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As an alternative to FediTips, you might want to also check out @noelle's "Increasingly Less-Brief Guide to Mastodon":

https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon

It's got slightly different takes on many issues, but hopefully seeing a different perspective will give you a fuller understanding of how Mastodon works.

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in reply to FediTips has moved!

@FediTips @Just Ellie 🐍
Nice document !

I don't agree too much with scaring away companies that want to establish a presence on the Fediverse. Especially
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.
There is no such rule that one cannot be generally polite and have a commercial mindset.

One advantage of the Fediverse is that no mechanism will force the uninterested user to be exposed to such content. It will be of the background noise for thise who browse local and federated background, and they can choose to block that company account when it becomes too noisy.

But there will also be users that are interested in getting updates from that brand, and who knows maybe it will help users migrate to the fediverse
in reply to Liwott

Yeah, that's sort of what I'm thinking.

For example if Nintendo set up their own Fediverse instance I'd follow it, because I think they bring a bit of joy into the world for relatively little harm. Their games have helped me through some tough times.

But if Google set up an instance I would block it and encourage everyone else to block it too, because I think they're destroying our privacy. (And they would probably try to destroy/control the Fedi too)

As I said, @noelle has a slightly different perspective to me, but it's a valid and interesting one so I think it's good to check it out.

And even if you disagree with some of the takes, the guide has lots of interesting details and tips that you can't find anywhere else. Definitely worth reading.
in reply to FediTips has moved!

I don't know. Google did great harm to XMPP, a federated instant messaging protocol by adopting it with Talk; getting folks to use it as part of their other product lines and then extinguishing the XMPP protocol underneath in order to provide "value" (as Hangouts, and now whatever the hell they're calling their instant message mess now!) rather than trying to be good stewards of the protocol by adding to it.
in reply to presgas - FeDisrooter

Yup, that's what I'm saying, Google has no place on the Fediverse.

They have done terrible things to privacy and open standards.

If they tried to come onto the Fediverse, they should be blocked and defederated.
in reply to FediTips has moved!

Fairly early in Mastodon's history - 2017 or so - there were a bunch of news articles about it as The Hot New Thing, and so, as they are wont to do with a new social media site, companies started making accounts and filling the public and federated timelines with posts that were just advertising. They weren't engaging with users at all - just dropping their ads and leaving. It got to the point where we - I was a mastodon.social moderator at the time - had to say "if you're just here to advertise, you're not going to be allowed on mastodon.social".
in reply to Just Ellie 🐍:trans_heart:​

Because of that, a lot of users from those early days have a strong bias against companies on Mastodon. Personally, I'm of the opinion - and I believe this is reflected in the Guide - that a company that actually engages with and communicates with users in a way that indicates that there's human thought and feeling behind it is probably welcome.
in reply to Just Ellie 🐍:trans_heart:​

That all sounds like a very reasonable position, I totally get what you mean from that context, and agree with it. Thank you for clarifying, apologies for my misrepresentation of the Guide.

(And if it's big companies, they really ought to be setting up their own instances or donating to the instance they use.)
in reply to FediTips has moved!

No apology necessary! The context around some of the decisions I made when I was writing it aren't readily apparent, and I forget that sometimes.
in reply to Just Ellie 🐍:trans_heart:​

@Just Ellie 🐍 @FediTips @presgas - FeDisrooter
Thanks for the context, that sure helps ! I would still be in favor in making that more positive, keeping the "please don't if you're planning to just dump your advertisement and not interact with the human" for the end of the answer, rather than leading on with "please don't".

Still, I specifically don't agree with the
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.
line. Let me mention a very nice analogy by Terry Hancock. I am completely fine with my local baker smiling and agreeing with me because she sees me as a client. Even if she works for an international baking company and speaks in their name. What I would not be fine with would be her wandering through town all day long shouting about the quality of their bread.
in reply to Liwott

That's fair! I'll consider this perspective the next time I do a revision. πŸ˜€
in reply to FediTips has moved!

Diolch am hyn, mae’n llawn cyngor da, lot o bethau do’n i ddim wedi sylweddoli.

Thanks for this, it’s full of good advice, lots of things I hadn’t realised.

@feditips @noelle
in reply to FediTips has moved!

Thank you for sharing 🐻_hugs: I was going to share it myself and then I saw you toot, so I'm just going to share yours and follow you. Getting the hang of the fediverse is a challenge when you've been so much formatted by centralized social media way to work.
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