*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

@shibaprasad

You have my full aggreement, amen!

The instance is well run, technically stable and fast, offers a large number of other fediverse projects run locally too (audio, video, forum, github).

The administration is open to suggestions and takes a light handed approach to restricting content. While they have their own preferences, they prefer to allow people to make their own selections on who to follow and restrict federation with other instances only in the few cases were the remote administration is non-cooperative.

A great place too. I recently visited the what I consider the largest fediverse mastodon instance (home of the project developer) and wasn't impressed.

If that had been my first instance, my entry point into the fediverse, I might have left and never returned after a day or two there.

We owe huge kudos and thank yous to our host here, indeed.

Thank you for creating and keeping this place for us all. 👍

@freemo

@namark

And that is now preserved for posterity in our Discourse Forum at QOTO.org too. Thanks for the great suggestion, Namark!

https://discourse.qoto.org/t/how-about-spending-some-time-at-other-instances-local-timelines-love-it/137
@khird @realcaseyrollins

@namark
I think that is an excellent idea. I have various accounts, as a way to see what other places are like.

There's nothing comparable to seeing them first hand, as we will get the pulse of the place, seeing all that is there.

We might see some of their content if we follow one or more of their users, and maybe see some of their local posts boosted by them. But that is not the full experience.

I love the Pinafore client for mastodon, and one of the things it does really well, apart from being very fast, is esily supporting switching between different instances. A couple clicks and it can change from instance A to B, C or D. You can also have custom color themes for each of them if that helps not confusing where you are currently.

The fediverse is rich, and the fact each instance can have it's own personality is wonderful. Nice to be able to find good ones that fit our personal affinities.

Have another one at least in mind I should be joining, as I like the people from there I have met so far, they are progressive and I think I should enjoy it.

Below, screenshot of Pinafore settings for instance selection, adding new ones.

https://pinafore.social

@khird @realcaseyrollins

@shibaprasad yes, indeed. It felt a bit like the birdsite itself. Half the people lost, looking around, the other half screaming out for attention.

I was curious to see what an instance with such numbers could be like; conclusion, not a good thing.

Here, I had reported Escort service women accounts a couple times earlier too.

@shibaprasad If something shows up on our Local timeline we should take action asap -- the post in question has been made 14 hours before, but luckily I looked and saw the scandal pics boosted on his profile.

I visited mastodon.social yesterday and was shocked by what I saw there. Similar pics, with a CW and NSFW on the description - but if you opened the image, it was a man's penis and text bragging about it.

This kind of thing has no place on a general instance, in my opinion. Kids can get an account there without any trouble.

I was not impressed by what I saw there, if I had joined mastodon there instead of here I would not be around for more than a day or two.

@shibaprasad But don't want to spoil your morning, have a good day! 😃

@shibaprasad You are very welcome. Keep an eye out for bad posts and do report them.

I caught a guy here earlier, seriously -- a brand new account, and he posted a single image, no text. I went to check the profile, to see if it was a new user and post a welcome message. Then...

He had been boosting posts from a porn account at sinblr, graphic, no CW. Dick pictures, in the open.

From here, I flipped out.

@shibaprasad Wow, good morning! 😃

11 PM at my location, and will be bed time soon. But you can watch the fort for us here.

@realcaseyrollins That Secure Core slider switch on the pic is to enabble the optional, premium service TOR like network. All withing their own servers, but bouncing packets from machine to machine.

That screenshot was when I had the one week free trial, and selected Iceland server since it was under low load. Now that week is finished, I can use the free servers in US, Netherlands or Japan only.

@realcaseyrollins Yes, it's beautifully designed, and very fast running. I get connected at boot time, and when my laptop goes to sleep, it reconnects before I even entered the PIN to unlock it.

Very well done.

@realcaseyrollins A pic, screenshot of protonvpn client. pretty...

@realcaseyrollins if you need the Proton software but can't open their site, I could get a copy and place it in another site for you.

@realcaseyrollins The speed is why I never used it. I needed vpn for watching BBC programming without being in the UK, and at work to keep my internet usage private.

Tor is interesting. ProtonVPN has a product that works in similar way - but only bouncing traffic thru their own servers, so speeds are much better.

@Aastha1801 That is good advice, their government has been deeply involved on operations to de-estabilize governments in other countries which they did not like - for a long time.

Funding, training, arms and belic materiel all have been provided.

@realcaseyrollins It's possible someone inside your college network has set up an incoming node for Tor, that would get you in quickly.

Never used it yet.

@_lunawinters You could leave a note, maybe pinned to the top of your profile, saying you are taking some time off. That way anyone noticing your presence could check and be reassured.

I do stay away from places that are no longer interesting for me, FB primarily.

@realcaseyrollins No, I didn't mean you were into anything illegal. Just that TOR is basically similar to a vpn as both provide tunnels for data flows.

If an organization has restrictions on a vpn it would also have the same for a tor network use.

But it's your call, mentioned it since you seemed to need to get avatars from another site.

I used a vpn everyday at work - my own account, to avoid all the blocked sites they imposed on the firewall.

@realcaseyrollins TOR is as much a violation as the vpn I mentioned. Maybe do use it on occassion, only when you need to pick something specifically.