Fediverse groups are special kinds of accounts which let you connect with other people who share the same interest. You can join a group by following it.

At the moment, most Fediverse groups work like this:

1. Join a group by following its account
2. Posts from that group will start appearing in your Home timeline
3. If you want to post something to the group, just mention its account address in a public post
4. If you want to leave a group, unfollow it

It’s somewhat similar to following hashtags, and people who have used email discussion lists will also find this structure very familiar.

The main Fediverse group provider at the moment is Guppe ⧉. It’s platform-neutral, their groups can be followed from all kinds of Fediverse servers including Mastodon, GoToSocial, Friendica etc. It’s also free open source software so anyone can start their own Guppe server if they want to.

Where can I discover existing groups?

I’ve compiled a curated list of interesting Fediverse groups on fedi.directory ⧉. I’ve tried to only list active groups with a respectful atmosphere.

Guppe has a list of their top 50 active groups at the bottom of their website at a.gup.pe ⧉.

You can also try searching for @a.gup.pe in the search box on Mastodon, this will show Guppe groups that at least one person on your server is following. However, bear in mind if a group has no followers from your server it won’t show up in searches.

How can I create a group? Are the groups moderated? What if I see something unsuitable?

Guppe groups don’t require any kind of registration, you can create a group simply by mentioning the group name in the form “@YourGroupNameHere@a.gup.pe”. However, because there’s no registration there is no group moderator either. Guppe groups rely on members reporting bad group posts the same way they would report bad non-group posts.

What do I do if I see spam or something unsuitable in a group?

Do exactly the same thing you would do if you saw spam/abuse outside the group on ordinary posts. Whatever kind of group you are following, you can report, mute and block just like you can with ordinary non-group posts.

When you report bad posts, the admins on your server (and possibly also the server of the spammer/troll) can take action to block it and remove it.

What if a group is really busy? How do I stop it overwhelming my timeline?

You can use Mastodon’s Lists feature to set up lists for groups, and then set those lists to hide posts from your Home timeline. This will let you keep groups in their own mini-timelines you can dip into whenever you want, without causing any posts to appear in your main timeline.

Groups federate content more effectively than hashtags

Hashtag follows and groups have some overlap, and appear to work in a similar way on the surface, but there are significant differences behind the scenes.

The biggest advantage of groups is you automatically see all of the group’s posts, even if they’re from accounts that haven’t federated to your server before. Because all the group’s posts are shared to all the members’ servers, you never miss a thing.

With hashtag follows, this mass federation doesn’t happen. Hashtag following means you will only see posts from accounts that already federate with your server. Hashtags are essentially passive filters for your server’s Federated timeline and do not actively draw in any new content.

What about Mastodon’s own built-in groups feature?

Mastodon has been developing a built-in groups feature for some time now, but it hasn’t been released yet. From the screenshots posted so far, it seems it will be more of a Facebook Groups type forum rather than a public discussion list. (You can see highly technical details and screenshots of this upcoming Groups feature on their github page ⧉).

However, it is unclear if Mastodon groups will work across the Fediverse or only on Mastodon. Guppe is platform-neutral, and will work on any kind of Fediverse server that supports microblogging including Mastodon, Friendica and others.

Can I set up my own Guppe server?

Guppe is free open source software, and if you have the necessary technical knowledge and resources, you can install your own Guppe server by following the instructions on the Guppe Github site ⧉.

Groups on Friendica

The Fediverse server type Friendica includes built-in group support, which works in a broadly similar way to Guppe. Creating a Friendica group requires a Friendica account, but anyone can join the group from other Fediverse server types including Mastodon servers.

A Friendica group can be moderated by the person who created it, and they can also add additional moderators to the same group.

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On Mastodon, if you’re browsing someone’s profile page you can click the Media tab to just show their posts which have an attached image, audio or video file. Text-only posts and posts shared from other accounts are not shown in the Media tab.

The Media tab is especially useful if you’re browsing for works on an artist’s profile for example, or any account that posts interesting bits of media. It means you can go straight to specific works instead of having to scroll through non-media posts.

Usually the tab is indicated by the word “Media”, but in some apps it may be an icon such a series of pictures.

Does this work on the apps and the website?

