
250 | 
251 | ## Así que si hago privada mi cuenta, ¿Sólo la gente aprobada podrá ver mis toots?
252 | 
253 | Sí y no.
254 | 
255 | Con la cuenta puesta en privado, podés aprobar a quienes pueden seguirte *a través de la interfaz de Mastodon*. Eso significa que sólo la gente que apruebes podrá ver tus toots de **solo seguidores**. Tus toots **no listados** seguirán apareciendo en tu perfil, y tus toots **públicos** aparecerán tanto en tu perfil como en las lineas de tiempo locales y federadas.
256 | 
257 | **Sin embargo.**
258 | 
259 | :bangbang: Todas las cuentas de Mastodon (en un servidor no modificado) también crean una fuente RSS de sus toots públicos y no listados - p.e. los toots que aparecen en el perfil de la cuenta. No incluye los toots de solo seguidores ni los mensajes directos, y si le [pusiste un CW a un toot](#qué-significa-cw), sólo el CW aparece en la fuente RSS, no lo que está debajo. 
260 | 
261 | Tu fuente de RSS aparece en `https://<your-server>/users/<your-username>.rss` ; por ejemplo, como estoy en `https://social.pueseso.club/@diazepan`, mi fuente de RSS es `https://social.pueseso.club/users/diazepan.rss` . (¡Acordate de quitarle el `@`!)
262 | 
263 | **Todos pueden suscribirse a esas fuentes usando un lector de RSS para ver tus toots públicos y no listados cuando los posteás.** No podés controlar quien puede ver esas fuentes, pero no contienen (y, por diseño, no pueden contener) tus toots de solo seguidores o mensajes directos. *Si sólo escribís toots que son solo para seguidores, tu fuente de RSS estará vacía.*
264 | 
265 | Recordá, podés elegir el nivel por defecto de privacidad para tus toots en la parte de **Preferencias > Otros > Privacidad de publicaciones**. Si tenés una cuenta puesta como privada, probablemente preferirás elegir por defecto que tus toots sean de solo seguidores para que tengas que hacer un esfuerzo activo para hacer un toot público o no listado.
266 | 
267 | ## ¿Qué pasa si alguien está siguiéndome o interactuando conmigo y no quiero que siga haciéndolo?
268 | 
269 | Acá tenes unas opciones.
270 | 
271 | * **Si lo único que querés es que no aparezca en tus lineas de tiempo**, podés *silenciarlo*. Esto evitará que sus toots aparezcan en tus lineas de tiempo; podés incluso bloquear las notificaciones (Favoritos, retooteos y menciones) de ese usuario, por ende si no querés ver los toots sueltos de alguien pero sí querés ver sus intentos de interactuar contigo, podés hacer eso.
272 | * **Si no querés ver a ese usuario y tampoco querés que te vea**, podés *bloquearlo*. Esto automáticamente lo silenciará; si te estaba siguiendo y/o lo estabas siguiendo, cortará esas relaciones también. El usuario no será capaz de seguirte o de aparecer en *ninguna* de tus lineas de tiempo a menos que lo desbloquees. (Ver el sin embargo más abajo.)
273 | * **Si te está acosando o está rompiendo las reglas**, podés [reportarlo](#qué-pasa-si-veo-a-alguien-rompiendo-las-reglas), y con suerte, tu moderador se encargará de eso.
274 | 
275 | Todas esas tres opciones están disponibles haciendo click en la parte `...` que aparece debajo del toot del usuario o en su perfil dentro de la interfaz web de Mastodon.
276 | 
277 | **Sin embargo.**
278 | 
279 | Al igual que con una [cuenta privada](#así-que-si-hago-privada-mi-cuenta-sólo-la-gente-aprobada-podrá-ver-mis-toots), cualquier usuario — incluso los que has bloqueado o que hayan sido suspendidos por un moderador — pueden ir a tu página pública o tu fuente de RSS para ver toots públicos y no listados. No hay una buena manera de evitar eso desafortunadamente, salvo hacer que todos tus toots sean solo para seguidores.
280 | 
281 | ## ¿Cómo sé si alguien me silenció o me bloqueó?
282 | 
283 | No vas a recibir una notificación si alguien te silencia o te bloquea.
284 | 
285 | Si alguien te silenció, no hay manera de que te enteres. Si no te responde consistentemente cuando lo mencionás, podés tener sospechas, pero Mastodon deliberadamente hace que te sea casi imposible saber si te han silenciado. (Entre otras cosas, es un recurso temporal para tratar de evitar que alguien te acose creando varias cuentas para esquivar los silenciamientos.)
286 | 
287 | Si alguien te bloqueó, ya no podrás seguirlo, sus toots no aparecerán en tu linea de tiempo, y cuando veas el perfil de su cuenta *dentro de la interfaz web de Mastodon*, ninguno de sus toots cargarán. (Vale notar que si estás mirando el perfil de alguien que *no* seguís, a veces sus toots no cargarán y es solo porque el servidor está lento, no porque te haya bloqueado, así que no seas *tan* rápido para asumir algo.)
288 | 
289 | Si alguien te bloqueó, *podés* igual ir a su página pública y ver sus toots públicos y sin listar; los perfiles públicos no necesitan autenticación (o sea, no necesitás estar logueado en esa instancia para verlos) y por ende no pueden saber quien sos ni que el usuario te bloqueó. **Habiendo dicho esto**, seamos honestos. Si alguien te bloqueó, no te quiere cerca. *Podés* seguir leyendo sus toots públicos y sin listar, pero ¿quizás no conviene? En una manera sustancial estás invadiendo su privacidad y cruzando deliberadamente un límite que marcó, y eso de que "el software me lo permite, por lo tanto se puede" es una justificación muy poco sólida. En resumen, dejalo solo.
290 | 
291 | ## ¿Qué pasa si me paso del límite de caracteres?
292 | 
293 | No te preocupes. En primer lugar, no podés pasarte; Mastodon no te dejará postear un toot con más caracteres que el límite de la instancia. No vas a meterte en problemas ni nada.
294 | 
295 | Si resulta que lo que querés decir es demasiado largo como para caber en un solo toot, o si pensás en algo más después de postear el toot, podés *responder a tu propio toot*. Soporta hilos de toots, así que podés tootear tantas veces como quieras, respondiendo a cada toot en secuencia, y toda la serie aparecerá cuando alguien haga click en cualquiera de los toots del hilo.
296 | 
297 | Así que si tu toot es muy largo, dividilo en partes y hacé que una parte sea una respuesta de la parte anterior; si pensás en otra cosa después, respondé al toot original y la respuesta aparecerá cuando alguien haga click en el toot original.
298 | 
299 | ## ¿Qué son los hashtags?
