If possible, you should avoid re-using subdomains or domains when installing new Fediverse servers. If you set up a new server from scratch using exactly the same subdomain or domain as a defunct server, this may cause technical problems when you attempt to communicate with the rest of the Fediverse.

Can I set up a new subdomain on a previously used domain?

Yes! If the subdomain is brand new, that will avoid technical problems. With a brand new subdomain, the rest of the Fediverse will immediately see it correctly as a totally new server.

Could you give an example of what to do?

If you have an old server at social.example.com and it closes down, it would be a bad idea to set up a new server with that same address. Instead, you could use a different subdomain such as social1.example.com or fedi.example.com, or whatever you want to replace the word “social”. The important thing is that it isn’t identical to the old server’s address.

Why would re-use of a subdomain or domain cause technical problems?

All Fediverse servers store data about posts and accounts they have federated with. If they already have data about posts and accounts from a defunct server, this may confuse attempts by your new server to connect using the same address. This is especially true if a username on the old and new server is identical, because they will have different keys verifying their identity.

What if I re-install a server and use the database from an old server?

If you’re re-using the database of the old server as well as re-using that old server’s subdomain or domain, then this should avoid problems because it will be technically the same as the old server, using the same keys to verify accounts.

The problems occur if you’re installing on the same subdomain or domain using a brand new database with a brand new set of keys.

What are keys?

On Fediverse servers, keys are special codes used behind the scenes to confirm that a particular account created a particular post or followed a particular other account. Users never see them, but the software that runs servers depends on them to make sure they’re talking to the right account on the right server.

If I’ve already reused a subdomain or domain, will the technical problems ever go away?

The problems may eventually go away when other servers refresh the keys they use to verify identities. However, this can take a long time, and it’s much better to just avoid these problems altogether by using a new subdomain or domain.

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Mastodon server admins can set their own icons for use on browsers and phones, as well as custom thumbnail artwork shown when the server is linked to or listed on sites or apps:

1. Log into your server’s website or web app with the admin account
2. Click on Administration
3. Click on Server Settings
4. Click the Browse buttons on the icons and thumbnail artwork and upload the images you want to use. You don’t have to upload them all, just upload what you want to customise.
5. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom

What does “Server Thumbnail”, “Favicon” and “App Icon” actually mean in practice?

• Server Thumbnail: The artwork which appears in link previews and in Mastodon server listings on websites and apps. It helps get across what kind of server you run.
• Favicon: This is the icon that appears when people bookmark your server’s website on their web browser.
• App Icon: This is the icon that appears on phones or tablets if people install your server’s website as a web app.

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Yes. It’s a good idea to have some server rules on your server’s public “About” page even if you’re the only person on your server.

The reason is other server admins may often be in situations where they have to decide whether they will federate with your server, especially if they’re running allowlist-based protection on their server. Being able to read your server’s rules tells them immediately what kind of standards they can expect from your posts, and what kind of safety risks they might face federating with you.

What kind of rules should I have?

As rules on single-person servers are entirely for the benefit of people on other servers, it’s a good idea to keep them short, quick to read and easy to understand. However, they need to be specific enough to give some idea of what you consider acceptable.

For example, here are the rules on my own single-person server ⧉. You might want different rules, but whatever they are they should be equally short and easy to understand.

Also bear in mind that these are rules for your server, so it may include some rules that aren’t general statements about the wider world. You might be personally okay with the concept of advertising existing somewhere else but not on your server, so you might have a rule saying “no advertising”.

Is it enough that I say “Be nice to everyone”?

No. Different people can have totally different concepts of being nice, so it’s important to have at least some specific rules to give some indication of what you consider acceptable.

Does it have to be as detailed as rules on public servers?

No, it’s better to keep it simple. Rules on a single-person server are just to indicate to other admins what kind of content you might post. Making such rules too complicated makes it harder for other admins to quickly assess your server.

Why can’t other admins just look at my account profile?

It’s not always easy to tell from an account exactly what rules it is following. Nasty hateful accounts can also post pretty inoffensive stuff too. Rules take away the guesswork involved, and make much clearer what admins can expect from federating.

Also, many single-person servers have multiple themed accounts run by the same person, so from the outside it looks like there are several people on the server. It’s also a pain to have to browse through multiple accounts instead of a single list of rules.

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Mastodon lets you download an archive of all the posts and media attachments you’ve ever published on your account. Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in through your server’s website or web app
2. Click on ⚙️ Preferences
3. Click on Import and export (if you’re using the mobile website click ☰ and then Import and export)
4. Click on the Request your archive button. This will begin the archive creation process which may take a while, you will receive an email from your server when it is ready. You DO NOT need to stay logged in while this happens, it will happen automatically.
5. When you’ve received an email from your server telling you the archive is ready, go back to the Import and Export page. (If you remained on the page since requesting the archive, refresh the page to show the download link.)
6. Click on the Download your archive link and select where you want to save the file.

Does it include images etc that I’ve posted?

Yes, it includes your posts’ media attachments such as images, video, audio.

Does it include other people’s posts that I’ve boosted?

No. It’s just an archive of your own posts.

How often can I ask for an archive?

By default you can request an archive every seven days.

If I ask for another archive, does that have all the posts or just the ones since the last download?

Every archive has all the posts you’ve ever created.

This doesn’t include deleted posts though, these are actually deleted from the server, so if you’ve deleted posts since your last archive download they will not show up on newer archives.

How long is the archive available to download?

By default the archive is available to download for seven days, but different servers may have different download periods. Generally it’s a good idea to download it the same day that it is ready.

If the archive disappears before you downloaded it, you can request that the server creates the archive again.

How often should I download an archive?

It’s totally up to you, some people never download them while others do it regularly.

Is this the same thing as transferring your account?

No. Account archives are totally separate from the account transfer system. They use different files and do different things. The only connection between the two is that they’re both done through the Import and export page.

How do I view the archive?

This is a very good question! The Mastodon developers have provided no official way to view post archives. There are unofficial third party archive viewers, but these require a lot of technical knowledge to install and use. Here are some links to third party archive viewers:

• Mastodon Archive Viewer (Zero’s fork) ⧉
• Mastodon Archive Viewer (modified by Slashyn) ⧉
• Mastodon Archive Viewer (Python script) ⧉

Can I upload my post archive to my new account on another server?

No. The archive system is totally separate from the account transfer system, and the archive is NOT used in transferring accounts. The archive is mainly intended for your own personal records, so that you have a private offline copy of your posts and attachments.

There are no Mastodon servers which allow uploads of archives. If you attempt to upload it during an account transfer, it will just give you an error message.

I thought some servers allowed you to upload your archive so you could transfer your posts?

There have been some non-Mastodon Fediverse servers which have allowed uploads of Mastodon archives in order to “transfer” posts, but these clone the post archive as a set of totally new posts which look identical to the old posts but have none of the replies or shares of the old posts. This takes a lot of resources on servers, as it requires creating perhaps thousands of new posts all at once for everyone who uploads their archives, which can really slow the server down. This is possibly why Mastodon doesn’t allow it.

So, if I transfer my account to another Mastodon server, what happens to my old posts?

Your old posts remain on your old account, but the old account’s posts will redirect people to your new account. For example, if someone finds an old post of yours and clicks on the account name to see who wrote it, they will be directed to your new account.

Can I upload my post archive to my own server if it has technical problems and loses my posts?

Another really good question. As far as Fedi.Tips is aware this has never been done. Whether it’s possible or not is unclear.

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The word “mentions” on Mastodon and other social networks means typing @ and then a username, so that the username appears in your post. It’s also known as @-ing (pronounced “at-ing”) a person.

When you type @ and then begin typing the username, Mastodon will automatically suggest accounts that you can select if you want. You don’t have to accept these suggestions though, you can keep typing, and the suggestions will change as you type. The ultimate aim of a mention is to get an account’s complete Fediverse address to appear in the post. If the Fediverse account address you want isn’t in the suggestions, just ignore the suggestions and type the account address in full.

Why would I want to mention an account?

