Gooseus @gooseus@qoto.org

The Programmers’ Credo: we do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy.

Some Mastodon thoughts, for bird-site expats (which include myself). I'm aggregating these from posts I've boosted before, so little of this is my own brain.

- There's no algorithm here. That means favoriting/liking doesn't do anything except communicate approval to the OP and others (which is still nice!).

- No algorithm means boosting ("retweeting") is the true method to increase a post's visibility. Do that more than you did on birdsite.

- There's no post-quoting here, and that's by design. Look at quote-tweets on the birdsite; it's a feature primarily used for toxicity.

- There's no direct word-search here either; that means you want to use hashtags to make posts more searchable. This is also intended, since word-searching posts was often used to harass/stalk on the birdsite and elsewhere, so that was left by the wayside here. This also means hashtags are much more a thing here than any of the algorithm-powered sites.

- It's encouraged to put in text descriptions when you post images; a lot of Mastodon users use screen-readers due to various disabilities, and getting an image description read out loud helps them immensely.

- Speaking of screen-readers: using capitalization in your hashtags allows the screen-readers to read them more easily, especially if you're smashing multiple words together. #rockmusic = unreadable. #RockMusic = readable.

- The best way to make threads is to make set your first post as public, but "unlist" all of your replies. This prevents your whole thread from clogging up feeds.

- Content Warnings should be used more liberally here. If you haven't gotten the impression yet, much of Mastodon was built and populated by marginalized groups who were harassed/bullied off of other platforms. This is the culture they built, to respect each other's mental health. It's not a rule, but it's well-appreciated.

- Consider chipping a few bucks towards whomever runs the server you're on; the strain is real, and most server admins were likely paying out of pocket before so don't have an existing donation base. The growth here has been extremely fast, and that means money's needed.

- DMs are just posts with privacy settings. So if you @ someone in a DM, you pull them into the thread. That could be embarrassing.

- Also, no, DMs aren't end-to-end encrypted, but they aren't on Twitter either. Don't use either if you want true privacy.

- Including your Mastodon handle in your birdsite profile will help people find you here; there's a tool (pruvisto.org/debirdify/ is one of them that's used) people can use to pull Mastodon handles from Twitter profile.

- Use the blocking and reporting features liberally, if needed. This should go without saying, but they work, and work well!

- If there's an entire Mastodon server you don't want to hear from, you can block the whole thing too.

- Preferences -> Appearance -> "Slow Mode": this can make larger "Local" feeds and any "Federated" feed much more readable.

I'll reply with some more as I see them, or reply here too. I've only been here 4 days but I'm loving it so far.

RT @TahaYasseri@twitter.com

Several fully funded PhD positions ( fees+€18,500 per year tax-free) on the Foundation of Data Science in three leading universities in Ireland.
Attend a very strong group of 100+ students in the programme. Application opens on 2nd Dec: https://www.data-science.ie/how-do-i-apply/
@data_science_ie@twitter.com

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/TahaYasseri/status/1589960349880823808

daily reminder: fewer lines of code is not necessarily better code

Mastodon will update to 4.0 soon! Here are the most exciting new features (in addition to fixes & changes):

- ability to follow hashtags
- ability to filter by language
- ability to translate posts
- ability to post HEIC files (i.e. your iPhone’s native photo format)
- define user roles (big deal for admins)
- define sign-up process on your Instance (admins again)

See all changes here: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.0.0rc1

Thanks, @Gargron and @Mastodon Team. #Mastodon4

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.

Excited to #introduce myself on #ScienceMastodon

I am a 2nd year Ph.D. student in Complex Systems and Data Science at the University of Vermont.

My research focuses on group-level data ethics, privacy, security, and sovereignty using complex systems and network science methods.

I also work on creating opportunities in open science and open source.

my site with more info is https://juniperlovato.com/

#complexity #networks #dataethics #opensource #OpenScience

I just asked my communications and IT colleagues at #Stanford to consider hosting a #Mastodon server for our University community (as MIT has already done: mastodon.mit.edu).

Such institutional sponsorships (e.g., higher ed, academic associations, etc.) seem like a compelling & sustainable equilibrium for the #TwitterMigration. I also think organizations that do so would benefit in several ways without meaningful new risks.
#OpenSource #fediverse #Twitter #EconTwitter #Economics

Holy hell the twitter exodus is **still** accelerating. The influx of new users is up about 33% from yesterday, our biggest day so far. We are now seeing over 1,300 new users every day on QOTO!
QT: https://qoto.org/@users/109306675892484412

Regarding #mastodon : If you don't like/need #ContentWarnings, you can set a "preference" that you see posts regardless, without having to click to expand. Nice to have the option. cc: @adamdavidson

Please join me in sharing a big “thank you” on behalf of us newer #Mastodon users to all the folks at @Mastodon including @Gargron and the team, as well as the Instance admins and existing user base, and everyone else in the #fediverse. You all created an amazing, innovative platform that is finally getting the recognition it deserves and provides a better alternative to legacy #socialmedia platforms that are currently imploding. My sincere thanks!

#TwitterMigration #Mastodon #TwitterTakeover

Heads up!

In the last few days, two separate people contacted me to ask me to "move" my followers from the bird site to a social network they were planning. They want to find investors by saying I'm on board and lure me with money.

I told them both no.

This makes me think that other "big accounts" over there are also being contacted. Hope they will let us know too.

No one is paying me a penny to encourage migration to Mastodon. I love to lift up voices and have interesting conversations.

Having recently joined #QOTO and #Mastodon in the #GreatTwitterExodus of 2022, I thought I'd make a brief introduction. I'm a semi-retired AI (artificial intelligence) / ML (machine learning) / CS Ed (computer science education) researcher and educator. I started my career at #SRIInternational in California as a research scientist and was then on the faculty at #UMBC for 17 years before moving to #SimmonsUniversity as a dean. I left that position last spring and I'm not sure what I'll do next professionally, but for now have been enjoying my freedom, spending a lot of time with my new grandchild, traveling a bit, doing lots of crossword (and jig- and other) puzzles, reading a great deal, and fervently hoping that American democracy doesn't wash itself down the drain. I'll miss twitter (where I had spent a fair amount of effort to amass 1680 followers) but I won't miss the toxicity and I definitely will not miss Elon Musk. (I'm still waiting for him to permanently suspend me, having changed my name to Elon Musk on the platform... the guy talks big but doesn't follow through. 😉 )

Any suggestions for a good #mastodon #app for #mac ? Too many tabs already open. #TheStruggleIsReal

#Postdoc for image-based #insect monitoring with #ComputerVision and #DeepLearning

#JobOffer

https://international.au.dk/about/profile/vacant-positions/job/postdoc-for-image-based-insect-monitoring-with-computer-vision-and-deep-learning

Starting off my Mastodon journey with a dataviz I made in #RStats with the #rayrender package! The Earth's submarine fiber optic cable network, visualized in #RStats with #rayrender.

Code:
https://gist.github.com/tylermorganwall/b222fcebcac3de56a6e144d73d166322…

Rayrender Github:
https://github.com/tylermorganwall/rayrender

☀️ Good morning #fedifriends

In the U.S. we are on edge.

Have been since 2016 really.

Fascism has found a welcome home on our shores. Regardless of who has “control” of either or both of our legislative chambers in January (as a result of this election), we know that misinformation and hate has been uncovered and amplified.

Yet we must not be discouraged. We can regroup and regrow. Love wins if we try.