300 | 
301 | Para hacer un hashtag, escribí "#" y luego una serie de letras o números. Los acentos cuentan; puntuaciones, espacios, símbolos, y emojis no. #buenosdiasloprimero es un hashtag válido; #büénòsdĩǎslŏprįmèrö también; sin embargo #buenos-dias-lo-primero no (solo queda en #buenos).
302 | 
303 | Un hashtag es un metadato sobre tu toot: provee información adicional que no necesariamente pertenece al cuerpo del toot, pero que es útil para entenderlo. Si sos programador, es casi como un comentario en el código.
304 | 
305 | Como bonus†, los hashtags son rastreados por cada instancia. Hacer click en un hashtag te dirige a una lista de toots públicos con ese hashtag. Podés usarlos por ejemplo para seguir discusiones de #política, ver gente nueva que llega a Mastodon en #introducción, o seguir las obras hechas por los usuarios en #mastoart. Con el lanzamiento de la versión 4.0.0 de Mastodon podés seguir hashtags individuales y de esa forma los toots que contienen el hashtag que seguís aparecen en tu linea de tiempo.
306 | 
307 | No exagerés con los hashtags. Como norma, tus hashtags probablemente no deberían ocupar más del 10% del largo total de tu toot. Si exagerás con eso, puede que estés intentando hacer demasiadas cosas a la vez.
308 | 
309 | † *Esta era la intención original de los hashtags, pero el uso cambió desde ese entonces.*
310 | 
311 | ## ¿Qué significa "CW"?
312 | 
313 | :bangbang: CW significa Content Warning (Aviso de contenido). Lo que hace es el ocultar el texto de un toot debajo de otro texto (el cual podés elegir); es como un enlace al estilo Leer Más.
314 | 
315 | Hay gente que usa CWs para hablar de:
316 | 
317 | * Política
318 | * Sexo
319 | * Cuestiones de mal gusto
320 | * Fobias comunes, como arañas o sangre
321 | * Discusiones sobre salud, tanto física como mental
322 | * Remates para chistes
323 | * Toots largos que de otra manera llenarían las lineas de tiempo de otra gente
324 | * Comentarios sobre discusiones que ocurren en otros lugares del fediverso
325 | * Contacto visual (eso se usa generalmente cuando se suben fotos)
326 | 
327 | En general, hacé uso de tu sano juicio; Pensá seriamente si hay alguna razón de que alguien no quiera ver esto. Si la hay, usa CW y vas a evitar molestias innecesarias.
328 | 
329 | **Una nota importante:** Mastodon *no* rastrea hashtags dentro del texto de un CW. Mastodon *sí* rastrea hashtags que están *bajo* un CW. Siempre poné tus hashtags en el cuerpo del toot, nunca en el aviso de contenido.
330 | 
331 | ## Le adjunté una foto a mi toot. ¿Qué es eso de 'marcar como sensible'?
332 | 
333 | :bangbang: Si marcás tu foto como sensible, la foto quedará oculta detrás de una capa de "Contenido sensible". Esto conviene por ejemplo con fotos que contienen desnudos, violencia gráfica, etc.
334 | 
335 | Notarás que si tenés una imagen y un CW en un toot, la capa de "Contenido sensible" se prende automáticamente y no puede apagarse. Es a propósito.
336 | 
337 | ## Le adjunté una foto a mi toot. ¿Qué es ese botón de editar?
338 | 
339 | :interrobang: Cuando adjuntás una imagen, vas a ver un botón de "Editar" (con un ícono de lápiz) en la esquina superior derecha de la imagen. Al haceer click ahí se abre una caja de diálogo que te permite determinar qué parte de la imagen debe verse en en la vista previa; también te permite colocar un texto alternativo para la imagen, el cual la gente puede leer si coloca el mouse sobre el texto, y el cual los lectores de pantalla (los cuales son usados por usuarios con discapacidad visual) pueden leer en vez de decir "imagen embebida".
340 | 
341 | Para imágenes que mayormente son textos (por ejemplo, una captura de pantalla de un post de Tumblr), Mastodon tiene incorporado un reconocedor óptico de caracteres (OCR) y a menudo puede transcribir la imagen, aunque probablemente deberías revisar la transcripción para asegurarte de que sea precisa. Si, por alguna razón, no funciona el OCR de tu instancia, podés usar una herramienta online como [Online OCR](https://www.onlineocr.net) para transcribir tu imagen. Y si todo eso falla, hay Bots OCR en el fediverso que responderán a tu post con una transcripción si los @mencionás.
342 | 
343 | El texto en la caja de descripción tiene su propio límite de 1500 caracteres; ¡y **no** cuentan como parte del límite de caracteres del toot!
344 | 
345 | ## ¿Por qué debería agregarle un texto alternativo a mi foto?
346 | 
347 | En una palabra: Accesibilidad. 
348 | 
349 | Hay gente en Mastodon que tiene discapacidad visual y usan lectores de pantalla. Hay otros en Mastodon que tienen las imágenes apagadas para reducir el consumo de datos. También pueden ocurrir errores con los discos duros o los servidores, o que el administrador decida borrar archivos viejos, y que tu imagen ya no se cargue más. Agregarle un texto alternativo a una foto permite que la gente en esas condiciones participen en tus toots con todo el contexto.
350 | 
351 | También podés usar los textos alternativos para agregar chistes extra (como ocurre con los webcomics) o dar un comentario adicional a la imagen. Aprovechá que las descripciones tienen su propio límite de caracteres y escribí lo que quieres.
352 | 
353 | ## ¿Cómo es que mi amigo en otra instancia puede usar este emoji y yo no puedo?
354 | 
355 | :bangbang: :bangbang: Cada instancia puede definir emojis personalizados para que sus usuarios los usen, y muchas lo han aprovechado. El administrador de tu instancia puede copiar los emojis que le gustan desde otras instancias. Si ves un emoji que te gusta y no está disponible en tu instancia, pedíle a tu administrador que lo copie para allí.
356 | 
357 | ## ¿Por qué no puedo buscar una palabra o frase específica?
358 | 
359 | Es una herramienta contra el acoso. Los acosadores a menudo buscan palabras o frases en particular (como "TERF" u "homofóbico" o "todes") para venirse encima y atacar a la gente con la que están en desacuerdo. Al limitar la búsqueda sólo a nombres de usuarios y hashtags, Mastodon permite a los usuarios decidir como quieren que sus toots aparezcan en las búsquedas de otros. (Aunque alguna instancias de Mastodon *permiten* búsqueda de texto, sólo podés buscar tus propios toots en esas instancias. Eso te facilita encontrar algo que escribiste hace un rato sin exponerte al acoso.)
360 | 
361 | ## ¿Por qué no puedo citar un toot?
