First impressions, #mastodon seems like cryptocurrency: made by computer scientists to be clever rather than usable. #twittermigration
@derickflorian I'm sure some of it will just take a while to get used to, but onboarding on the Android app wasn't great. The first step was to pick a server, without really knowing what that meant. It also seems to launch a browser a lot. How do I view the community feed on another server in the app? If I select someone's handle, it opens the browser. If I choose to follow them, I have to scroll down and copy the link, then return to the app, paste it into the search, and then choose to follow again. Just a few things that feel like they could be smoother.
@diyspaceprojects I agree the server selection was a dice roll. I figured with qoto and the stem theme I would find a bunch of people smarter than me posting about really cool things. The other thing I like about this instance is the “local” part has a trickle instead of rush of posts so I can see what’s going on and engage with people.
One thing I read earlier which helped me out is that the official mastodon app isn’t the best for iOS. I am using MetaText now and it has a proper home tab with people I follow, a local table showing the instance and a federated tab which is just a firehose of posts from a bunch of instances.
The tech and the rules like hashtags being encouraged but somehow I really like being out of my old Twitter “character”
I will try to find the post that helped me and share it under here!
@diyspaceprojects here it is! I think it has the “good” android mastodon apps in it.
@derickflorian thanks, that was some useful information.
There are a couple other mine features here that don’t exist on other instances like there are a lot of services that are also hosted on the DNS. Or as already mentioned the large character count or that you can write in markdown and/or LaTeX.
Some features are easier to implement via an app (e.g. I use Tusky and setting up lists is easier than via the browser). You can hide the other timelines if they are too confusing for the beginning.
A nice feature here is that you can follow a local timeline of other instances, which is a great feature for following niche instances like on #WikiData or #OpenStreetMap.
The only downside I have with the Tusky app is that longer posts need to be written in external editors and then copy-pasta over.
@barefootstache @diyspaceprojects Ok, I am sold on the web. I am used to using a different app for everything so I went looking for one first.
This is the second mention I have heard of following timelines of other instances. Is there an area of the website where I could go to set that up? Is it under lists or circles maybe?
Thanks for helping me get to know mastodon and qoto better!
@barefootstache @diyspaceprojects ok, it looks like this other post by @trinsec explains it. Awesome!
@diyspaceprojects @derickflorian
I never use the apps because the Mastodon website is already so mobile-friendly.
Plus Qoto has a few features that other instances don't have, and it isn't reflected in the apps as most of them go by the default Mastodon standards.
How do you view the community feed on another server... the app probably doesn't have it as that's not default Mastodon.
@trinsec @diyspaceprojects That’s a good point. I will give the website a try. I am a creature of habit so I just downloaded an app like I do for everything else!
How do you view a different community server on the web? I have the “federated timeline” on the app and I also see that on the server but is there a way to look at a specific communities timeline?
That said the site experience is better than I thought on a mobile device so I will give it a go! It would be nice to get more of the customized #qoto features.
By the way thanks for the tips and the detailed explanation!
@derickflorian @diyspaceprojects
See image.
Just go to any post of someone from another instance and click the triple dots. You should see the option on the bottom.
It should be similar on the mobile web interface.
This is another Qoto-specific feature.
@trinsec @diyspaceprojects that is a nice feature and it works great. I’m sending this post from the web and I think I’m going to switch over to this primarily. 😀
@derickflorian @diyspaceprojects Welcome to the Fediverse. ;)
@diyspaceprojects thats mean 🤣🤣 but sadly true - it is not very ux friendly but geekish
@eric_maechler I didn't want to be that person 2 seconds in the door, complaining that the family run restaurant doesn't serve Big Mac's.😅
@diyspaceprojects 🤣🤣🤣 the best party of the fediverse is - its all open source - i you want and know how to - you can create everything you want and connect to this universe
@diyspaceprojects it is definitely something with a learning curve! I am enjoying the high character limit so far. What do you think is the thing keeping you from loving it?