There’s a media tab on your server’s website, the web app, the official apps and most of the third party apps. Some of them display a simplified grid of images/video/audio to click on, others just show a timeline of posts that include attached media.

Does the Media tab show boosts of media posts by other people?

No. The Media tab just shows media posts from that account. Shared media from other accounts are not shown in the tab.

Does it show embedded media such as links to other websites?

No, it only shows posts with attached images, audio files or videos. Links that automatically generate a preview of media hosted elsewhere (such as YouTube links) are not counted as media posts.

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If you’re posting an image on Mastodon and there is a particular part of the image that you want people to pay attention to, it is recommended that you set the image’s “focus” on this part. This setting tells Mastodon which part of the photo is most important, and it means Mastodon will prioritise showing that part of the image if it ever has to display a cropped preview version.

Here are some possible situations where people may see a cropped preview of your image on Mastodon:

• If you attach multiple images in the same post
• If people are viewing timelines on older versions of Mastodon or Mastodon forks based on older versions
• If people are viewing timelines on certain apps

Whatever the reason, people can still see the full non-cropped version if they click on the post or the image itself, it’s only the preview versions of images that may be cropped in certain circumstances.

How do I adjust an image’s focus so that previews always show a certain part of the image?

1. Log onto your server’s website, the web app or your app
2. Start creating your post and attach the image, but don’t publish it yet
3. If you’re using the website or web app, click Edit on the image (other apps will have their own ways of adjusting images)
4. Move the circle to the part of the image you want people to see the most
5. Remember to add a text description to the image
6. Click Apply
7. When you’ve finished writing your post, click Publish

(Some of these steps may be called different things or be done in a different order on different apps. Hopefully these instructions give you the general idea.)

Wait, images are cropped on Mastodon?

Images aren’t cropped, but the preview versions of them may be cropped in certain circumstances. Even if people see a cropped preview, the original version is visible if people click on a post or the image itself.

On some versions of Mastodon’s web interface, and on some apps, timelines show all previews in a 16:9 aspect ratio. This means any images not in 16:9 are shown in cropped previews. People can click on the post or image to see the full original version, but while it’s on their timeline alongside other posts it may be shown cropped.

What if I don’t adjust the focus?

If you don’t adjust the focus, it will default to focusing on the exact centre of the image. This can cause portraits of people to be shown without their heads, for example.

I can’t see any photos cropped to 16:9 on my timeline?

The latest version of Mastodon’s web interface doesn’t crop previews of individual images any more, but people on other versions of Mastodon, other types of Fediverse server or other apps may see things differently. Also, attaching multiple images can cause cropping of previews on whatever you are using.

If you want a photo preview to look nice, it’s always worth adjusting its focus setting.

What if the image is already 16:9 aspect ratio?

Images that have a 16:9 aspect ratio will not seem to show any differences when you adjust the focus setting, but it’s still worth adjusting the focus as some previews may be a different aspect ratio (for example if you’re attaching multiple images in a single post).

What if there are multiple images attached? What happens then?

It depends on how many attachments you have, and what kind of software is being used by the person who sees your post. The aspect ratio of previews will usually change as you add more images and it tries to tile them together in your post.

Can I adjust the focus setting after posting an image?

Yes, you can use Mastodon’s edit feature to adjust the focus after the image has been posted.

What does “aspect ratio” mean? Why 16:9?

Aspect ratio is how wide something is compared to how tall it is. For example, if an image is 1000 pixels wide by 1000 pixels tall, it would have an aspect ratio of 1:1. If it was 2000 pixels wide by 1000 pixels tall, it would have an aspect ratio of 2:1.

The 16:9 aspect ratio is very common on cinema screens, TV sets, laptops, smartphones, games consoles etc. The popular 1080p standard has pictures displayed at 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels tall, which means it has an aspect ratio of 16:9.

I thought Mastodon had got rid of cropped previews on the latest version?

Individual images are no longer cropped to 16:9 on the latest version of Mastodon’s website, but not everyone is on the latest version, not everyone uses the website or the same apps, and not everyone is on Mastodon.

Also, if you’re attaching more than one image to the same post, then they will be shown as cropped previews whatever version you or other people are using.

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Some third party Mastodon apps have a built-in draft posts feature.

