A thread for the new members of the fediverse who joined after twitter aka birdsite banned @sanjayuvacha
But you ask - didn't I join #mastodon not some #fediverse ?
Confused about someone's handle showing @mastodon.social but yet another handle showing @mstdn.social ?
Your belief about twitter or some other social silo being a beautiful place for meeting and sharing ideas is shattered ?
Please keep reading.
1) Mastodon is not one but many.
Mastodon - a free ( as in freedom ) open source (#FOSS) microblogging software developed by a community. [ Mainly @Gargron :) ]. You can run it yourself or join a community's/ friend's server you like.
Twitter - a microblogging service run by a company. Their service is running on their servers. Nothing much is in your hand really.
2) Federation
Seema can run mastodon with his set of social rules and her friends can join it - which we can call Seemas instance.
Arun can do the same and his friends can join.
Mogambo can also do it for him and his friends.
All three and their friends can say hi to each other while being on three seperate digtial addresses. This is federation and it is beautiful.
Peertube (a video hosting platform), WriteFreely ( a blogging platform), Funkwhale ( a music hosting platform) are few other FOSS like mastodon and all the instances of these and other FOSS like them make up the federated universe or #fediverse.
3) You have a say
In addition to blocking individually there are other tools Mastodon brings to the table. If Arun and Seema decides that they had it with Mogambo and his friends, they can block them off completely.
But they usually do that after telling their friends about and friends have a say. Friends can convince them to rethink the decision or can shift to Mogambo's place or any other place. Maybe even set up their own place.
4) Every bit helps
You can help out your favourite instance by joining their moderation team if they require.
You can help out your favourite instance financially ( the servers doesn't run free). Usually the info is here https:// <name of the instance you use>/about/more
You can spread the word #TootNotTweet
Finally tagging @Memeghnad to say I really liked your consti-tution series.
Adding tag #FediverseAMA to the thread. Thanks @anivar
@akhilvarkey Talking of data, if you run an instance, you own your #data. While that won't stop others from running their own bots to mine your content, you can block, take it down as the server owner. #Privacy #PrivacyMatters
@svaksha
That was meant for the new members to be careful when choosing an instance. In general, one should trust those who run your instance and always check tos of the server you don't self host.
Data mining will always happen but the level of control an admin has is different. For ex:- Direct messages like @ramparmar says.
Trust is the backbone of Privacy.
@akhilvarkey Cynically speaking, the strongest #privacy is not using the internet. But even then we can't avoid #dataleaks thanks to gov sponsored #aadhaar that sells our #data. Even the #gdpr is an afterthought**, & an ideal #privacy law/infosectool will not collect data that makes users vulnerable in the first place. And that needs better system design for starters.
** The 'why' needs a longer blog post 😺
@ramparmar
@akhilvarkey @ramparmar And this is a general thought on #trust & #privacy , not entirely related to Mastodon
Server run by the main developers of the project 
It is not focused on any particular niche interest - everyone is welcome as long as you follow our code of conduct!
To close it out - two things I personally wanted to add.
Massive data collection and targeted algorithms are not run on you usually by the instances but do read the terms of service of the instance you join.
Wrong perception about a Mastodon instance achieving something great when someone joins an instance. It doesn't build a company but builds a community and adds to the weight on the instance owner's shoulders which brings us back to 4) Every bit helps.