362 | 
363 | :bangbang: Al igual que con la búsqueda, es otra herramienta contra el acoso. Si querés responder el toot de alguien, tenés que responder a ese toot; no podés retransmitir ese toot a tus seguidores y agregarle un comentario sarcástico.
364 | 
365 | *(Ni siquiera intentes esquivar eso haciendo una captura de pantalla del toot y adjuntarlo como una imagen. **Podés** hacerlo, pero la comunidad de Mastodon tiende a ver eso de mala manera y si seguís haciendolo vas a conseguir una mala reputación bastante rápido.)*
366 | 
367 | ## La cultura en Mastodon parece rara, ¿no?
368 | 
369 | ¡Puede serlo! Pero suele ser una rareza cómoda
370 | 
371 | Estos son ejemplos de rarezas comunes (en la comunidad hispanohablante):
372 | 
373 | * Joseos: Se refiere a la práctica de copiar el texto de un toot, alterar mínimamente su contenido (añadiendo, quitando o modificando palabras) con fines cómicos y postearlo (y opcionalmente retootear el toot original). No se sabe a ciencia cierta el origen del nombre, aunque su establecimiento se remonta a la llegada de usuarios españoles en octubre del 2018. La opinión sobre los joseos está dividida. Por un lado hay muchos usuarios, moderadores y administradores que lo consideran una diversión sana y por otro hay instancias que lo prohiben o que lo restringen a que se haga solo de forma local.
374 | * Fotocachos: Así le dicen a las fotos que se toman los usuarios de sus partes corporales. Generalmente vienen marcadas como material sensible y acompañadas de un hashtag. Hay que insistir en que esta **muy mal** visto descargarse los fotocachos de otros y resubirlos, así que evitá hacerlo.
375 | 
376 | Ya te vas a acostumbrar.
377 | 
378 | ## ¿Cual es la etiqueta generalmente aceptada en Mastodon?
379 | 
380 | No hay reglas estrictas para todos, y (como se mencionó antes) diferentes instancias tienen diferentes normas. Dicho esto, muchos siguen unas normas simples para hacer que Mastodon sea un lugar más amigable para todos.
381 | 
382 | * Si añadís una imagen a un toot pero no lo describís en el toot, usá [un texto alternativo](#le-adjunté-una-foto-a-mi-toot-qué-es-ese-botón-de-editar) para describir la imagen para que la gente que usa lectores de pantalla lo puedan entender.
383 | * Si añadís una imagen que contiene **desnudos, pornografía o contenido sexualmente sugerente, gore, violencia, o política**, o algo que desate desordenes de ansiedad o traumas (como comida, arañas, contacto visual, etc.), [marcalo como sensible](#le-adjunté-una-foto-a-mi-toot-qué-es-eso-de-marcar-como-sensible).
384 | * Si el *texto* de tu toot habla de alguno de esos temas, [usá un aviso de contenido](#qué-significa-cw).
385 | * No necesitás usar un acortador de URLs. Mastodon asume que todas las URLs tienen 20 caracteres de largo. Dejá que la gente vea a donde dirige el link.
386 | * Si hacés un bot que hace posteos automáticos, hacelo que postee con el nivel de privacidad [no listado](#cómo-funciona-la-configuración-de-privacidad). Eso evita que tu bot sea marcado como spam.
387 | * Si usas un script para hacer cross-posting con Twitter (y así postear tus tweets en Mastodon), configurá el script para que use CWs. Eso evita que los temas sensibles (ya mencionados) se pasen de Twitter a Mastodon.
388 | * Ya que hablamos de cross-posting, otra cosa que **no es nada bienvenida** es usar la cuenta de Mastodon para repetir tweets y nada más, ni siquiera interactuar con otros usuarios. Eso también se ve como spam.
389 | * Si ves una conversación y tienes algo para comentar allí:
390 |     * Hacé click en la conversación y asegurate de que lo que queres decir no se haya dicho antes por otro. 
391 |     * Asegurate de que el comentario sea acorde al tono de la conversación, así sos amable con los otros posteadores de la conversación y le da a los demás el beneficio de la duda.
392 | * Recordá que si alguien no te responde, no significa que te ignore. Puede que esté lejos de Mastodon; puede que tenga tantas notificaciones que no haya visto tu toot; puede que haya silenciado la conversación, así que tu respuesta no siguiera apareció. Hay muchas razones por las que alguien se pierde un toot, incluso si está dirigido a ese alguien; no te lo tomes como algo personal.
393 | 
394 | ## Me gusta Mastodon pero prefiero la apariencia de Twitter.
395 | 
396 | Podrías aprovechar a usar [Pinafore](https://pinafore.social/), una interfaz para Mastodon hecha por [Nolan Lawson](https://toot.cafe/@nolan).
397 | 
398 | [Halcyon](https://notabug.org/halcyon-suite/halcyon) es u cliente web para Mastodon que replica la interfaz de Twitter. Como Halcyon en sí es software libre y de código abierto, hay [varios servidores que lo usan](https://notabug.org/halcyon-suite/halcyon#instances); podés elegir el que quieras. Usas tu cuenta de Mastodon cuando usas Halcyon; por ejemplo, si tenés cuenta en elekk.xyz, podés usar `tucuenta@elekk.xyz` y la contraseña de allí para loguearte.
399 | 
400 | Recordá que Pinafore y Halcyon son clientes de terceros, ¡y asegurate de que confíes en ellos antes de darles tu información de sesión!
401 | 
402 | ## Me gusta Mastodon pero quiero usarlo en mi teléfono.
403 | 
404 | Mastodon tiene un diseño adaptable, así que podés usarlo en el navegador del teléfono. Alternativamente, hay muchas apps disponibles para Mastodon que las podés encontrar [acá](https://joinmastodon.org/apps) entre ellas aplicaciones oficiales [para iOS](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mastodon-for-iphone/id1571998974) y [para Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.joinmastodon.android).
405 | 
406 | ## ¿Cómo puedo respaldar mi cuenta de Mastodon?
407 | 
408 | [Alex Schroeder](https://octodon.social/@kensanata) tiene hecho este [Archivador de Mastodon](https://github.com/kensanata/mastodon-backup/) que te ayudará a respaldar tu cuenta y mucho más.
409 | 
410 | ## ¿Puedo usar el teclado para navegar en Mastodon?
411 | 
412 | En la interfaz web, sí. Los atajos en la interfaz web se explican en `https://<tu-servidor>/web/keyboard-shortcuts` , a la cual podés acceder cuando estás logueado en la interfaz web. (Podés encontrar el enlace al fondo de la columna **Primeros pasos**, con la etiqueta "Atajos".)
413 | 
414 | ## ¿Cómo funcionan los favoritos en otros tipos de servidores?