There is no official drafts feature in the Mastodon website interface, but unofficially you can use the Delete & re-draft option combined with DMs to create drafts:

1. Log on through your server’s website and create your draft post, but don’t publish yet.
2. Set visibility to mentioned people only, and don’t mention anyone.
3. When you’re ready to save it, publish it.
4. When you want to edit it, go to your Direct Messages tab and find the draft.
5. Click the draft open, click ⋯ and select Delete & re-draft, the draft will open in the message editing window
6. When you’re ready to publish for real, set the visibility to the correct setting and add any mentions you want, then press the Publish button.

…but, as many people have pointed out, it might be easier to just use a notepad app and copy and paste drafts from a text file on your computer or phone 😁

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On the Fediverse, and especially on Mastodon, if you follow an account by clicking the “Follow” button it changes into a “Following” or “Unfollow” button, depending on what you’re using to view Mastodon. Clicking this changed button lets you unfollow the account if you want to.

However, sometimes the follow button turns into “Pending” or “Cancel Follow” or “Follow Request Sent”, and this means the follow hasn’t actually happened yet.

If the follow hasn’t happened yet, this usually means you’ve tried to follow an account that needs manual approval of followers, and you have to wait for the owner to approve your request. You can tell if an account requires approval as it will have a padlock icon 🔒 on its profile next to the username.

How do I get people to accept my follow requests?

An account will be more likely to accept your follow request if you fulfil their requirements. Quite often accounts that have follow requests switched on will have criteria for accepting follows mentioned in their profile text (for example many require followers to have posted before, or to have a profile text).

They don’t have follow requests switched on, there is no padlock on their profile. So why is it giving me a message like they do?

Sometimes the follow request message appears even when the account you’re trying to follow doesn’t have manual approval mode switched on. In this case, the message may be caused by several other things:

• A temporary glitch stopped it going through. If it’s been a while since you did the follow, cancel it and try following again.
• A software bug has prevented the follow going through properly. This kind of bug is especially common if you’re trying to follow an account on a new or experimental type of Fediverse server.
• The server of the person you’re trying to follow has “silenced” your server. This is a special moderation setting that means all follows from your server to that other server turn into follow requests automatically, even if the person on the other server doesn’t have follow requests on. The person on the other server will get a follow request which they can accept or deny.
• A server is overwhelmed with stuff it has to do, and is struggling to keep up so it puts tasks into a queue to deal with later.

What do I do if my follow has turned into a follow request?

If you see that an attempted follow has turned into a follow request but the other account doesn’t have requests switched on, try leaving it for a while as it may just be a temporary glitch.

If that doesn’t help, try cancelling the follow completely, wait for a while and then try clicking follow again, which sometimes helps the follow to go through properly.

If it still doesn’t work, contact your own server admin, and if they can’t help try contacting the admin of the server for the account you’re trying to follow.

Does this message mean someone has blocked me?

No, you don’t see this message if you’ve been blocked by someone.

The message means the account you’re trying to follow probably just have follow requests switched on, and if they don’t then there’s just a technical problem.

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If you’re looking for a long list of tips on how to make your account and posts more visible, please click here see the guide to increasing your visibility.

If you’re deciding on a posting schedule, it’s a good idea to wait until you have at least some followers from other servers before you publish your most interesting stuff. Even a handful of followers will give your posts much more visibility across the Fediverse, as you only need one follower from a server to make your posts visible to that entire server. You can find out more about this in the guide to what servers can see.

Due to the way the Fediverse currently works, if you publish a post while you still have zero followers, that post will probably not be visible to anyone except people on your server. If someone is the first person to follow you from their server, they will see your posts from that moment onwards, but there’s generally no backfilling to show them your previous posts.

Once you have one person from a server following you, everyone on that server will be able to see all your future posts from that moment onwards. Even tiny amounts of followers make a big difference to visibility, they are always much better than zero followers.

How should I handle posting stuff?

Build up a following and gradually add a steady stream of interesting posts. Don’t do massive dumps of content before you have any followers.

This applies especially to people who run PeerTube accounts, which often start out with massive uploads of video archives that no one on other servers can see because no one has followed the account yet. They would get a lot more views if they upload the archive gradually as they build up a following.