Mentioning an account can be useful for several reasons on Mastodon and the Fediverse:

• Mentions cause a notification to appear in the account’s notifications section, so the account’s owner will know they have been mentioned.
• It means other people reading the post will be able to click on the account’s mention which will take them to the account’s profile page. They will then know exactly who you are talking about, and perhaps follow them or interact with them in some way.
• The “Mentions”/”Specific People” post visibility setting means only people mentioned in the post can see it. Have a look at the post visibility guide for more details.

Can I just mention Mastodon accounts? Or can I mention other Fediverse accounts as well?

You can mention any type of Fediverse account. All Fediverse accounts use the same address format of @ (user name) @ (server name).

Most Fediverse account types do notify the account owner if you mention them, but a few (PeerTube for example) do not have a notification system for mentions.

I tried to mention an account but it didn’t work. What went wrong?

If you can’t get a mention to appear properly in your post, hopefully one of these suggestions might help:

• Are you using the correct Fediverse address for the account you want to mention? You can find the account’s address on their profile page.
• Did you include the @ symbol at the start of the address? All Fediverse addresses begin with an @
• Sometimes servers have trouble with mentions for accounts they have never “noticed” before. To solve this, copy and paste the account’s Fediverse address into the search box on your server. After you’ve done this once, mentioning the account should start working and the account should start appearing in the suggestions when you’re typing a mention too.
• If the account is on a server that your server has defederated, you will not be able to mention them.

Where can I see when I am mentioned by other people?

Mentions will appear within your normal notifications in Mastodon. If you want to see just your mentions without the other notifications, go to the 🔔 Notifications section and click the Mentions tab at the top of the screen.

If you do click the Mentions tab, remember to switch notifications back to the All or Everything tab afterwards if you want to keep seeing other types of notifications. If you don’t do this, you will still get beeps for other types of notifications but you won’t see what they actually are.

I mentioned an account but it appears in the post as a short name instead of a full address. What’s happening?

Fediverse addresses all have two parts: the username and the server they are on (similar to how email addresses are written). For mentions to work, you need to include the full Fediverse address with both parts.

However, for the sake of readability, when the post is published Mastodon usually hides the second part of the address. The second part is still there underneath the surface, and if you click on the mention it will take you to the account’s profile page.

Some mentions have their addresses written in full, while most are shortened. Why is this?

Every account on the Fediverse has a unique Fediverse address, but accounts on different servers may have the same username or first part of the address. This is similar to how in real life people might have the same first name but different surnames.

If two accounts with the same username are mentioned in the same post, then when the post is published the account addresses will be written in full. This is similar to how a real life conversation might mention people’s surnames if they have the same first name, to help distinguish between the two.

I tried to mention an account but it keeps abbreviating it to @example instead of @example@server. Why doesn’t it let me write the full address when I’m editing the post?

If you’re mentioning an account on the same server as you are, then it will by default just show the first part. The second part will be automatically added for anyone viewing the post from another server.

This is similar to how traditional landline telephones allow you to dial a phone number without the area code if you are in the same area.

Can I edit a post to add a mention later?

Yes and no.

You can edit a post and add a mention, but the mention will not generate a notification and it will not make a mentions-only post visible to any mentions that are added by editing.

If you want to get someone’s attention or make a post visible to them, it is better to write a new post from scratch and mention them in it.

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There are a number of options if you want to use Mastodon on a computer.

Mastodon’s website

The website version of Mastodon is excellent, and it tends to get all the latest features first. You can be logged in on multiple accounts on multiple servers at once, and there’s also an optional Tweetdeck-style mode.

Third Party Apps

Here are some currently-supported third party desktop Mastodon apps, along with which types of computer they support:

• Whalebird ⧉ (Linux / Mac / Windows)
• Fedistar ⧉ (Linux / Mac / Windows)
• Ivory ⧉ (Mac)
• Ice Cubes ⧉ (Mac)
• Mona ⧉ (Mac)
• Tokodon ⧉ (Linux)
• Tuba ⧉ (Linux)
• Tweesecake ⧉ (designed to be accessible to blind people, available on Mac / Windows)
• TWBlue ⧉ (designed to be accessible to blind people, available on Windows)
• Toot ⧉ (CLI & TUI app for Linux / Mac)

Retro Apps

Many old computers from the 1980s and 1990s have Mastodon retro apps available.

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If you’re browsing a profile on Mastodon’s website or web app or some app store apps, you might see an option that says “Click to add note” or something similar. This is a potentially very useful feature, but it isn’t very well known so most people don’t use it.

What does Notes do?

The Notes feature lets you add private notes to anyone’s profile. Just click on it and type, it will save your notes automatically.

Who can see these notes?

Only you can see these notes. They are stored on your server and aren’t sent elsewhere.

How do I save a note? There’s no save button!

Just click somewhere outside the note, it should automatically save it.

Why is it showing me the old version of a note?

There’s a bug in the current Mastodon software which means you may see an old version of a note displayed even after you’ve edited and saved it. Just refresh the page to see the latest version of the note. This bug will be fixed in the next update of Mastodon.

Why would I want to use notes?

Mastodon’s Notes feature can be useful when dealing with large numbers of people on the Fediverse, where you want to instantly see info about how they relate to you or how you relate to them.

For example if you’re working with a group of people on a collaborative project and you want to keep track of who is doing what, you can add their role to your notes on their profile.

Many people use it to keep track of why they might have muted or blocked someone.

Another example: I use notes a lot on FediFollows ⧉, FediVideo ⧉ and FediGarden ⧉ to keep track of which accounts or servers I’ve featured and when. This helps me avoid featuring the same accounts too often.

What happens to notes if the person transfers their account to another server?

If the person you wrote notes about migrates their account to another server, your notes will automatically appear on the profile of their new account (along with a message saying that they were transferred from the old account).

What if I transfer my account to another server? Do my notes about other people come over to my new server?

No, unfortunately not. There’s currently no way to export and import notes you’ve made about other people, so you would have to manually copy notes over to your account on your new server.

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Just click on any post or reply to be taken to the original discussion thread it belongs to. This will show you the original post and its replies.

Is there any way to see the most complete version of the thread?

Because of the way servers federate together, your server may not always show all the replies in a conversation thread. You can see the most complete version of a thread by using original pages:

1. Click on the first post of the thread, at the very top
2. Click on ⋯ for the first post of the thread
3. Select the option Open original page, which will open the thread on the website of the poster’s server

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Hashtags are words or phrases with the # symbol at the start. They are used in social media posts to indicate the topic of the post, and they make it easier for people interested in that topic to discover relevant posts.

To use a hashtag, just include a word or phrase with # at the start in your post. For example, if you were writing about gardening you might include the hashtag #Gardening in your post.

Hashtags are also sometimes just called “tags”. Hashtags and tags are the same thing.

How do I use more than one word in a single hashtag?

If you want to include more than one word in a hashtag, write all the words together without spaces, but with capital letters at the start of each word. For example if you were posting about dogs at polling stations the hashtag would be #DogsAtPollingStations

It is REALLY important to make sure the first letters of each word in a hashtag are capitalised, because they make your hashtag accessible to blind people. Blind people use the internet through special apps called screen readers which read out loud whatever is on the screen. By capitalising the first letter of each word, it makes it possible for the screen reader app to know how to pronounce the hashtag. (If you don’t capitalise words, phrases can sound like meaningless gibberish read out loud.)

Capitalising the first letter of each word also makes your hashtag much easier to read for sighted people!

Capitalising the first letter of each word in a phrase without spaces is commonly known as CamelCase because it resembles the humps of a camel. 🐫

How do I search for posts with particular hashtags?

Just type the hashtag you want into the search box on Mastodon etc. This will bring up a list of suggested tags that match your search, along with little charts to show you which ones are trending right now. Click on the exact tag you want, and it will show you the latest posts using that tag.

Can I follow hashtags like I follow accounts?

Yes! On Mastodon and many other Fediverse server types you can follow hashtags so that posts with that tag automatically appear in your Home timeline, even if you’re not following the author. Click here for a guide to following hashtags.