415 | 
416 | En general:
417 | 
418 | * Si le das click a 'favorito' en un post de otro tipo de servidor (Misskey, Pleroma, GNU Social, etc.) federará apropiadamente. Algunos de estos servidores permiten emojis múltiples de respuestas, y cada uno de ellos selecciona un emoji genérico de "favorito", el cual aparecerá en el post del recipiente.
419 | * Si alguien en un tipo de servidor distinto selecciona un emoji para responder a tu toot, este federará hacia vos en Mastodon como un favorito, *sin importar qué emoji sea*.
420 | 
421 | ## Qué raro, mi servidor no tiene muchas de esas cosas.
422 | 
423 | ¡Puede que no estés en Mastodon! El Fediverso - la gigantesca colección de servidores conectada por los protocolos ActivityPub/OStatus - tiene un montón de tipos distintos de servidores allí. ¡Tu servidor puede que esté usando Pleroma, Misskey, GNU Social, u otra cosa! Desafortunadamente, no sé mucho de ellos, así que tendŕas que preguntar a sus usuarios por una guia como esta.
424 | 
425 | ## Qué raro, mi servidor tiene un montón de características extra.
426 | 
427 | Como [Mastodon es de código abierto](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon), podés hacer una copia del código y hacerle todos los cambios que quieras. Y algunos decidieron hacer públicos sus cambios; una de las versiones editadas más populares de Mastodon es [Mastodon Glitch Edition](https://glitch-soc.github.io/docs/), o "glitch-soc". (Se llama así, según yo sé, porque viene de la instancia [glitch.social](https://glitch.social). Glitch-soc tiene varias características extra que los usuarios aprecian a menudo, como la capacidad de usar Markdown en toots y la opción de hacer que un toot solo aparezca en la instancia local pero que no federe a otros servidores.
428 | 
429 | ## Tengo otras preguntas.
430 | 
431 | ¡Preguntá! La gente está generalmente feliz de responder preguntas y ayudar. También, podés beneficiarte de mirar una de estas guías, que tienen una perspectiva distinta:
432 | 
433 | * [FediThing](https://tech.lgbt/@FediThing) tiene [este sitio web](https://fedi.tips/).
434 | * [Ted](https://peoplemaking.games/esdin) tiene [un documento de tips y FAQ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gln7Lg92Vz3TbIjz6qZkpdPOxDAe63jof5snpR4xAa0/).
435 | * [elilla](https://transmom.love/@elilla) hizo esta [introducción futurística a Mastodon](https://wordsmith.social/elilla/a-futuristic-mastodon-introduction-for-2021).
436 | 
437 | Si aún estás confundido, preguntame: https://social.pueseso.club/@diazepan
438 | 
439 | ## ¿Cómo puedo contribuir a la guía?
440 | 
441 | Mirá [la guía de contribuciones](contributing.md)!
442 | 


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/contributing.md:
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 1 | # How can I contribute to the Guide?
 2 | 
 3 | **If you have a Github account**, you can simply submit a [pull request](https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/pulls) if you've made a change to the text that you'd like me to consider, or open an [issue](https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon/issues) if there's something you'd like to request but you haven't made the change to the text.
 4 | 
 5 | I do review all issues and pull requests that are submitted, but because of health issues it might take me a few days. If you haven't heard back in a week, please drop me a note to remind me!
 6 | 
 7 | **If you don't have a Github account**, please email me at `noelle AT noelle.codes` to suggest changes to the Guide!
 8 | 
 9 | ## Is there anything in particular you're looking for?
10 | 
11 | Right now, what the Guide needs most is translations into other languages besides English. My knowledge of most non-English languages isn't strong enough to translate the text myself, and I welcome any multilingual readers to take matters into their own hands! (You may note that this is the lone standing issue that I haven't resolved!)


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/index.html:
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  1 | <!DOCTYPE html>
  2 | <html>
  3 | <head>
  4 |     <meta charset="utf-8">
  5 |     <title>An Increasingly Less-Brief Guide to Mastodon</title>
  6 |     <link rel="stylesheet" url="style.css">
  7 | 
  8 | </head>
  9 | <body>
 10 | <center><h1>An Increasingly Less-Brief Guide to <a href="">Mastodon</a></h1></center>
 11 | 
 12 | <center><h2>DON'T PANIC.</h2></center>
 13 | 
 14 | I've done my best to make this understandable, but you're welcome to suggest changes! If you have a Github account, you can submit change requests directly at <a href="the main repository; otherwise, feel free to contact me [on Mastodon](https://elekk.xyz/@noelle) or by email at `noelle.d.anthony AT gmail`. 
 15 | 
 16 | ## Table of Contents
 17 | 
 18 | * [What is Mastodon?](#what-is-mastodon)
 19 | * [How is it like Twitter?](#how-is-it-like-twitter)
 20 | * [How is it like email?](#how-is-it-like-email)
 21 | * [How is it not like either of those?](#how-is-it-not-like-either-of-those)
 22 | * [How do I establish my brand's presence on Mastodon?](#how-do-i-establish-my-brands-presence-on-mastodon)
 23 | * [How do I get verified on Mastodon?](#how-do-i-get-verified-on-mastodon)
 24 | * [Okay, how do I let people know that I am who I say I am?](#okay-how-do-i-let-people-know-that-i-am-who-i-say-i-am)
 25 | * [HOW DO I PICK AN INSTANCE?](#how-do-i-pick-an-instance)
 26 | * [How do I mention someone who's not on my instance?](#how-do-i-mention-someone-whos-not-on-my-instance)
 27 | * [What are the rules?](#what-are-the-rules)
 28 | * [What are the different kinds of posts?](#what-are-the-different-kinds-of-posts)
 29 | * [How do privacy settings work?](#how-do-privacy-settings-work)
 30 | * [How private is "Private"?](#how-private-is-private)
 31 | * [What happens when someone follows me?](#what-happens-when-someone-follows-me)
 32 | * [So if I lock my account, only approved people can see my posts?](#so-if-i-lock-my-account-only-approved-people-can-see-my-posts)
 33 | * [What if I go over the character limit?](#what-if-i-go-over-the-character-limit)
 34 | * [What are hashtags?](#what-are-hashtags)
 35 | * [What does "CW" mean?](#what-does-cw-mean)
 36 | * [I just attached a picture to my toot. What's with the new 'eye' icon?](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-whats-with-the-new-eye-icon)
 37 | * [I just attached a picture to my toot. How can I add a caption to it?](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-how-can-i-add-a-caption-to-it)
 38 | * [Why should I add a caption to my picture?](#why-should-i-add-a-caption-to-my-picture)
 39 | * [How come my friend on another instance can use this emoji, but I can't?](#how-come-my-friend-on-another-instance-can-use-this-emoji-but-i-cant)
 40 | * [Why can't I search for a specific word or phrase?](#why-cant-i-search-for-a-specific-word-or-phrase)
 41 | * [Why can't I quote someone's toot, like a quote-tweet?](#why-cant-i-quote-someones-toot-like-a-quote-tweet)
 42 | * [The Mastodon culture seems pretty weird?](#the-mastodon-culture-seems-pretty-weird)
 43 | * [What does ![:red_candle:](red_candle_sm.png) mean?](#what-does--mean)
 44 | * [What's the generally-accepted Mastodon etiquette?](#whats-the-generally-accepted-mastodon-etiquette)
 45 | * [I like mastodon but I prefer the way twitter looks.](#i-like-mastodon-but-i-prefer-the-way-twitter-looks)
 46 | * [I like mastodon but I want to use it on my phone.](#i-like-mastodon-but-i-want-to-use-it-on-my-phone)
 47 | * [How can I back up my Mastodon account?](#how-can-i-back-up-my-mastodon-account)
 48 | * [Can I use the keyboard to navigate Mastodon?](#can-i-use-the-keyboard-to-navigate-mastodon)
 49 | * [Weird, my server doesn't have a bunch of these features.](#weird-my-server-doesnt-have-a-bunch-of-these-features)
 50 | * [I have other questions.](#i-have-other-questions)
 51 | 
 52 | ## What is Mastodon?