Is there ANY way to make posts visible to everyone even if I have no followers?

On Mastodon, the only way to make posts visible to absolutely everyone who ever looks at your profile is to pin the posts on your profile. Pinned posts are backfilled and will become visible to anyone who follows you. You can pin up to five posts at once, and they will all be backfilled. You can also reply to pinned posts, and the replies will be backfilled too.

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If a profile looks blank, it may not actually be blank!

Fediverse servers work like this: servers only notice accounts from other servers if someone follows or interacts with them. If no one on your server follows a particular account, and that account is on another server, then that account may appear blank to you.

The reason servers work like this because of resources. If servers had to keep a copy of every post from every user on all the thousands of Fediverse servers in the world, their running costs would become prohibitively expensive (and most of those posts would probably never be read anyway).

The idea of the Fediverse is to let anyone start their own server if they want to, and this process of servers “noticing” accounts helps make that possible.

Viewing the latest and most complete version of an account

To check what the profile really looks like, log in to your account through the website, go to the profile, click on ︙ and then “Open original page”. This should open the profile in a new tab on its home server, which will show all the public posts the account has ever made.

Unfortunately, original pages on other servers are more difficult to interact with. By default your have to enter your username and password each time, though there are ways to make it much easier.

How to prevent your own profile from ever looking blank

If you pin some of your posts to your profile, for various technical reasons your profile will never appear blank to anyone as these posts will always be visible. You can pin up to five posts on a profile, and these can include attached photos, video and audio, so they’re a great way of introducing your account to potential followers from any server. Click here to find out how to pin posts.

Backfilling to the rescue?

There’s there may be a possible solution to blank profiles on the way called “backfilling”. This would mean as soon as you follow someone your server would automatically check the account for past posts and display some or all of them on your server. With backfilling there would be much less need to fiddle around with original pages etc. At time of writing backfilling is the most popular suggestion on the Mastodon github site, and if you’re comfortable using github you can go and give it a thumbs up ⧉.

Update buttons to the rescue?

The official Mastodon roadmap ⧉ has an item labelled “Explicit controls to fetch more data from origin server”, which seems to mean they would introduce some kind of update button to fetch the latest version of a profile on demand. It’s in the “Planned” section of the roadmap which means they’re working on it. These would be practically very similar to the backfilling mentioned above.

Accounts with restricted post visibility

An alternative reason why an active account might look blank is this: if the account has follower requests on (indicated by a padlock 🔒 next to their name), and all its posts are followers-only, then you will not see any posts on their profile until you follow them and your follow request is accepted.

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There are tens of thousands of Fediverse servers with millions of users in total, and this amount is growing all the time. There are hundreds of millions of posts going back almost a decade.

However, each server only “notices” posts and profiles that are connected to its members in someway, either through an interaction, or a following, or various other specific situations.

The reason why servers only notice certain posts and profiles is because would be horrifically expensive for every independent server to keep a complete, up-to-date record of every post ever made by every user on every server in all languages. The only people who could afford such a comprehensive system would be megacorporations like Facebook, Google, Twitter etc.

The whole point of the Fediverse is to allow small independent servers to exist as part of a larger network, so that the network is as spread out as possible (click here to find out why this is a good idea). The smallest Fedi server starts from about US$10 a month to run, and this low cost is possible because the server only needs to display posts and shares from people its users follow. Even the largest Fediverse servers are able to operate on a fraction of the budget of a commercial social network because they are only showing posts their users have to see. (If you’re interested, there’s a complete list of what a server can see here.)

So, what are the downsides of not having all posts from every server visible everywhere?

If you discover an account that no one on your server has followed or interacted with, it may look totally blank even if it has posted lots of times. This can mislead people into thinking a profile is inactive and not worth following. If you follow a profile you will start seeing all its posts published from that moment onwards, but older posts are not loaded retrospectively.

Also, searches will produce fewer results and threads may look less complete if your server hasn’t noticed accounts related to the topics you searched for.

Couldn’t Mastodon at least show a few old posts instead of blank profiles?

Yes, this is a good point. One of the main shortcomings on Mastodon and many other Fediverse server types is the lack of “backfilling”.