How do I see a list of trending hashtags?

On Mastodon you can see trending hashtags through your server’s Explore feature, which is often just labelled “Trending” on many apps. This will show you trending tags on the Fediverse as seen from your server.

If you want to see trending hashtags across a much wider range of servers, there are sites like Fedi.Buzz ⧉ which show them.

I couldn’t find any results for a hashtag, what do I do?

It might be that you picked a less common version of that hashtag. Try browsing all the tag suggestions that appear when you search for the hashtag. There should be some kind of chart next to each suggestion to let you know which version of the tag is currently trending.

If you still can’t get any results, you might want to follow a group instead. For various technical reasons, groups cause posts to spread (or “federate”) more widely on the Fediverse than hashtags. Click here for a complete guide to using Fediverse groups.

Why do my hashtags disappear if I write them at the end of a post? How do I make my hashtags appear as small print below my post?

If you write hashtags below a blank line at the end of a post, they will automatically be shown below your post in a separate section with a different and smaller font. This is purely for aesthetic reasons to make the post easier to read, it doesn’t affect how the hashtags work. (This happens in Mastodon and some other Fediverse platforms.)

Note that for the hashtags to be displayed separately from the main body of the post, you do need to include the blank line break before the list of hashtags. Also note that some third party apps may not support displaying tags as small print, but in that case they will simply show them as normal tags at the end of the post.

Alternatively, If you prefer you can include hashtags within the body of the post itself. It won’t affect how they function.

Should I write hashtags within the post or at the end?

There are differing opinions on where hashtags belong:

• At an aesthetic level it is up to individuals what they prefer.
• At a technical level it makes no difference whether you include a hashtag in the middle of your post or at the end of it, the tag itself behaves exactly the same way wherever you include it in the post.
• At an accessibility level there have been contradictory reports about which option is easier. (For whatever it is worth, here is an online survey of screen reader users to ask which they prefer ⧉.)

So… it’s your call where you want to place tags in your post!

How do I know which versions of hashtags I should use? How do I find out which tag is most commonly used on a topic?

You can use multiple hashtags if you want, but if you’re short on space and want to choose just the most common one, try doing a search for the hashtag. Mastodon will show you the most popular variations on that hashtag.

In the example above, searching for #Climate on Mastodon shows the most popular similar hashtags.

How do I write hashtags for years? Why can’t I write hashtags that are all numbers?

For hashtags about particular years write the word “year” before the number, for example #year1996

Hashtags that are entirely digits with no letters will not work on Mastodon. This is because there was a request from the community to prevent this ⧉, as some people wanted to use the symbol # to indicate numbers rather than hashtags.

However, more recently there has been a counter-suggestion to allow all-digit hashtags ⧉. The developers have not so far done this, but if you’re comfortable using Github you can give this suggestion a thumbs up if you want it to happen.

I’ve published a PeerTube video, how do I add multiple hashtags to it?

The tags section on PeerTube’s publishing system can be slightly confusing as it needs you to press the enter key after each separate hashtag.

To add a tag on PeerTube, type a word or phrase into the “Tags” section of your video’s publishing form, and make sure you press enter after each separate tag. If you just use spaces or commas, it won’t separate the tags out.

I am a computer programmer and I have to say this article misuses words! It is not CamelCase, you are talking about PascalCase! And you should be writing camelCase with a small c at the start!

The terms “PascalCase” and “camelCase” (with a small c at the start) are used in computer programming, and this has caused some confusion when the term “CamelCase” (starting with a large C) is used to describe hashtags.

Programmers are rightly very precise about language as even one misspelling will break software. However, this website is not about writing software, and the use of the expression CamelCase when discussing accessibility is intended for a general non-technical audience.

For ordinary everyday language, the expression CamelCase (with a capital C at the start) works much better because:

• “CamelCase” makes it obvious that the starting letter of each word is capitalised
• “CamelCase” is much easier to remember than “PascalCase”
• Camels have humps and everyone knows what a camel looks like 🐫
• The word Pascal is relatively obscure in the non-programming, non-mathematical world
• The spelling “camelCase” (starting with a small c) doesn’t make it clear that every word starts with a capital letter

Programming is important, but technical terms have a particular context that doesn’t always overlap exactly with the needs of everyday language.

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No. There is no algorithm on Mastodon or other Fediverse server types. You can like and follow and share stuff freely without having to worry about it affecting what appears in your timeline.

Your Home timeline simply shows all the posts and all the shares from all the accounts, groups and hashtags you follow, in chronological order. The timeline doesn’t hide stuff or suggest stuff or move stuff about.

My timeline is way too full now! How can I trim it down without an algorithm?

You can split your Home timeline into themed mini-timelines using Mastodon’s Lists feature, which lets you add accounts to separate timelines and then optionally hide those accounts from your Home timeline.

There are some accounts that I MUST see the posts from. How do I make sure I don’t miss what they post?

Click the bell icon 🔔 on an account’s profile, and you will get an extra notification every time they post (and of course their posts will be in your Home timeline as usual).

There are some accounts and topics I MUST NOT see. How do I stop them appearing in my timeline?

You can block and mute accounts so that you don’t see them in your timeline. You can hide posts that use particular words or phrases by using the filter system.

I follow an account that boosts way too much! How do I stop seeing their boosts without hiding their own posts?

If there are accounts you follow that boost too much, you can hide an account’s boosts without hiding their own posts.

But there’s a column of suggested accounts to follow labelled “For You”! Isn’t this an algorithm?

No, it’s just a list of accounts that are most followed and boosted by people on your server. The same accounts are suggested to everyone on your server, but it automatically hides accounts you are already following (which is where the “for you” name comes from).

Actually, at a technical level, “algorithm” can mean any set of computing instructions. So of course Mastodon uses an algorithm, so do all computers and websites!

That’s not what most people mean by the word “algorithm”. To most people, especially non-technical people, algorithm means a weird hidden thing that messes up their timeline based on what they have previously interacted with.

If algorithm meant any kind of computing instruction, then it would be a useless word when trying to discuss the problems of manipulative black box code.

The “quiet public” post visibility setting on Mastodon’s website talks about “Fewer algorithmic features”. Doesn’t that mean Mastodon uses algorithms?

No, it’s just a badly written description that is trying to fit a long series of sentences into three words. The only actual effect of using quiet public visibility (aka unlisted visibility) is that it doesn’t show up in searches or trends or Federated or Local timelines.

Aren’t the trending posts sections a form of algorithm?

The trending posts sections of Mastodon just show new posts that have received a lot of boosts. There’s no weirdness or black box code or promotion going on, their mechanism is extremely simple and visible in Mastodon’s source code.

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This is slightly complicated to answer!

Standard Mastodon doesn’t let users create rich text posts, but it does display rich text posts if they are created on other Fediverse platforms.

There are also non-standard versions of Mastodon which do let you create rich text posts, such as the fork Glitch Mastodon ⧉ (however, not every Glitch server has rich text posting active, you would need to ask a particular Glitch server’s admin if they have it switched on).

There are also standard Mastodon servers that have been manually customised by their admins to allow rich text or other unusual formats such as LaTeX ⧉ (an example of a server with LaTeX is mathstodon.xyz ⧉).

What kind of rich text can standard Mastodon display?

Standard Mastodon will display the following kinds of post formatting: bold, italics, strikethrough, ordered and unordered lists, blockquotes, inline code, fenced code blocks, headers. Headers are displayed as bold text in a separate paragraph.

What kinds of rich text can standard Mastodon create?

None. As mentioned above there is currently no support for posting with rich text on standard Mastodon.

What kinds of rich text can Glitch Mastodon create?

The unofficial fork Glitch Mastodon ⧉ can display and create headers, bold, italics, strikethrough, blockquotes, inline code, code blocks, subscript, superscript and lists. These can be written in Markdown or HTML, and there are more details of how it works here ⧉.

Where can I find a Glitch Mastodon server to join?

There’s a short list of well-run Glitch servers in the Glitch section of fedi.garden ⧉. However, bear in mind they may not all have rich text activated. Ask their admins if you’re unsure.