 53 | 
 54 | Mastodon is Twitter-style social networking combined with email-style instanced servers. It's named after the metal band, but themed after the extinct megafauna.
 55 | 
 56 | ## How is it like Twitter?
 57 | 
 58 | You post relatively-short status updates, and you can see a streaming list of your friends' status updates. You can keep notifications (replies, boosts, favorites, and DMs) in a separate column.
 59 | 
 60 | Mastodon's statuses are called "toots", like Twitter's are called "tweets". A toot can be up to 500 characters long.
 61 | 
 62 | Mastodon also supports hashtags, which are words prefixed by #, like "#gameing" or "#pineapple". You can click on a hashtag to search for other posts containing that tag.
 63 | 
 64 | ## How is it like email?
 65 | 
 66 | Each Mastodon instance is independent but networked, like email servers. If you sign up for an email account on gmail.com, you don't automatically have an account on hotmail.com or aol.com, but you can send and receive messages to and from users on hotmail.com and aol.com. 
 67 | 
 68 | Likewise, if you sign up for an account on mastodon.social, that doesn't make an account for you on every other instance, but you can talk to users from other instances and they can talk to you. 
 69 | 
 70 | You can make accounts on multiple instances if you want to talk about different things separately. You could have an account on https://cybre.space to talk about technology, an account on https://elekk.xyz to talk about gaming, and an account on https://mastodon.social for general chatter. You have to sign into each account separately, and keep each open in a separate browser tab or window.
 71 | 
 72 | Keep in mind that in general, when talking about Mastodon, "instance" and "server" mean the same thing.
 73 | 
 74 | ## How is it not like either of those?
 75 | 
 76 | Mastodon has two additional timelines that you can view: the Local timeline and the Federated timeline.
 77 | 
 78 | The Local timeline is every post with a public status posted by users on your instance, with the exception of replies. (A reply is any toot posted in response to another toot - NOT any toot that simply mentions another user!)
 79 | 
 80 | The Federated timeline is every post with a public status posted by any user that your instance knows about, even from other instances. Your instance knows about a remote user if at least one user on your instance has EVER followed them.
 81 | 
 82 | The Local and Federated timelines can turn into firehoses sometimes. Be careful!
 83 | 
 84 | ## How do I establish my brand's presence on Mastodon?
 85 | 
 86 | The short answer: **Please don't.**
 87 | 
 88 | We've had a decade of Twitter, Facebook, and heaven knows how many other social media platforms becoming platforms for Search Engine Optimization, Brand Awareness, and Corporate Synergy, and I'll be blunt: we're really, really tired of it.
 89 | 
 90 | Mastodon isn't about leveraging followers into customers. It's not about SEO or brand loyalty. **Mastodon is about people.** Don't treat people like potential customers who might buy your stuff; treat them like *people* whom you might want to get to know.
 91 | 
 92 | If you're a person who makes or does something and you think someone might want to buy your product or use your service, great! You can tell people about it - just *treat them like people*, not marketing targets.
 93 | 
 94 | There's one behavior that companies often engage in that drives people nuts, and you *really* shouldn't do it: **don't send unsolicited messages to people advertising your product or service**. Get to know someone, engage in conversations with them, and if you think someone you know would be interested and doesn't already know about what you do, *then* tell them about what you do or what you make.
 95 | 
 96 | If you represent a company and your boss has told you that your company needs a Mastodon presence, here's what you can tell them (and you can tell them I told you to say it):
 97 | 
 98 | > Mastodon doesn't really work like that. If we're going to have a Mastodon presence, it needs to be one person who's free to *be* a person on that account, instead of a corporate mouthpiece. That means the person on the Mastodon account isn't going to get along with everybody and is going to treat other users like they're people instead of marketing targets. If you're okay with that, then I'll get right on it. If not, then you need to do some more research into Mastodon before you establish a presence there.
 99 | 
100 | ## How do I get verified on Mastodon?
101 | 
102 | There's no such thing as a verified account on Mastodon. We assume you are who you say you are. If you see someone with a check-mark by their name (like ✅), they've just typed that emoji into their display name. 
103 | 
104 | If someone's impersonating you, contact the admin of the instance they're on to get it sorted out.
105 | 
106 | ## Okay, how do I let people know that I am who I say I am?
107 | 
108 | Many Mastodon instances will allow you to add metadata to your profile - up to four items displayed in a table on your profile page that don't count against the length of your profile text. If you use these fields to link to your other websites, some instances will allow you to verify that you *own* those websites by providing a link on those websites back to your Mastodon account. For instance, if you have a personal website, you can include the link to your website in your Mastodon metadata, and then include a link to your Mastodon account in the header of your website, and Mastodon will verify that you're the person who owns your website.
109 | 
110 | A Mastodon instance that allows this will have instructions on your **Edit Profile** page telling you how to add the verification link.
111 | 
112 | # HOW DO I PICK AN INSTANCE?
113 | 
114 | This one's big on purpose.
115 | 
116 | Picking an instance can be hard. Many instances have a specific focus: computerfairi.es is a safe space for queer folks, instance.business is a haven for non-white people, botsin.space focuses on the hosting and development of automated bots. On oulipo.social it's illicit to post a toot containing any "e"s. 