Backfilling is when an account’s posts are automatically fetched to your server when you follow or view an account’s profile. Without backfilling, profiles can look blank if no one on your server has followed it before. At the moment, the only posts backfilled by Mastodon are pinned posts.

The main thing preventing backfilling from being used has been concern about stress on servers, especially if an account has thousands of past posts to backfill. A possible compromise might be letting servers decide for themselves if they will allow backfilling, and how many posts they are willing to backfill.

If you’re comfortable using Github, you can let the developers of Mastodon know you want some kind of backfilling to be implemented by giving a thumbs up on the relevant issue ⧉, and if you have your own ideas you can contribute to the thread.

Is there any way to get round the problem of search results and threads?

Yes! If you’re an ordinary user you can follow and post to groups, which distribute all of their content to everyone in the group no matter which server they are on.

If you’re a server admin, there are ways you can get more results visible on your server, even if your server is small and new.

How about just having everyone on one huge server?

Well, you could do this, but then you end up back where you started with a server that can be easily bought out by Elon Musk or whoever as soon as it gets popular. It would be entirely missing the point of the Fediverse.

How about having one giant relay server?

Again, you couuld do this, but then whoever controls that giant relay server would have an unusually large amount of power over what is visible on the Fediverse. It would also be expensive to run. Combining massive expense with centralisation makes it very likely that such a relay server would end up being sold to the highest bidder and start going down the path of “enshittification ⧉“.

Do any Fediverse server types use backfilling right now?

Yes! PeerTube automatically backfills all of an account’s videos as soon as an account is followed from a PeerTube server, even if the videos are very old. This works fine, and shows that backfilling can be done on the Fediverse.

Also, as mentioned above, Mastodon does backfill pinned posts already.

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If you are searching for something on Mastodon and the Fediverse, you will get different search results depending on which server your account is on. This is because each server sees a slightly different view of the Fediverse.

In general, your server can see the following content:

• All accounts on your server
• All posts made by accounts on your server
• All posts shared by at least one account on your server
• All accounts that at have at least one follower on your server
• All posts made by accounts that have at least one follower on your server
• All posts shared by an account that has at least one follower on your server
• All posts from groups that have at least one follower on your server
• All posts that have been searched for by their original page’s web address
• All accounts that have been searched for by their account address
• All posts pushed to your server by a relay server (if your server uses relays)

How do I make my server notice more posts and accounts?

If a post isn’t visible from your server but you know it exists, you can manually force your server to notice it by copying and pasting the post’s web address from its original page on its home server into the search box on your server. This will make the post appear within your server so you can interact with it and search for it just like any other post.

If you want your server to notice a lot more posts and accounts, ask your server admin if they have considered using a relay service. Modern relay services can be for specific topics, and scripts can be used to backfill missing posts from profiles and conversations.

Why doesn’t my server just notice all posts and accounts from all servers?

Fediverse servers are selective about what they see, because keeping a complete copy of all posts from all other servers regardless of whether they’re needed would be incredibly expensive and wasteful.

The point of Mastodon and the Fediverse is to create a social network where anyone can make their own server, so that the network remains in the ownership of the people and communities that use it. This is possible partly because of the structure, but also partly because the running costs of servers is comparatively low. Fediverse server prices at hosting companies start from about US$8 a month, including full tech support that covers all the technical stuff.

If servers had to notice all content from all other servers, they would become incredibly expensive to run, and only megacorporations like Google or Meta/Facebook would have enough money to do so.

Can a server stop noticing posts and accounts?

Yes, if the server’s admin decides to defederate from another server. When a server defederates from another server, it can no longer see posts or accounts from the defederated server.

Alternatively, a server admin may instead decide to suspend a specific account on another server, which will make that account and its posts no longer visible on the admin’s server.

Are there any exceptions to these rules?

If you’re a member of a PeerTube server, it works very differently to most Fediverse servers. When a PeerTube server notices a channel or account from another PeerTube server, it also notices all the videos ever published by that channel or account. This is known as backfilling and at the moment it only happens fully on PeerTube, but there are plans for it to happen more widely.