Standard Mastodon supports showing rich text, so why doesn’t it support creating rich text?

It’s surprisingly difficult to locate the answer, as the topic has been discussed in various different threads on the official Mastodon Github, framed in slightly different ways so that the discussions aren’t always comparable. It seems to have just never been a priority for the developers, it wasn’t seen as crucial.

How do I ask the Mastodon developers to add rich text creation as a standard feature?

If you want standard Mastodon to support creating posts with text formatting, and if you’re comfortable using Github, the best way to let the developers know is probably to give a thumbs up in in this open issue ⧉.

What is rich text? What is Markdown?

Rich text means stuff like underlining, bold text, italics, strikethroughs etc, where ordinary text has additional formatting added to it. There is a popular open standard for creating and editing rich text called Markdown ⧉, but other standards exist too.

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⚠️ Please don’t use flashing images or animations in posts or profiles! This includes attachments and emoji, anything which produces a rapid series of flashes. Flashing images can be dangerous to people with certain neurological conditions ⧉, and it makes your post or profile inaccessible to them.

If you absolutely have to post something containing flashes, hide it behind a content warning which says that it contains flashes.

Is there any way I can prevent animated GIFs from playing automatically?

If you’re using the Mastodon web interface, you can optionally prevent animated GIFs from automatically playing:

1. Log in through your server’s website or the web app
2. Click on ⚙️ Preferences
3. Scroll down the page and UN-tick the box Auto-play animated GIFs
4. Click the Save Changes button

Some apps may also have options for this, check their settings menus.

But if people can switch off autoplaying of GIFs, why does it matter if I use flashing images?

It matters because a lot of people may not be able to prevent autoplay:

• Some people may be viewing your public posts or profile through your server’s website, they may not even be members of the Fediverse. A lot of content on Mastodon and the Fediverse is shared elsewhere through web links.
• Some people use non-Mastodon platforms which lack options about autoplay.
• Some people are on Mastodon apps which lack options about autoplay.

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(If you want to block or mute individual accounts, please see the Blocking and Muting Accounts on Mastodon guide.)

Ordinary individual users do not have any means to block entire servers on Mastodon. The only people who can block servers are the server admins, through a process called defederation.

But what about the “block domain” option? Doesn’t that block servers?

If a user goes to a profile or post and clicks on the ⋯ button, this does bring up an option called “Block domain” which sounds like it would block a server. However, this option just mutes the server, it hides the server’s posts from you but does not hide your posts from the server.

So, if I’m concerned about a particular server, how do I block it?

If you’re an ordinary user, you have two options if you want to cut off communications with a specific server:

• Talk to your server’s admin and convince them to defederate the server you are concerned about.

OR

• Move your account to another server that has defederated that server.

If I move to another server, how do I find out if it blocks the server I’m worried about?

To see a server’s defederation list:

1. Go to its website and click Learn More or ⋯, which takes you to its info page.
2. Scroll down the info page until you get to the section marked Moderated Servers, and click this to open it.
3. Scroll down the list until you get to the server you’re worried about. If it says “suspended” next to its name, that means the server has been defederated.

Note that for safety reasons some servers hide their defederation list, or obfuscate the names. If you are unable to see the defederation list, try messaging the server’s admin to ask if they have defederated the server you’re worried about.

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BookWyrm has a built-in catalogue of books, which is based on open data from WikiData ⧉ in collaboration with Inventaire ⧉. This data is collaboratively written by volunteers, just like Wikipedia, so it is huge but does also have gaps.

If you can’t find the book you want, you can manually add it to BookWyrm by doing the following:

1. Log in on your BookWyrm server and search for the book you want in the search box at the top of the screen.
2. If you can’t find your book in the results, click the link at the bottom of the screen to include results from catalogues on other BookWyrm servers. This will give you even more search results.
3. If you still can’t find your book, click on the Manually add book link at the bottom of the screen below the second set of search results.

Why is it so awkward? Why do I have to search first?

The idea of this setup is to discourage people from manually entering the details of books that are already in the catalogue. Duplicates cause headaches for other people trying to choose particular books, because they don’t know which one of the duplicates to select. By reducing the number of duplicates, the catalogue is kept easier to use.

What if I found the right book but not the right edition? How do I add another edition of a book?

Click on the “editions” link below the description to show all the editions, then select “add another edition”.

Can I import book lists into BookWyrm from other sources?

Yes, if you have an existing account on Goodreads, LibraryThing, StoryGraph, OpenLibrary or Calibre you can import your book lists into BookWyrm.

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⚠️ If you’re the admin of a Mastodon server, you might have noticed a server setting called “Remote content retention period” (also known as “content cache retention period” on older versions of Mastodon). Do NOT put any numbers in this, just leave it blank!

What happens if I put numbers in there?

It will start permanently breaking threads on your server that are older than that number of days, without any possibility of restoring them. This setting is not a cache, because there’s no way of getting the content back later.

Whaaat? Why does this setting even exist?

Apparently it was created for certain niche announcement-only servers which have to avoid any data retention for legal reasons. It isn’t intended by the developers for use on ordinary servers.

So why is such a dangerous and niche setting included on normal servers if it’s not intended for normal servers?

Really good question, it probably shouldn’t be there as most admins will never need it and won’t realise the damage it causes. It’s now been put in a “danger zone” section as a result of a pull request on Github ⧉, which also includes technical discussion of why it exists and what it does.

What if I’ve already put numbers in that setting?

Remove the numbers, make sure it is blank and then save the changes.

What about the other settings on the same page, can I use them?

Yes, the other settings are okay to use. It’s just the “Remote content retention period”/”content cache retention period” one that needs to stay blank.

Can I set the “Media cache retention period”? Can I set the “User archive retention period”?

Yes, it’s fine to set time limits on the media cache and user archives, because they can be reloaded if needed.

It’s only the “Remote content retention period”/”content cache retention period” that you need to leave blank, because the content it deletes cannot be reloaded.

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Each server is totally independent, and does updates on its own schedule. You may want to check which version of Mastodon a server is running, as this can let you know whether a new feature is available on that server. To check a server’s version:

1. Go to that server’s website (you don’t need to log in)
2. If you’re on the desktop website, the server’s Mastodon version will be written at the bottom left corner of the screen. If you’re on the mobile website, click the ⋯ icon and scroll to the bottom of the page.
3. The version number will look something like “v2.2.4” or similar. It may have some extra letters if it’s a customised or experimental version of Mastodon, but the numbers should indicate which version it is based on.

How do I find out the latest version number for Mastodon?

The Mastodon developers’ Github page has the latest version number written at the top of its releases page ⧉.

(If you’re technical that page also lets you browse through the details of the latest version, but you don’t need to do this.)

The server has “glitch” or “hometown” written on its version number. What does this mean?

Mastodon is free open source software, which means anyone with the necessary programming knowledge can create their own customised version, known as a “fork”. Two of the most popular and well-established forks are Glitch Mastodon ⧉ and Hometown Mastodon ⧉. If you see these names in the version number, it means your server is running one of these forks.

There’s nothing wrong with a server running on a fork of Mastodon, in fact it often brings more features. Forks and originals aren’t rivals or competitors, they can contribute to each other in both directions. Many features of standard Mastodon originally appeared on the Glitch fork. Whichever fork your server is running, it’s still compatible with standard Mastodon and you’ll be able to follow and interact with people from standard Mastodon servers.

Standard Mastodon is often called “Vanilla Mastodon” to distinguish it from Glitch Mastodon, Hometown Mastodon and other forks.

The server’s version number has lots of letters and numbers and the word “alpha” or “beta”. What does this mean?

There are always two latest versions of Mastodon: the stable release version and the experimental version.

The vast majority of servers run the stable release version, as it has been extensively tested and is known to work well. However, some servers prefer to have the very latest cutting edge experimental features, and they will run the experimental version which is usually labelled differently. In software development, the words “alpha”, “beta” and “nightly” usually indicate an experimental version that isn’t yet ready for release. Experimental version numbers may look even more complicated such as “alpha.0+pr-28693-384ec56”.

