apinae @apinae@qoto.org

Do you ever look at the people when you join a new #socialmedia ?

Most look at the numbers, but no, the people.

❤️The people here are FANTASTIC.

I always like to look at who is on a platform and this is what I see on #Mastodon:

1. People are creating freedom for themselves.
2. They are kind, giving, supportive and genuinely seek knowledge to grow.
3. They accept each other despite differences.

🔃Reblog this for everyone to know.
🤝Follow me if you like this content.

It just occurred to me that across the 4,000 #Mastodon servers each with their #MastoAdmin plus their moderator teams... we have more content moderators tracking reports and complaints than Twitter does.

For the folks who keep asking about how we're going to scale, we're on it.

#CommunityNotContent

Today's the deadline: The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is looking for interns to spend the winter contributing to work in one of three areas: campaigns, licensing, or with our tech team. Read more and apply! https://u.fsf.org/3up

Logged on to Twitter this morning only to find out that reality does not exist anymore

I mentioned this in a private message to someone recently about why a small handful of servers block qoto. I wanted to reiterate it here for the new comers on QOTO who dont know the history:

So there are some servers out there that demand every server int he network block every instance they do, and if a server doesnt block an instance they block then they block you in rettatliation.

Their reason for this is quite flawed but it goes like this.. If we federate with a bad actor instance and we boost one of their posts then their users will see it and defeat the purpose of the block. The problem is, this isnt how it actually works. If they block a server and we boost it, they wont see the boost, thats how blocks work.

The issue becomes even more complicated when you consider the fact that these servers, by virtue of their policy, have huge block lists where they block tons of major servers. So in order to satisfy them we too would have to block a huge number of servers.

This means you have a choice, you either join a server that isnt blocked, but has a huge block list themselves, or, you join a server that doesnt block and be blocked by a small handful of servers. Obviously that means on QOTO you will have bigger view of the world than you would on any of these others servers. In fact QOTO has onne of the largest federation footprints of any server in the network.

I want to also explain why we choose the decision we did. Years ago when this controversy started and servers across the fediverse started blocking there was a divide of people taking sides. WOTO was one of the few servers that didnt take sides and allowed people read content from any server (but with strict hate speech rules). This caused a huge influx of people,s pecifically from the LGBTQ community, onto our server. It turns out many people relied on us not-blocking for their physical safety. There were big name biggots (like milo yanappolus) who were on the network. They used their accounts here to watch his account for doxing so they could warn themselves and their community and protect themselves accordingly. In fact we added a feature just for them called subscriptions which allowed them to monitor accounts without following them so they could do so anonymously.

In tthe end for the safety of the LGBTQ community here we refused to engage in mass server blocking and instead encouraged our users to block servers on an individual basis and provided access to block lists for them to do so. But some really misguided servers blocked us anyway.

Thankfully the servers blocking us are few and far between and are limited to only the most excessive and aggressive block lists. As I said, QOTO has one of the largest federation footprints on the fediverse,

#mastoadmin

If you spend a significant amount of your time on your Federated feed, you may want to enable Slow Mode in your Preferences. Instead of automatically refreshing your feed, it’ll pop a rolling count of how many new items will load when you refresh.

#mastodonmigration #twittermigration
News November 9, 2022

What’s The Deal With Mastodon, The Twitter Alternative? >>>
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mastodon-twitter-alternative_n_63689d46e4b0eb51ab1180bc

Mastodon Migration News Link >>> https://medium.com/@mastodonmigration/sharing-advice-and-assisting-with-the-great-mastodon-migration-53c1a286b805#8da9

For all it's advantages and faults, #Mastodon was not built to be a *new* Twitter. It was built to be *not* Twitter.

That distinction is important.

If you have any influence at a company or connections with high profile figures, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell them the best way for them to join the Fedi is to set up their own server.

At this point anyone with a large following joining an established instance will crush it & incur additional costs on a community funded server.

The EU, German gov, and MIT have all joined the Fedi this way.

https://social.network.europa.eu

https://social.bund.de

https://mastodon.mit.edu

#MastoAdmin #Fediverse

If you want to join us on the QOTO matrix server (A chat room server that is federated like here) then check out this post. IT has some spaces you can join to find some interesting rooms to be a part of, all active rooms.

Probably not a lot of people know this now, but Mastodon's web app started out with "Publish". In 2016 a famous YouTuber jokingly offered to support Mastodon's Patreon forever if I changed the button to say "Toot" instead. Needless to say, this was a really early, and not very informed decision. The first glimpse of attention and financial support. As a non-native speaker I had no idea there was another meaning.

Mastodon habits I'm trying to lock in, rather than revert to my Twitter habits:

1) use CWs liberally
2) when threading, set first post to "public" and the rest to "not listed"
3) don't forget the description text when posting images (had to work on that in Twitter too)
4) throw in hashtags like it was Tumblr or Instagram when you want to reach beyond your followers
5) pin and visit hashtags to find more people
6) boost a lot

Just FYI, with the number of followers I have, compared with the huge influx of new users, my feed is EXTREMELY busy.

I am trying very hard to answer every single one of you who message me to chat or ask questions, and please, keep it coming because I love hearing from everyone. But with how fast my feed moves sometimes a few messages slip past me without me seeing or responding.

Please everyone, if I dont respond to you please feel free to give me a gentle reminder and I will, it isnt intention, just hard to keep track of nearly 30K followers.

RT @CORDIS_EU: #Endometriosis ♀️: it currently takes a staggering 9 years to diagnose it 😳 – a real obstacle course.

Hopefully, a novel #diagnostic solution could enable early detection, using a non-invasive procedure, improving endometriosis management:

➡️ https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/435613-faster-easier-diagnoses-for-endometriosis-sufferers?pk_campaign=tw

🐦🔗: https://nitter.eu/CORDIS_EU/status/1511705034366533637

@Caitlin_Stewart 2017, cancer driver mutations in deep infiltrating endometriosis (which is benign) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa1614814

2018, clonal expansion of mutations in ovarian lesions https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124718311276

2021 paper on both stromal and epithelial mutations https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/path.5778

2022 paper on shared mutations across lesions https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(22)00339-9/fulltext

As someone with Stage 4 cancer, I was really struck by this quote at the beginning of Mukherjee's "The Emperor of All Maladies:"

"Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place." -- Susan Sontag

@apinae We do accept donations, but I have donated more than enough with well over 10,000$ in our bank account from my own pocket. So we have enough money to operate for years right now.

If you really want to give back thinking of non-financial ways (even just been a contributing member of the community) helps far more than money.

I was not very mindful in setting up and growing a presence on Mastodon - looking to find a way to better understand the culture that was present before me and participate in it, versus colonizing it.

Important reading: https://www.hughrundle.net/home-invasion/