117 | 
118 | If you haven't created a mastodon account yet, you might find it useful to try one of the larger instances, like [mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/about/more) - the flagship instance, with over 100,000 users - [toot.cafe](https://toot.cafe/about/more), or [wandering.shop](https://wandering.shop/about/more). These instances have large, usually-friendly populations that will help you find a more niche instance if that's what you're looking for. Be warned, though, that because of their size, the Local timelines on these instances can move *very* quickly.
119 | 
120 | (*A brief note about mastodon.social: it **is** the largest general-purpose instance (the largest overall is a Japanese-language instance). Many people go there and never check out other instances. If you make an account on mastodon.social, consider treating it as a temporary waypoint while you find an instance that better fits your needs and interests. Once you've found one, you can export all the people you're following, muting, and blocking on mastodon.social and import them at your new account, so you don't have to go around and find everybody again.*)
121 | 
122 | If you've already registered on an instance but you're not sure if it's a good fit for you, try asking around for instances where you might be a better fit. Also, try searching for a #hashtag that interests you; if you see a lot of people on one instance talking about that subject, it might be a good place for you to check out.
123 | 
124 | You can also try the instance picker on [joinmastodon.org](https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started) or the wizard at [instances.social](https://instances.social/), although these have *lots* of instances listed and you might be overwhelmed. Take it slow and easy.
125 | 
126 | ## How do I mention someone who's not on my instance?
127 | 
128 | Mastodon usernames take the form @*username*@*instance*. My account on mastodon.social is @<span>noelle</span>@mastodon.social; my account on elekk.xyz is @<span>noelle</span>@elekk.xyz. If you're mentioning someone on a different instance, you have to type the whole thing (although the toot input box will help you auto-complete the username if it's a name the instance knows already). 
129 | 
130 | If you're mentioning someone on your own instance, you just have to type the first part; if you're on elekk.xyz, @noelle will get to me just like @<span>noelle</span>@elekk.xyz will. If you leave off the "@*instance*" Mastodon understands that you want to talk to the local user.
131 | 
132 | ## What are the rules?
133 | 
134 | The rules depend on which instance you're on. Each instance has a page at https://<span>*instance*</span>/about/more that contains more information about the instance and often describes the community guidelines. For example, mastodon.social has its community guidelines posted at https://mastodon.social/about/more .
135 | 
136 | Keep in mind that these are usually guidelines and not hard-and-fast rules. Since each instance is run by a separate team of moderators - often just one person! - they have final say over what's allowed and not allowed on their instance. Your instance admins might even go so far as to block an entire other instance if their users turn out to be incompatible with your instance's values and the other instance's moderators won't help.
137 | 
138 | ## What are the different kinds of posts?
139 | 
140 | Mastodon (and other fediverse) posts can be chained together in different ways. I use three terms to refer to different kinds of posts. These might not be the terms other people use.
141 | 
142 | * **Stand-alone posts** are posts that are not replies to any other post. (That is, you did not click on the Reply button to start the post.) They are at the head of a chain. You can include people's usernames in stand-alone posts to tag them; doing that does not make the post a reply. **For example:** You use the standard compose box ("What's on your mind?" in the default Mastodon settings) to create a new post.
143 | * **Self-replies** are posts that are a direct reply to *one of your own* stand-alone posts or another self-reply. Again, they can include references to another person. You can continue to reply to your own posts as long as you like, and *as long as someone else's post isn't above what you're currently writing in the chain*, they'll continue being self-replies. **For example:** You click on the reply button on one of your own stand-alone posts to reply to yourself, then click on the reply button on *that* post to reply to yourself again.
144 | * **Replies** are posts that are replies to someone else *or replies to a reply to someone else*. **For example:** You click on the reply button on someone else's post to reply to them, **or** you click on the reply button on one of your own posts that's a reply to someone else's post.
145 | 
146 | I've included a diagram [here](replies.png) (it's a link because it's big). Notice how as soon as someone else's post enters the chain, your replies stop being self-replies. This is important, because self-replies and replies work differently in your followers' timelines.
147 | 
148 | ## How do privacy settings work?
149 | 
150 | Under each post you'll see three icons: a camera, a globe or a padlock, and the letters "CW". Click on the globe or padlock to choose the privacy settings for your post. *You can set the default privacy level for your posts under **Preferences > Other > Posting Privacy**.*
151 | 
152 | * **Public** means that everyone can see your post. It will appear on your list of posts and in your followers' Home timelines. Your *stand-alone posts* and *self-replies* that are public will appear in your list of toots, in your followers' Home timelines, in the public local and federated timelines, and in the Mentions of anyone you mention by username. Your *replies* that are public will appear in your list of *toots and replies* (*not* the primary list of toots; it's a separate list!), in the Home timelines of any of your followers who *also* follow the person you're replying to, and in the Mentions of anyone you mention by username.
153 | * **Unlisted** means that everyone can see your post, but it won't appear on the public timelines - either Local or Federated. Other than that, Unlisted posts behave exactly like Public posts.
154 | * **Followers-Only** means that only people who follow you and people mentioned in the post can see your post in their timelines or on your profile page. If someone who doesn't follow you views your profile, they won't see your followers-only posts. *For your followers*, followers-only posts behave exactly like Unlisted posts. **Your followers-only posts that mention another user will also appear in that user's mentions, even if they don't follow you!**
155 | * **Private** means that only people who are mentioned in your post can see it. It will appear in their mentions and, on Mastodon servers above version 3.0, will appear in their Direct Messages column.
156 | 
157 | Keep in mind that some servers, which run software that's compatible with but not the same as Mastodon, will ignore these privacy settings if you send a message to their users, so be careful!
158 | 
159 | ## How private is "Private"?
160 | 
161 | I cannot stress this enough: **Private toots are not encrypted or secure.**
162 | 
163 | The admin of your server can read *any* toot posted on their server, as well as *any* toot sent to a user on their server. This is a necessary security precaution. Admins *don't want* to read your private toots, but they have to be *able* to because otherwise private toots allow some users to secretly harass others or to conduct illegal dealings without the admin's knowledge, and under many laws the admin will be responsible for enabling the harassment or illegal behavior *even if they didn't know it was happening*.
164 | 
165 | That said, in general, your admin will only look over the toots you've marked Private if they have reason to believe harassment or illicit dealings are going on. Make sure you trust your admin to act like this, and if you don't, it might be time to look for another instance.
166 | 
167 | **As a general rule, if an application you're using isn't [peer-to-peer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer) and relies on an intermediary like a server, the information you're sending isn't secure unless you take extra steps outside the application to secure it.**
168 | 
169 | ## What happens when someone follows me?
170 | 
171 | ~~If someone follows you, you incur a life debt to that person. You will be required to lay down your life for that person when they need it. Once you've done so, they will unfollow you and, if you survived, you are free to go about your life normally.~~
172 | 
173 | Just kidding.