If your server is running a test version of Mastodon, you will probably see new features ahead of servers running the release version. However, features on the experimental version may disappear without warning, or not work properly, or break other features, and that’s why most servers use the release version instead.

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Link previews are little boxes of information about a website link, often including an image and short text description, which appear below a post that includes that link.

To make a preview appear in your post, just include the link in the post. You don’t need to do anything else, because the link’s preview will be automatically generated.

Why doesn’t the preview appear when I include a link?

It may take some time for the preview to appear as it’s your server which does the generation, and it may have a queue of other tasks to deal with first. If you go back to the post later, the preview should be visible.

Why do previews sometimes look different on different servers?

At a technical level, previews are generated by the server of the person viewing a post, so people from different servers may see slightly different previews, depending on which version of Mastodon (or other Fediverse software) their server is running.

Why do some previews have pictures while others are just text?

Previews are generated based on the settings of the website being linked to. If the website doesn’t have any settings for preview images, the previews in links to that site will just be text.

I run a website, how do I add settings for preview images and descriptions?

Mastodon uses Open Graph information to generate previews. Website owners can include Open Graph code to provide information about their site.

Here are some examples taken from the Wikipedia article on the Open Graph Protocol, you can put them in the header of your site:

<meta property="og:title" content="Example title of article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="example.com website">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:url" content="http://example.com/example-title-of-article">
<meta property="og:image" content="http://example.com/article_thumbnail.jpg">
<meta property="og:image" content="http://example.com/website_logo.png">
<meta property="og:description" content="This example article is an example of OpenGraph protocol.">

You don’t need to include all these tags, just the ones you want to include info about. For example if you want images in your preview, you should include the image tag with a link to the image you want to appear on a preview.

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Most people think about websites and apps as being two separate things. However, some websites are specially written to function pretty much like apps, and you can even install these sites as apps with their own icon. You don’t need to go through any app stores, you can install them directly from your web browser.

These kinds of special installable websites are called “web apps”. Web apps are so sophisticated nowadays, many of the apps you install from app stores are actually web apps.

The websites of Mastodon servers and other Fediverse server types such as Pixelfed, PeerTube, BookWyrm etc can be installed as web apps on your phone or tablet. Scroll down this page to see a list of the Fediverse server types that support web app installation.

Should I use app store apps or web apps?

In most cases it’s just a matter of taste!

For example, Mastodon has lots of official and third party app store apps, but many people prefer the Mastodon web app as it tends to get features before the app store apps. The web app has also been in development for longer than any other Mastodon app, so its features tend to be well-developed and mature.

However, some Fediverse server types (such as BookWyrm for example) don’t have app store apps at all yet, so the web apps are their only app.

How to install web apps on Android phones and tablets:

1. Open your Android phone or tablet’s web browser and go to your server’s website
2. Log into your account on your server’s website
3. Open the browser’s options menu (usually ︙ in top right corner of screen)
4. Click on Install app
5. It will ask for confirmation of the installation, click Install
6. An icon will appear on your home screen, click on this and log into your account

If the Install option isn’t visible, make sure you have logged into your account on your server’s website on the same browser. Android may not let you install the web app if you aren’t logged in.

How to install web apps on iPhone and iPad:

1. Open the Safari web browser and go to your server’s website
2. Click the Share icon at the bottom of the screen (it looks like a box with an arrow pointing upwards)
3. Scroll down through the options and click on Add to Home Screen
4. Give the name you want for the icon and confirm the installation by clicking on Add
5. An icon will appear on your home screen, click on this and log into your account

Do I get notifications for web apps? How do I control the notifications?

Yes, web apps nowadays support notifications.

Once you’ve installed the web app and you’ve logged in, your phone or tablet may ask if it’s okay to show notifications for the web app, if you want notifications you should say yes to this. You can also set notifications for the web app in your phone or tablet’s notifications settings section.

Which Fediverse server types can be installed as web apps?

You can install web apps for most Fediverse server types including:

BookWyrm
Friendica
Funkwhale
Mastodon
Mobilizon
OwnCast
PeerTube
Pixelfed
WriteFreely

Help! How do I go back without a back button?

Some web apps include a back button within their interface, but not all of them. If they don’t, you can usually go backwards or forwards by swiping the screen left or right.

Isn’t this just a bookmark? What’s the point of this?

Web apps have some significant differences to bookmarks:

• Web apps let you have app notifications, which bookmarks do not.
• Web apps work separately from your browser and hide the browser’s interface, with the web app’s own interface taking up the full screen. This makes it much easier to view stuff as there’s no second interface taking up room.
• You don’t need to open or close your web browser to use web apps because they are working separately. You can close your browser without closing the web app, or close the web app without closing the browser.
• Installation won’t work for all websites, it will only work for those specifically desgined to be web apps. If you try to install non-app websites on your home screen, either the installation option will just not be there, or they will produce an icon but that icon will just open the site in a web browser exactly like a bookmark.

At a technical level web apps are working through browser technology, but in practice using a web app is pretty much like using an app. As noted above, many of the apps in app stores are actually web apps behind the scenes.

By adding web apps to your home screen, it means you can install Fediverse platforms that aren’t on app stores yet (such as Pixelfed or BookWyrm). Even on platforms that do have separate apps, such as Mastodon, many people prefer the web interface so they use the web app.

My iPhone/iPad calls these bookmarks?

Parts of the iPhone/iPad interface do refer to web apps as bookmarks, but web apps behave differently to bookmarks. Normal websites open in the browser just like bookmarks with the browser controls visible, but installed web apps hide the browser controls and the entire screen is devoted to the web app. Also, web apps are opened separately from the browser, so if you close your browser the web app stays open (and vice versa).

(Added to this, it’s important to bear in mind that Apple gets zero income from web apps while it gets lots of money from App Store apps. This gives Apple a massive financial incentive to try to sideline/hide/downplay web apps, even if they are really good.)

What are Progressive Web Apps / PWAs? What are Web Clients?

You might hear web apps referred to as “Progressive Web Apps” or “PWAs” or “Web Clients”. These are all pretty much just different names for web apps.

Why aren’t web apps more widely known about?

Because web apps can be installed very easily by the user without an app store, the owners of app stores like Apple and Google receive zero income from web apps. It’s also a lot harder to steal people’s data if they install web apps instead of app store apps.

This lack of money or surveillance data means large corporations don’t really want people to install web apps, so they downplay and sideline web apps whenever possible. However, web apps do exist and lots of people do prefer them to app store apps.

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Running any kind of social media server is a big topic, especially if it’s a jointly-owned server run by a group, collective, business etc.

The legal side of things depends on where your organisation is based and what your organisation’s existing structure is. Your local laws will provide various options for joint ownership structures, for example co-operatives are popular in many countries. Usually a Mastodon server can be jointly owned and managed just like anything else that belongs to your organisation.

How does joint management of a Mastodon server work in practice?

Many people can jointly run a single Mastodon server by using the “roles” system, where accounts are assigned special privileges by the owners of the server. These privileges allow staff to do things that ordinary members can’t do, for example delete posts or block users. Different roles have different amounts and types of privilege.

There are a number of pre-made roles (Owner, Admin, Moderator) but completely new roles can also be created with highly customised sets of abilities. The “Owner” account is the highest-ranked role and has the final word on everything, so this is normally given to people most trusted by your organisation. You can assign several accounts as owners if you want.

If your organisation needs a hierarchy, there is an optional priority system for roles so that if two staff members disagree on certain actions, the higher priority role gets the final decision.

The profiles of staff carry a special badge with their role name, so everyone on your server can see that they are staff.

How to give a server member a special role

1. Log in through an account that has the power to assign roles. Owners can assign any role, other staff members may also be able to (depending on what privileges they have been given).
2. Go to Preferences > Moderation > Accounts
3. Click on the member you want to assign a role to
4. Scroll down to the Roles section of the page and click on Change role
5. Select the correct role and click Save changes

How to adjust existing roles or create new roles

1. Log in through an account with power to create roles (usually Owners)
2. Go to Preferences > Administration > Roles
3. To edit an existing role click the Edit button next to it, to create a new role click the Add role button at the top of the screen

Note that there are a lot of different abilities that can be assigned to roles (see below). You may want to err on the side of caution and only assign abilities that you’re totally sure you want them to have.

