mastodon.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
The original server operated by the Mastodon gGmbH non-profit

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Ranshii 🔞

Can anyone explain this newbie what "servers" are/mean in here? It took me like 5 minutes to figure out how to log in through the app because of this lol
A link to documentation is fine too.

Sorry about the dumb question 😅

@ranshii Do you know about @feditips ? Check out the website posted on their profile. It has answers to every "stupid" question I've had! (But, in short (which means not completely true, but close enough), a "server" is a computer.)

@sbourne @feditips thank you, I'll be checking that out! I know what a server is technically (I work on IT), but I have no idea how this social works in particular and I'm a bit all over the place right now! Trying to figure things out as I go.

Thank you a lot!

@ranshii @sbourne

Yeah, on here "server" means an instance, so in your case your server is mastodon.social.

If you need help getting started have a look at fedi.tips or feel free to ask.

fedi.tipsFedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse
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Hasn’t Mastodon hired a UX designer (yet)? The onboarding is still just SO terrible for common folk - not just Mastodon, other Fedi software too.

@Deus

The onboarding is similar to choosing an email or phone provider. I think people are able to cope with those?

I know people aren't used to doing that on a social network, but that's the situation on here for very good reasons:

fedi.tips/why-is-the-fediverse

If it copied the onboarding of Twitter etc with just one server, you will simply end up with the same problems repeating. The idea of this place is to avoid those problems.

fedi.tipsWhy is the Fediverse on so many separate servers? | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse
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Trust me. It’s not as easy and simple as choosing an email or phone provider. Try handing any Fedi app to a 10th grader and see how they struggle with it.

Hopefully, with more exposure, Threads will fix at least this part.

@Deus

What's easier about choosing an email provider?

The process is exactly the same, you choose a site to sign up on and sign up.

Threads is not giving us any exposure, it's just trying to scoop up people who came here from Twitter.

"I want to open an email account"

"Sure. Go to Outlook[dot]com or gmail[dot]com"

*Fills up the registration forms. Gets started.*

Fediverse.

"I want to signup for the Fediverse"

"You need to choose an instance first"

"What's an instance?"

"Oh. It's like a server.." *continues with explanation of '...the Fediverse is an amalgamation of server"

"Phew! I'll stay with Twitter"

@Deus

But... outlook and gmail are email instances.

The signup process is the same. In fact it's a lot easier on here because you don't need to give any personal info like phone numbers etc.

If you're confused by choice on the Fediverse, surely you would be confused by choice on email?

You’re talking like a ‘nerd’ now. What you say, “Oh it’s so easy” isn’t the same for regular users at home. “Empathize with the user. Try to wear their shoes.” < first line of UX.

/Nerd = techie who understands the nuances. Not saying in an offensive manner.

@Deus

"Try to wear their shoes."

I spend all my time trying to help non-technical people onto here. I run a website at fedi.tips to help non-technical people get onto here.

You still haven't explained how signing up on email is different to signing up on here.

"“Oh it’s so easy” "

I didn't say it was easy, I said it was the same as email.

fedi.tipsFedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse
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You spend your hours explaining and writing the ‘HOW TO’ and the WHAT IS of the Fediverse. And then go about explaining people terms like ‘servers’ ‘instances’ etc. A lot of this should not be needed with good UX.

/Not taking anything away from the hard work you have put up.

@Deus

You're confusing difficult things with unfamiliar things.

Email is not difficult, if you're used to it. That's why it is very widely used. But when email began, there were similar "how to" and "what is" guides published because people weren't used to it yet.

The Fediverse is currently in the same early stages that email was in a long time ago. The similar structure of the Fediverse and email indicates that people will be able to get used to the Fedi the same way they did with email.

You’ve written a lot. Answered to a lot of queries. Commendable. But look, Threads is already here. And here you are, replying to people’s queries while millions (already) have signed up for Threads with no struggle whatsover or asking each other ‘how to use Threads’. Guess what? The Fediverse will miss the train again.

@Deus

Threads is centralised. It will have exactly the same problems that Twitter has.

It is easier to sign up to a centralised platform, but centralised platforms eventually get into the hands of terrible people who do awful things. In this case, Threads is being MADE by terrible people who do awful things.

If you care about those problems, you should see why the Fediverse has to do things differently.

It's like saying "don't bother with fresh food, millions find McDonalds easier".

@Deus@charcha.cc technically tbh threads is also just an instance. Just that people decided to sign up at threads. But what threads also does is making it more easier to sign up by basically everyone having instagram just needing one click to sign up at threads. Other fedi instances dont have that benefit.

@Deus@charcha.cc at least thats information i gathered. I cant ever federate with threads even if i wanted to or sign up at it. I would simply get banned due to my content breaking their content policies

@feditips @sbourne I'll be taking a look around, so many people reached out to explain things to me, what a lovely community, thank you!

Server = the website. Also called ‘instance’ out here. Out here = the Fediverse.

e.g. My ‘server’ is charcha.cc or https://charcha.cc. The server you’re on and have signed up to is mastodon.social or https://mastodon.social 🙂

charcha.ccCharCha - A Conversation

@Deus That's so cool! I had no idea about this. I heard of Mastodon being hard to set up some years ago but I came here and signed up and didn't have to set anything up so I was so confused! Now I get it!

@ranshii so you’re ranshii@mastodon.social. I’m rockman@mst.rockman.zip

Even though you are on a different server, I can see your posts because my server can talk to your server. We are not on the same mastodon server, but we’re part of the same network

@rockman Gotcha! This is a new kind of concept for me, a social that works like this, I'm eager to grow familiar with it, thank you!

@ranshii The Fediverse is decentralized and anyone can set up a server (also called an instance). The instances exchange posts and activities with each other, allowing people to interact with accounts on different instances, as long as the instances don't block each other. Examples of instance blocks are blocking nazi instances, but it's also often caused by pettier disputes.

User handles have the structure of @ username @ instance, similar to email addresses. The instance part is required because there's no central registry of usernames and the same username can be used on different instances.

@LunaDragofelis Thank you so much! This is a very thorough explanation! I appreciate the time you took to give it to me.

@ranshii A server is your local community!

And unlike Discord "servers", it's a literal actual server that your admin runs.

You might hear "instance", same thing. Instance == server.

@topaz Thank you so much for that explanation ♥

@ranshii@mastodon.social so you’re ranshii@mastodon.social. I’m rockman@mst.rockman.zip

Even though you are on a different server, I can see your posts because my server can talk to your server. We are not on the same mastodon server, but we’re part of the same network