174 | 
175 | If someone follows you, they will see your posts on their Home timeline and they will be able to see your followers-only posts. If you want, you can limit the people who can follow you by clicking on **Edit profile** and selecting **Lock account**, which will allow you to manually approve and reject people who want to follow you.
176 | 
177 | ## So if I lock my account, only approved people can see my posts?
178 | 
179 | Yes and no.
180 | 
181 | With a locked account, you get to approve who can follow you *through the Mastodon interface*. This means that only the people you approve will be able to see your **followers-only** posts. Your **unlisted** posts will still show up on your profile, and your **public** posts will still show up on your profile and on the local and federated timelines.
182 | 
183 | **However.**
184 | 
185 | Every Mastodon account (on an unmodified server) also creates an RSS feed of their public and unlisted posts - i.e. the posts that appear on the account's profile. It does not include followers-only toots or direct messages, and if you've [put a CW on a toot](#what-does-cw-mean), only the CW appears in the RSS feed, not what's underneath it. 
186 | 
187 | Your RSS feed appears at `https://<your-server>/users/<your-username>.rss` ; for example, since I'm `https://elekk.xyz/@noelle`, my RSS feed is `https://elekk.xyz/users/noelle.rss` . (Remember to remove the `@`!)
188 | 
189 | **Anyone can subscribe to these feeds using an RSS reader to see your public and unlisted posts when you post them.** You can't control who can see these feeds, but they do not (and, by design, cannot) contain your followers-only or private toots. *If you only post followers-only toots, your RSS feed will be empty.*
190 | 
191 | Remember, you can set the default privacy level for your posts under **Preferences > Other > Posting Privacy**. If you have a locked account, you might prefer to set that default to followers-only so you have to make an active effort to post an unlisted or public toot.
192 | 
193 | ## What if I go over the character limit?
194 | 
195 | Don't worry. First, you can't; Mastodon won't let you post a toot over the instance's character limit. You won't get in trouble or anything.
196 | 
197 | If you find that what you want to say is too long for a single toot, or if you think of something else after you've posted a toot, you can *reply to your own toot*. Mastodon supports toot threads, so you can toot as many times as you want to, replying to each toot in sequence, and the whole series will show up when someone clicks on any of the toots in the thread.
198 | 
199 | So if your toot is too long, just split it up and make the second half a reply to the first; if you think of something else later, just reply to your original toot and the reply will show up whenever anyone clicks on the original toot.
200 | 
201 | ## What are hashtags?
202 | 
203 | To make a hashtag, type "#" and then any number of letters or numbers. Accents count; punctuation, spaces, symbols, and emoji don't. #howismydaygoing is a valid hashtag; #höwísmydàygôíng is valid; #how-is-my-day-going isn't (it'll just catch #how).
204 | 
205 | A hashtag is metadata about your toot: it provides additional information that doesn't necessarily belong in the body of the toot, but is useful for understanding. If you're a programmer, it's sort of like a code comment.
206 | 
207 | As a bonus†, hashtags are tracked by each instance. Clicking on a hashtag takes you to a list of public posts with that hashtag. You can use them to track #politics, check out the users people are recommending on #FollowFriday, or see people's artwork using #mastoart.
208 | 
209 | Don't go overboard with hashtags. As a guideline, your hashtags probably shouldn't be more than 10% of the total length of your toot. If you find yourself going over that, you might be spreading things a bit too thin.
210 | 
211 | † *This was actually the original intent of hashtags, but the usage has moved on since then.*
212 | 
213 | ## What does "CW" mean?
214 | 
215 | CW stands for Content Warning. It hides your post behind text (which you get to choose); it's like a Read More link.
216 | 
217 | You might use CWs for:
218 | 
219 | * Politics
220 | * Sex
221 | * Gross topics
222 | * Common phobias, like spiders or blood
223 | * Health discussions
224 | * Punchlines to jokes
225 | * Long posts that might otherwise fill up people's timelines
226 | 
227 | In general, just use your best judgment; think "is there a reason someone might not want to see this?". You have the opportunity to take an extra moment and make the fediverse a nicer place for people to be. Why wouldn't you take that opportunity?
228 | 
229 | **An important note:** Mastodon *does not* track hashtags that are in the text of a CW. Mastodon *does* track hashtags that are *under* a CW. Always put your hashtags in the body of your toot, never in the content warning.
230 | 
231 | ## I just attached a picture to my toot. What's with the new 'eye' icon?
232 | 
233 | Clicking that will hide your image behind a "Sensitive content" overlay. This is good for nudity, gore and violence, political topics, etc.
234 | 
235 | You'll notice that if you have both an image and a CW on a toot, the "Sensitive content" overlay is turned on automatically and can't be turned off. That's on purpose.
236 | 
237 | ## I just attached a picture to my toot. How can I add a caption to it?
238 | 
239 | When you attach an image, you'll see "Edit" (plus a pencil icon) at the top right of the image. Clicking this will pop up a dialog box that lets you determine what part of the image should show in the preview; it also allows you to set alt-text for the image, which people can read if they mouse over the text, and which screen-readers (such as for the visually-impaired) can read instead of just saying "embedded image".
240 | 
241 | Text in the description box has its own character limit; it **does not** count against the character limit for your toot!
242 | 
243 | ## Why should I add a caption to my picture?
244 | 
245 | In a word: Accessibility. 
246 | 
247 | Some people who use Mastodon are visually impaired and use screen readers. Some people who use Mastodon have images turned off to conserve their data usage. Sometimes disk errors or server errors happen, or your admin decides to prune old files, and your image just doesn't load anymore. Captioning an image allows people in these conditions to participate in your toots with full context.
248 | 
249 | You can also use image captions to insert additional jokes (like webcomics often do) or additional commentary on the image. Take advantage of the fact that image descriptions have their own separate character limit and put whatever you like in there. The sky's the limit.
250 | 
251 | ## How come my friend on another instance can use this emoji, but I can't?
252 | 
253 | Each instance can define custom emoji for their users to use, and many have taken advantage of this. Your instance admin can copy emoji that they like from other instances. If you see an emoji that you like and it's not available on your instance, ask your admin to copy it over.
254 | 
255 | ## Why can't I search for a specific word or phrase?
256 | 
257 | It's an anti-harassment feature. Harassers often search for particular words or phrases (like "TERF" or "homophobic" or "white supremacy") in order to attack and dogpile people they disagree with. By limiting search to usernames and hashtags, Mastodon allows users to decide how they want their toots to show up in others' searches.
258 | 
259 | ## Why can't I quote someone's toot, like a quote-tweet?