Is there any way to assign a supporter’s badge for people who help the project but don’t want to moderate?

Yes, just create a new role called “Supporter” (or whatever you want to call it) but don’t assign it any powers. This will add a supporter’s badge to anyone in the role, but their account will otherwise be a normal user account.

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Every PeerTube channel has a feed link that can be subscribed to through most podcast apps such as AntennaPod, Apple Podcasts etc.

To subscribe via podcast apps, first you need to get the channel’s feed link:

1. Go to a PeerTube channel’s profile page
2. Click on the arrow on right side of its Subscribe button
3. Copy the link from Subscribe via RSS option. If you’re using a phone or tablet, long-press and select Copy link. If you’re on a computer, click on the option to open the link and then copy the feed’s address from the bar at the top of the browser.

Once you’ve got the link, you can use it in your podcast app. Different apps will have different interfaces, but they should be broadly similar in how they work. Usually there will be a box for you to paste the feed link into.

As an example, here’s how to subscribe to a feed link in Apple Podcasts:

1. Click on the Library tab at the bottom of the screen
2. Click the ⋯ icon in the top right
3. Select Follow show by URL
4. Paste the link into the box, then click Follow

Does this work for video or audio podcasts?

Both! This works for both video and audio, as PeerTube lets people upload both video and audio files.

Can I listen to video episodes as just audio?

Usually yes, but it depends on the podcast app you’re using.

For example, in Apple Podcasts when you press play on a video podcast, the audio plays but the video is shown as a tiny preview (which you can expand to full screen if you want). You can even lock the screen which blanks it, but the audio will carry on playing.

Which podcast apps does this work on?

It should work on any podcast app that allows you to follow a podcast’s feed link. Different apps might call these links “URL” or “RSS” or “Feed” or “Syndication” or other terms, but they all involve the same process of pasting the link into the app.

Most podcast apps allow following podcasts by pasting links. On some podcast apps this may be the only method!

Is this for channels or accounts?

The channel page has a feed for just that channel, the account page has a feed that combines all of the account’s channels into one feed.

Can I download episodes to the podcast app to listen/watch offline?

Yes, if the uploader has enabled downloads. Just use your podcast app’s ordinary download function.

How do I promote my PeerTube channel to podcast app users?

Tell them what the feed link is for your channel, to save them having to do the steps above.

I’m viewing a PeerTube account or channel from Mastodon, how do I find its feed link?

Go to the account or channel’s original page, which will take you to its profile page on PeerTube. Then follow the steps above.

Will this feed work on RSS news feed readers too?

Yes, the same feed works on both RSS news apps and podcast apps.

Will podcast subscribers show on my channel’s subscriber numbers?

No. The subscriber number only shows people following you from the Fediverse (including other PeerTube accounts, Mastodon, Friendica etc). Podcast following works through passive feed subscription, it doesn’t send any kind of following data back to your server.

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If you’re browsing a thread on Mastodon through your server’s website or on the web app, you may have noticed an icon in the top right corner that looks like an eye 👁️

Clicking this icon reveals or hides all posts in the thread that are hidden by Content Warnings (CW). If the posts with CWs are hidden, click on the eye to open them all at once, or click again to close them all.

This feature is really useful on threads with a lot of posts hidden by CWs, as it means you don’t have to open each CW one by one.

I can’t see the eye, where is it?

The eye icon is only visible when you’re viewing a thread. You can view a thread by clicking on a post, which will show you the thread the post comes from.

I clicked the eye and it doesn’t seem to do anything?

Try clicking it again. If you have one post revealed and you click the eye, it just hides that post and leaves the rest hidden, so it appears to do nothing. When you click again, it opens all the posts at once.

There’s an eye in the official app but it doesn’t reveal the whole thread?

The official Mastodon app also has an eye symbol but it’s displayed in posts rather than at the top of threads, and it just reveals the contents of that specific post.

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Mastodon threads are built with the traditional method used on many other social networks.

Here’s how to do this manually in any app:

1. Post the first part of your thread, and mention that it is the start of the thread
2. Reply to the post with the second part of the thread
3. Reply to this reply with the third part etc
4. Just keep replying to your last previous reply to add the next part, and go through all your posts in order
5. When you get to the final reply, mention that it’s the end of the thread

Should I number the thread?

A lot of people also number their threads at the bottom of each part to indicate it is in a thread, and which part it is (such as 1/9 on first post in a nine post thread, 2/9 on second part, 3/9 on part 3 etc). Some also optionally add a cotton reel emoji 🧵 next to the first post’s numbering as a visual pun to indicate a thread.

If you’re not sure how many parts a thread will have, you can just number them as 1/X, 2/X, 3/X and then END on the final post. As Mastodon has an edit function, you can add the numbering to a thread afterwards too.

What visibility setting should I use for threads?

If you are posting a public thread, it’s considered polite to use a public visibility setting for the first post but an unlisted visibility setting for the replies in the thread. This means that only the start of the thread shows up on public timelines, and makes them easier to browse. However, if you’re unsure about how to do this don’t worry.

Is there an easier way to create threads? Can I create them in advance in one go instead of manually bit-by-bit?

Some apps and scheduled posting services may include thread-creation systems which let you write the thread in full and then post the thread in one go, but at a technical level they are just doing the above process of replies-to-replies automatically.

If you’re on a computer, you can use a notepad application to type the whole thread in one go, then split it into bits by copying and pasting sections of your text over to Mastodon.

Should I create a thread by only replying to the original post instead of replying to my previous reply? I heard this displays threads better?

No, there is no point in doing this. Threads display best if you use the method at the beginning of the article where each part is a reply to the previous part.

It’s unclear where this “only reply to the original post” suggestion comes from, it doesn’t bring any advantages, only disadvantages. If you click on a post in an “only reply to original post” thread it hides all the other parts of the thread, which makes things very confusing.

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This is a guide for watching and interacting with PeerTube videos, and following PeerTube accounts. If you want to publish videos on PeerTube, please click here.

What is PeerTube anyway?

It’s a video platform for the Fediverse, kind of like YouTube but spread out on lots of servers that talk to each other instead of being on one site. Have a look at fedi.video ⧉ if you want to see an example server.

Also here’s the really cool bit: because PeerTube and Mastodon are both part of the Fediverse, you can follow PeerTube accounts from Mastodon. You can also watch, comment on and like PeerTube videos entirely within Mastodon, using your Mastodon account.

How do I watch PeerTube videos?

If you just want to browse and search for PeerTube videos and don’t want to follow or interact, then the easiest method is probably to watch them directly on a PeerTube server website. You don’t need to register, there are no ads, no cookies etc, you can just watch videos in peace without having to do anything else. For an easy way to get started exploring PeerTube, I run a site at fedi.video ⧉ which highlights interesting videos from across the whole PeerTube network.

Different servers will have different videos visible, depending on which other parts of PeerTube they federate with. If you can’t find the videos you want on the server you’re browsing, try using one of the discovery methods mentioned below.

How do I upload videos to PeerTube?

Please see the guide to publishing on PeerTube.

How do I follow PeerTube accounts from Mastodon?

There are many ways to follow PeerTube accounts, but the most popular by far is following them from Mastodon. This allows you to watch, follow and interact with PeerTube using your existing Mastodon account, and without leaving your Mastodon app or website. It’s so simple and seamless that many people who use it don’t even realise they are following PeerTube accounts!

To follow a PeerTube account on Mastodon:

1. Find the PeerTube account’s fediverse address on its profile page
2. Copy the account’s address and paste it into the search box in Mastodon, this will bring up the PeerTube account’s profile within Mastodon
3. Go to the PeerTube profile
4. Click Follow

…and that’s it! Videos from followed accounts will start appearing in your timeline. You can watch them within Mastodon by clicking the play button, or click on the link to watch the same video on its PeerTube server.