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On Mastodon, if you have posted in a thread or been tagged in it, but you don’t want to take part any more, you can mute the conversation so that you won’t get notifications from it. No one will know you’ve done this, and it will only affect that thread:

1. Log in through your server’s website (and some apps also include this feature)
2. Go to one of your posts in the thread you want to mute
3. Click ⋯ and select Mute conversation
4. If you haven’t posted in the thread, go to a post in the thread where you were tagged, then select ⋯ and Mute conversation
5. If you still can’t find this option, go to your Notifications section, then click ⋯ and Mute conversation on one of the conversation’s posts there

If you change your mind, just do the same thing again but select Unmute conversation.

What if I want notifications about that conversation, but there are just one or two people in the thread who are causing problems?

If the problems in a thread are limited to a small number of people, you might want to try muting their accounts instead. You can mute people indefinitely or temporarily.

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On Mastodon, if you follow someone and you want to see their posts but not their boosts, you can hide just their boosts without blocking or muting them. This doesn’t affect their normal posts, and they have no way of knowing you’re doing it.

Log in on your server’s website, and go to the profile of the person whose boosts you want to hide. Click on the ︙ button and select Hide boosts from. If you change your mind, go back to their profile and select Show boosts from.

This only works on accounts you follow.

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If you’re using Mastodon through your server’s website or the web app, you can optionally have it ask you for confirmation before unfollowing, deleting or boosting a post:

1. Log in through your server’s website or web app
2. Click on ⚙️ Preferences
3. Scroll down to the section marked Confirmation dialogues
4. Tick the boxes for the things you want Mastodon to ask confirmation for
5. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen

The mobile apps may also have similar settings, but it will vary from app to app. Click on your app’s settings page to see if it has these options.

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If you add a poll to your post on Mastodon, by default it only allows people to select one option.

However, if you use your server’s website or the Mastodon web app or certain third party apps, you can customise the poll so that it allows people to vote for several options at once.

Changing poll type on the web interface

If you’re using Mastodon through your server’s website, you can choose a poll type by doing the following:

1. Log in through your server’s website or through the web app
2. Write your post and create the poll as normal, but don’t actually publish it yet
3. On some versions of Mastodon, click on one of the circles next to the options, the circles will all change into squares, and the poll will now allow multiple option selection. If your version of Mastodon doesn’t show circles or squares, click the option that says “Style: Pick one” and change it to “Multiple choice”.
4. When you’re happy with your setting, post the poll

Changing poll type on apps

The official apps don’t yet support creating multiple poll types, but you can choose poll types on some third party apps.

Third party app interfaces are very varied, but for example Ice Cubes for iPhone/iPad has a menu when you’re creating a poll that lets you choose between “One Vote” or “Multiple Votes”.

⚠️ Editing poll types resets the vote numbers

You can also edit the poll type after you have posted the poll, but this will reset all of the votes to zero (without any warning) when you publish the edit. Also, editing any of the poll texts causes this same reset to zero.

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Most people on the Fediverse are on a standard Mastodon server, which has a 500 character limit for posts and a four option limit for polls. However, sometimes you’ll see people with posts that are much longer than 500 characters. By default Mastodon doesn’t allow admins to adjust character limits, so how is this possible?

There are three ways that someone’s posting limit might be larger than 500 characters:

Method 1: The server admin has customised their server’s software code

There’s nothing in the admin interface of standard Mastodon that allows character limits to be adjusted. However, Mastodon is free open source software and anyone can customise it to suit their own needs. This means admins with the right technical knowledge can adjust the Mastodon code to have a different character limit.

Method 2: The server is running on a fork of Mastodon

There are many pre-customised versions of Mastodon, often with significantly more features for admins and members. Pre-customised versions of open source software are called “forks”. The most popular forks of Mastodon are Glitch ⧉ and Hometown ⧉, which add lots of extra features including the ability for admins to easily adjust their server’s character limit.

Method 3: The server isn’t Mastodon at all, but a totally different type of Fediverse server

Not all of the posts you see on your timelines are from Mastodon. There are many other Fediverse server types that aren’t Mastodon, and these other servers may have much larger character limits for posts. Some like Friendica or WordPress have no limits at all!

What happens if a post is really long? Will standard Mastodon show really long posts?

Standard Mastodon will show long posts but they will be automatically truncated with a Read More link at the bottom, so that timelines remain easy to browse. You can view the full version of a truncated post by clicking on Read More.

Can I ask my server’s admin to increase the character limits?