260 | 
261 | Like search, it's an anti-harassment feature. If you want to reply to someone's toot, you have to actually reply to it; you can't just broadcast it to your followers with a snarky comment.
262 | 
263 | *(Don't try to get around this by screencapping toots and attaching them as images. You **can** do it, but the Mastodon community tends to frown on it and you'll get a bad reputation pretty quickly if you keep it up.)*
264 | 
265 | ## The Mastodon culture seems pretty weird?
266 | 
267 | It can be! But it gets to be a comfortable weirdness.
268 | 
269 | Here are some common weirdnesses:
270 | 
271 | * :pineapple:: nobody really knows. [acw](https://cybre.space/@acw) posted it, someone else picked it up, and it's been going ever since. It's just silliness. When in doubt, just post a :pineapple:.
272 | * AWOO: [Awoo.Space](https://awoo.space) was one of the earlier Mastodon instances. "Awoo" is the sound of a wolf howling. It's fun to say. Awoo! (Pawoo.net has nothing to do with this; in Japanese, "pawoo" is the sound of an elephant trumpeting.) Someone got irritated at the awoos and instituted a $350 fine for awooing. Nobody's ever actually paid it, don't worry.
273 | * #gameing: There was (and still is) a perception that #gaming is "hardcore" and elitist, and there were (and are) worries about certain breeds of gamer overrunning the #gaming hashtag. #gameing was a pre-emptive strike; it's about a fun, lighthearted, and accessible approach to games, video and otherwise.
274 | * IT'S BEEN/SOME as CWs: a reference to the Barenaked Ladies song [*One Week*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC_q9KPczAg) and the Smash Mouth song [*All Star*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_jWHffIx5E) respectively. A common meme on Mastodon is to put the first word or two of the song into the CW and then subvert expectations by posting something else under the cut.
275 | 
276 | You'll get used to it.
277 | 
278 | ## What does ![:red_candle:](red_candle.png) mean?
279 | 
280 | In early November 2017 we lost a popular Mastodonian to suicide. ![:red_candle:](red_candle_sm.png) and ![lattentacle](lattentacle_sm.png) commemorate our friend Natalie Nguyen.
281 | 
282 | ## What's the generally-accepted Mastodon etiquette? 
283 | 
284 | There are no hard-and-fast rules for everybody, and (as noted above) different instances have different guidelines. That said, many people follow some simple guidelines meant to make Mastodon a friendlier place for everybody.
285 | 
286 | * If you attach an image to your toot but don't describe it in the toot, use [alt text](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-how-can-i-make-sure-its-accessible) to describe the image so that people using screen readers can understand it.
287 | * If you attach an image that contains **nudity, porn or sexually-suggestive content, gore, violence, or politics**, or any of a number of common PTSD/anxiety triggers (such as food, spiders, etc.), [mark it sensitive](#i-just-attached-a-picture-to-my-toot-whats-with-the-new-eye-icon).
288 | * If the *text* of your toot contains any of those subjects, [use a content warning](#what-does-cw-mean).
289 | * You don't need to use a URL shortener. Mastodon assumes that all URLs are exactly 20 characters long. Let people see what you're actually linking to.
290 | * If you make a bot that posts automatically, have it post using the [unlisted privacy setting](#how-do-privacy-settings-work). This avoids having your bot flagged as spam.
291 | * If you use a script that cross-posts your Twitter tweets to Mastodon, have the script set to use a CW. This avoids sensitive topics (see above) being cross-posted to Mastodon.
292 | * If you see a conversation and have a comment you'd like to add:
293 |     * Click through to the full conversation and make sure your thought hasn't already been expressed by someone else. 
294 |     * Make sure that your comment adheres to the tone of the conversation, is kind to the other posters in the conversation, and gives the other posters the benefit of the doubt.
295 | * "noadvice", as a hashtag or a CW, indicates that the user is just venting and is not looking for help or suggestions. Sympathy and comfort are welcome, though.
296 | * Remember that if someone doesn't reply to you, that doesn't mean they're ignoring you. They might be away from Mastodon; they might have so many notifications that they missed your post; they might have muted the conversation, so your reply didn't even show up! There are many reasons for someone to miss a toot, even one directed at them; don't take it personally.
297 | 
298 | ## I like Mastodon but I prefer the way Twitter looks.
299 | 
300 | You might get some mileage out of [Pinafore](https://pinafore.social/), a new interface for Mastodon by [Nolan Lawson](https://toot.cafe/@nolan).
301 | 
302 | [Halcyon](https://notabug.org/halcyon-suite/halcyon) is a web client for Mastodon that replicates the Twitter interface. Since Halcyon is itself open-source software, there are [multiple servers running it](https://notabug.org/halcyon-suite/halcyon#instances); you can choose the one you like. Use your existing Mastodon login when you use Halcyon; for example, if you have an account on elekk.xyz, you would use `your-account@elekk.xyz` and your Elekk password to log in.
303 | 
304 | Remember that Pinafore and Halcyon are third-party clients, and make sure you trust them before you give them your login information!
305 | 
306 | ## I like Mastodon but I want to use it on my phone.
307 | 
308 | Mastodon has a responsive design, so you can use it in your phone's browser. Alternately, there are many apps available for Mastodon. The most widely-used on iOS are Amaroq and Toot!. On Android, try Tusky.
309 | 
310 | *(NB: I've been told that "Tootdon silently forwards copies of posts you interact as well as the auth token to your account to its to own servers." I don't know if that still holds. As always, be cautious when giving apps your information.)*
311 | 
312 | ## How can I back up my Mastodon account?
313 | 
314 | [Alex Schroeder](https://octodon.social/@kensanata) has an excellent [Mastodon Archiver](https://github.com/kensanata/mastodon-backup/) that will help you back up your account and much more.
315 | 
316 | ## Can I use the keyboard to navigate Mastodon?
317 | 
318 | In the web interface, yes. The Mastodon web hotkeys are documented at `https://<your-server>/web/keyboard-shortcuts` , which you can access when you're logged into the web interface. (You can find the link at the bottom of the **Getting Started** column, labeled "Hotkeys".)
319 | 
320 | ## Weird, my server doesn't have a bunch of these features.
321 | 
322 | You might not be on Mastodon! The Fediverse - the vast collection of servers connected by the ActivityPub/OStatus protocol - has a lot of different kinds of servers on it. Your server might be running Pleroma, Misskey, GNU Social, or something else! Unfortunately, I don't know much about them, so you'll have to ask their users for a getting-started guide like this one.
323 | 
324 | ## I have other questions.
325 | 
326 | Ask around! People are usually pretty happy to answer questions and help out. If you really get stuck, ask me: https://elekk.xyz/@noelle
327 | </body>
328 | </html>


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