If you want to try this out, copy and paste the account address @theatticdwellers@tilvids.com into the search box on Mastodon. This will bring up a PeerTube account which you can follow, and its videos will be visible on its profile page.

Can I comment and like PeerTube videos from Mastodon?

Yes! You can interact with PeerTube videos entirely within Mastodon.

If you are following a PeerTube account its videos will appear in your home timeline. The videos will look just like posts from Mastodon accounts, and you interact with them in exactly the same way. If you favourite a PeerTube video in Mastodon, it will appear as a thumbs up for that video in PeerTube. If you reply to a PeerTube video in Mastodon, it will appear as a comment below that video in PeerTube.

If you’re wondering how this is possible, it’s because PeerTube and Mastodon are both part of the Fediverse and use the same open technical standard (called ActivityPub) to communicate between servers. That means Mastodon servers can talk to PeerTube servers and vice versa.

How to discover PeerTube accounts to follow

There are lots of ways of discovering PeerTube accounts and videos:

• Visit the website fedi.video ⧉, which highlights nice videos from across PeerTube which you can browse or search. It does this using an allowlist system which screens out bad content before it can appear.
• Follow the account @FediVideo@social.growyourown.services ⧉ in Mastodon, it boosts interesting PeerTube videos every day. If you like a particular video and want to see more, click on the video’s profile link and click Follow. There is also a PeerTube playlist ⧉ you can watch which includes every video boosted by the account.
• Browse the PeerTube section on Fedi.Directory ⧉, and click on an account to find out more. If you like it, copy and paste the account’s address into the search box on Mastodon and click Follow.
• Some people on Mastodon may also mention their PeerTube account addressrs in their profiles. You can follow these addresses in Mastodon.
• There is an official PeerTube search engine called SepiaSearch ⧉, which aims to search as many PeerTube servers and videos as possible to give the largest number of relevant current results. However, the downside of this is it may also contain nasty content. (The admins of SepiaSearch screen out bad content when it is reported, but because it uses a blocklist system instead of allowlist, bad stuff may sneak through if no one reports it.)

Following PeerTube accounts from PeerTube

Of course, you can just follow PeerTube accounts from PeerTube itself!

Using a PeerTube account allows you to comment, like, follow etc but also allows some things not possible through Mastodon, such as being creating playlists, saving videos to watch later and various other options such as donating to the creator. Some video accounts also offer file downloads if you want to watch the videos offline. The experience of using a PeerTube account is very similar to YouTube.

You can get a PeerTube account on any PeerTube server that is open for signups, for example tilvids.com ⧉ is a good one. If the video you want to interact with isn’t visible on the server you signed up on, you can make it appear by copying and pasting the video’s link into the search box on your PeerTube server. The video will appear, and you’ll then be able to interact with it and follow its creator’s account.

Can I use PeerTube accounts through an app instead of the website?

Yes, the Fedilab app can be used for PeerTube accounts as well as Mastodon ones, and there’s also a free open source app called NewPipe ⧉ which is PeerTube-compatible too. The PeerTube part of Fedilab is separate from the Mastodon section, and has an interface dedicated to PeerTube.

Also, if you just want to subscribe and watch/listen, but don’t want to comment or like, you might want to try following PeerTube through your favourite podcast app.

A video starts playing but it’s really jerky. How do I fix this?

If you pause a video, this will give the video a chance to load up a bit more so that it doesn’t have to keep stopping.

Also, some videos include a download link so you can watch it on your own device’s video player (this is optional though, it’s is up to the person who uploads the videos to decide if it will include a download link).

A video won’t load, or it says it’s not available. What do I do?

If a video says it cannot be accessed, try reloading the page and pressing play again.

The reason this happens is usually because the video is on a different server to the one you’re watching from, and occasionally the connection can get a bit flaky. Reloading the page usually fixes this problem.

If it still doesn’t load, it’s possible that the server actually hosting the video is down.

Following PeerTube channels and accounts on Podcast apps

If you just want to subscribe to a channel and don’t care about commenting or liking, you can follow any PeerTube channel or account through most podcast apps.

Following PeerTube accounts through RSS

If you’re a fan of using RSS news feeds, you can follow PeerTube accounts through RSS. To get an account’s RSS feed address, go to the account’s profile on PeerTube and click the options arrow next to the Subscribe button, one of the options will be RSS.

As it’s RSS, interactions are impossible because RSS feeds are one directional.

Following PeerTube accounts from other Fediverse server types

There are also other Fediverse platforms which let you follow PeerTube accounts, such as Friendica. You can use exactly the same methods for following as detailed in the above section about Mastodon, it all works in the same way.

Why can’t I find what I want on PeerTube?

PeerTube is very new and most people publishing videos on it have only just got started. It has grown significantly since its early days, and hopefully the explosion of new users on Mastodon will make PeerTube grow even faster. If you want to see more content on PeerTube, it helps if you follow, comment and like the videos that are there already.

Another thing to bear in mind is that PeerTube is mainly built and run by volunteers. Each server has to cover its own operating costs, and the PeerTube platform’s software is developed by a non-profit organisation together with volunteer programmers. There are no VC investors or corporations funding PeerTube, the whole thing is a grassroots effort paid for by donations.

There’s a “friendly reminder” warning at the bottom of the page. What does it mean?

The warning is there for an abundance of transparency, rather than because of significant risk.

PeerTube reduces the stress on servers by sharing the bandwidth of people who are watching the same video at the same time. This allows small independent servers to exist more easily because it keeps costs down on popular videos.

In theory, because the bandwidth is being shared, someone watching the same video as you at exactly the same time as you might be able to see your IP address. However, this is not a built-in feature of PeerTube, it would require significant modifications by whoever did it, and all it would tell them is that someone with that IP address is watching that video. It wouldn’t by itself tell them who you are or any personal info.

Also, even seeing the IP address would be difficult for various technical reasons ⧉.

IP addresses are a short series of numbers that your internet provider assigns to your computer or phone whenever it connects to the internet. Everything on the internet has an IP address so that information can flow correctly from one place to another. IP addresses for ordinary internet users aren’t permanent, and may change every time you connect to the internet.

If you’re concerned about the risk of IP addresses being visible to others, bear in mind your IP address is already visible to any internet site you look at, or online app you interact with, because that’s how the internet knows where to send stuff. The only way to avoid IP addresses being exposed to others is to use a VPN ⧉.

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This is a guide to publishing on PeerTube, the Fediverse’s video platform. If you want help with just watching PeerTube videos and following PeerTube accounts, click here.

Why publish on PeerTube?

There are many reasons why people choose to publish on PeerTube:

• PeerTube videos are shown without adverts or interruptions
• PeerTube servers don’t insert trackers or try to invade people’s privacy
• Video makers are not at the mercy of an opaque, ever-changing algorithm that manipulates search results
• PeerTube is part of the Fediverse, which means PeerTube accounts can be followed and interacted with from any of the millions of accounts on Mastodon etc
• PeerTube servers are totally independent and generally fairly small, so it’s easy to communicate directly with the owner if there’s a problem
• You can create your own PeerTube server if you want complete control, ownership and flexibility over your video platform

1. Sign up on an existing server, or start your own server?

There are two main ways to publish on PeerTube: sign up on an existing server that belongs to someone else, or start your own server.

The existing server option is much easier, and is the most popular option for individual accounts. Bear in mind some servers allow you to sign up but don’t allow uploads, so you’ll have to find a server that allows uploads for its members. Some well-run servers where you can currently sign up and upload are listed below. By default they are general servers, but ones with a specific theme have been marked:

• tube.tchncs.de ⧉
• spectra.video ⧉
• makertube.net ⧉ (for creative people or those who make or fix things)
• video.gamerstavern.online ⧉ (mainly for gaming videos, but can be anything that obeys the terms of service, is original content and is safe for work)
• urbanists.video ⧉ (for videos about urban planning and transport)
• video.hardlimit.com ⧉ (for videos about technology and gaming in English or Spanish)
• video-cave-v2.de ⧉ (for German-language videos)

There are also some servers where uploads are possible but you need to contact the server admin directly in order to activate the upload function for your account:

• tilvids.com ⧉
• v.basspistol.org ⧉ (for musicians and music-related videos)

You can also look at the account addresses of existing PeerTube accounts to see where they are hosted. Their server will be mentioned in the last part of their Fediverse address. To browse existing PeerTube accounts, have a look at fedi.video ⧉.

Alternatively, you can start your own server! Starting your own server is a bit more complicated, but it gives you full control over the server and can be really fun. It also lets you provide accounts to other people if you want to. The servers can talk to other servers on the Fediverse or stay isolated, it’s entirely up to the person running the server. There are three ways to run your own:

• Non-technical people can create their own server through a managed hosting service ⧉ which handles all the techy stuff behind the scenes for a monthly fee. There’s a new service called Fedihost ⧉ which is particularly aimed at beginners wanting to start their own PeerTube server.
• Semi-technical people can use software like Yunohost ⧉ to set up a server on a VPS.
• Highly technical people can use PeerTube’s full manual instructions ⧉ to set up a server.

2. Accounts vs Channels

Whatever method you use to get onto PeerTube, you will need to create an account and channels for your videos to be uploaded to. Accounts are what you use to log into PeerTube, and channels are like categories for your videos to go into.

However, there is a complication here: the channel system doesn’t work properly on Mastodon. When people view PeerTube videos on Mastodon, they will see the video as being posted by your account and not your channel. Because of this situation, it’s recommended that you use separate PeerTube accounts if you’re wanting to have channels with separate identities, with just have one channel per account and the same name for both.

Channels do work well when viewed through PeerTube, but unfortunately most of the potential audience is on Mastodon where only accounts are visible.

3. Choose your account and channel address carefully

Every account and channel has a display name in big letters, and a Fediverse address in smaller letters below that.

You can change your account or channel display names any time you want, but the account and channel addresses have to stay the same. Fediverse addresses cannot be changed for the same reason that website addresses or email addresses cannot be changed, because any change to an address would break existing connections from other sites.

So, be really sure about your addresses when you are setting up an account and an channel, as you will need to stick with those addresses. If you need to change your identity or branding, changing the display name is a much safer option than fiddling with the addresses.

4. Upload your videos gradually, one at a time or in small batches. Do NOT upload them all at once.

You can upload videos through your server’s website, or though PeerTube-compatible apps like Fedilab.

Because of the way content federates across most of the Fediverse, it is highly recommended that you upload videos gradually, perhaps once a day at most, rather than uploading a huge load of videos all at once.

If you upload all your videos at once before you have any followers, Mastodon users will see your profile as totally blank and may not know you have uploaded any videos at all. Gradual uploads allows you to build up a following, which in turn allows your videos to federate to a much wider audience, gaining you even more followers.

If you’ve already uploaded all your videos in one batch, you can either take some down and reupload them gradually as your follower numbers grow, or you can boost some from your Mastodon account (if you have one). To boost videos on Mastodon, paste the video’s web address into the Mastodon search box, and then clicking the video’s boost button in Mastodon. This will cause the PeerTube video to federate to your Mastodon server and all the servers of people who follow your Mastodon account.

If you have an account on an existing video service, you can import videos directly to your PeerTube account using the Import with URL feature ⧉, but only do this for videos you have legal permission to share. Also bear in mind the automatic import feature reduces the picture quality of the video, and it’s better to upload the original file if you can ⧉.

5. Think about what time of day you upload

Most people on the Fediverse use chronological timelines, so they see posts appearing at the time they were written. On the Fediverse there isn’t an algorithm punishing or rewarding accounts, people simply follow and see all posts from everyone they follow.

This means it’s a good idea to publish videos at a time when your potential audience is awake and looking at their timelines. If you publish when your audience is sleeping, they are much less likely to see your video. (They might still see it from searches and shares, though.)

6. Tag your videos

Lots of people on Mastodon follow hashtags and search for hashtags, so it’s important to tag your PeerTube videos so that they will be noticed by Mastodon users.

To tag a video, to go the video’s Tags section and enter a word or phrase for a tag and then press enter. After you press enter, the tag will be created, and you can add another tag (you can have up to five on a video).

You don’t need to include the symbol # on your PeerTube tags. PeerTube tags will automatically have # added when the video is viewed from Mastodon etc.

7. Let people know about your PeerTube account

If you have a Mastodon account, tell people about your PeerTube account’s address so they can follow it directly from Mastodon. For example you could post about it, put it in a pinned post, and list the account address on your profile.

If you want your videos to be as visible as possible to a wider audience, it is important to get Mastodon followers for your PeerTube account, because Mastodon has a much larger userbase than PeerTube. Mastodon followers mean each follower’s server will notice whatever videos you upload, and your videos will become visible and searchable to everyone on those Mastodon servers. However, this visibility will only apply to videos uploaded after you were followed, so that’s why it’s important to upload new content gradually as your follower numbers grow.

Alternatively, you can tell my accounts at FediFollows ⧉ and FediVideo ⧉ about your PeerTube account, and I might give it a shoutout!

8. Tell podcast app users how to subscribe to your PeerTube channel feeds

PeerTube channels can be subscribed to via most podcast apps. You might want to let people know this is an option for your PeerTube channel, there’s a guide to how to subscribe to PeerTube on podcast apps here.

Bear in mind though, like all podcasts this is one-directional so people won’t be able to like or comment from their podcast app. Also, podcast subscribers will not show up on your subscriber numbers, though it may show on your view numbers.

By the way, the same podcast link can also be used to subscribe through RSS news feed readers.

What kind of files can I upload to PeerTube? Can I upload audio-only files too?

PeerTube accepts uploads in lots of different video and audio formats. Here’s a complete list:

.webm, .ogv, .ogg, .mp4, .mkv, .mov, .qt, .mqv, .m4v, .flv, .wmv, .avi, .3gp, .3gpp, 3g2, 3gpp2, .nut, .mts, .m2ts, .mpv, .m2v, .m1v, .mpg, .mpe, .mpeg, .vob, .mxf, .mp3, .wma, .wav, .flac, .aac, .m4a, .ac3

If you upload an audio file, you can optionally add a still image as artwork. if you don’t add artwork, the audio file will play over a blank background.

Is there a PeerTube app which includes support for uploading videos?

Yes, the Fedilab app can be used to manage your PeerTube account including uploading videos. It’s mainly known as a Mastodon app, but it also includes full support for PeerTube accounts.

If PeerTube is ad-free, what does that mean for sponsorships and donations? Am I allowed to ask for donations? Am I allowed to upload sponsored videos?

Sponsorships and calls for donations are generally fine.

There are popular PeerTube accounts with sponsorships mentioned in their videos (for example The Linux Experiment ⧉), and many PeerTubers have donation links for viewers that want to support their content. This is all okay.

The “ad-free” description of PeerTube just means that there is no ad system, and there are no adverts or trackers inserted into videos or websites by PeerTube itself.

If you’re in any doubt about whether something is okay to upload to your server, check with your server admin about what is acceptable there. The server owners are the ones paying the bills for the video hosting, so it’s ultimately their call on what is allowed on their server.

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Here’s a complete list of all the language codes used by Mastodon. These can be useful when doing searches by language.

For example if you search mastodon including the phrase language:fr you will only see results in French. You can combine this with keywords or hashtags, or just have the operator on its own if you want to see all recent posts in that language.

(NOTE: If you want your timelines permanently filtering languages, use the dedicated language filters instead.)

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You can find a particular Mastodon account’s posts using a particular hashtag by using the following web address:

(Mastodon account’s web address)/tagged/(hashtag without #)

For example if you wanted to browse posts with the hashtag #FeaturedServer made by the FediGarden account, the address would be:

https://social.growyourown.services/@FediGarden/tagged/FeaturedServer

If you’re not sure what an account’s web address is, go to the account’s original page and the address will be shown at the top of your web browser.

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