You can ask them, but bear in mind that standard Mastodon (aka “Vanilla Mastodon”) does not have any options in its admin interface to adjust character limits. The only way they can adjust it is by using one of the unofficial methods listed above, and not all admins can use these options because they may require additional technical skill and/or resources.

Why does standard Mastodon have a 500 character limit? Why won’t they let admins choose the limit more easily?

The lead developer of Mastodon gave the following explanation in 2017 ⧉:

I have denied such patches in the past. If somebody wants to hack it in, they may do so, but I don’t want to encourage it. I feel like (Mastodon’s) UX is designed, visually and behaviourally, around a certain number of characters, and deviations have a negative impact on it. For example, I want people to pick their Mastodon based on, for example, the policies, or the theme, but I want the base level of functionality to be the same so it doesn’t go into the choice.

Of course nothing is set in stone. If you’re comfortable using Github you can give a thumbs up in the relevant issue ⧉.

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By default, Mastodon servers’ websites use a simple single column interface.

However, if you’re using the website through a computer (or a tablet/phone in horizontal mode) there is also an optional multicolumn interface you can use instead. Here’s how to activate it:

1. Log in through your server’s website
2. Click ⚙️ Preferences
3. Tick the box marked Enable Advanced Web Interface
4. Click the Save Changes button
5. Click the Back to Mastodon link at the left of the screen

If you’re already in multicolumn and you want to go back to the normal single column interface, here’s how to do it:

1. Click on the ⚙️ cog gear icon
2. UN-tick the box marked Enable Advanced Web Interface
3. Click the Save Changes button
4. Click the Back to Mastodon link

How to add more columns by using the pin feature

When you first use it, the advanced web interface only contains four columns with one of these columns dedicated to whatever you last selected. Every time you select something, it replaces the contents of this fourth column.

However, if you want to keep a column permanently visible you can pin it, and the pinned column will be added to your previous columns.

• To pin a column, click on the slider icon in the top right corner of the column and select Pin
• To unpin a column, click the slider same slider icon and select Unpin

When you pin a column, it expands the interface sideways, and some people have lots of pinned columns. Pinning is well suited to widescreen monitors, and you can scroll the interface sideways to see any columns that don’t fit on the screen.

How to change the order of the columns

You can move a column left or right by clicking the slider icon in its top right corner and then clicking one of the < or > buttons to move the column. These buttons are next to the Unpin option.

What kind of columns can I add?

Any column with a slider icon in the top right can be pinned or un-pinned, which includes hashtag searches, all types of timeline, private mentions (DMs), Lists, Bookmarks, Favourites etc.

Advanced hashtag searches with pinned columns

If you pin a hashtag search and then click the pinned column’s slider icon again, you will see some additional options which let you combine hashtag searches into the same column with special filters:

• Any means it will show posts that contain one or more of those hashtags
• All means it will show posts that contain all of those tags
• None means it will hide posts containing those tags

Pinning accounts as new columns using Lists

You can’t pin an account’s profile page directly, but you can pin particular accounts (or combinations of accounts) as new columns by using Mastodon’s Lists feature:

1. Click Lists on the Getting Started menu on the right (or click ☰ on the left if you can’t see Getting Started)
2. Create a new list and add the account(s) you want to that list (see the guide to using lists if you haven’t created one before)
3. Click the list you want to pin to bring it up as a new column
4. Click the slider icon in the top right corner
5. Select Pin

Using Advanced mode through your keyboard

If you prefer using just your keyboard, the Mastodon web interface can optionally be controlled almost entirely through key commands, click here to see the section on hotkeys for a complete list. These hotkeys also include some commands that only work in Advanced mode.

If you prefer the normal control method using the mouse, that works fine too.

Why are there two official interfaces on Mastodon?

The original website version of Mastodon from 2016 used the multicolumn interface, but while some enjoyed it others found it confusing and overwhelming. Eventually a simpler single column interface was introduced, and single column became the default. The multicolumn interface was renamed “advanced” and made available as an optional mode in settings.

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If you’re running a Mastodon account that isn’t monitored by a human, it’s considered polite to mark it as an automated account (also known as a bot).

How to add the “Automated” label to an account:

1. Sign in through your server’s website or web app
2. Click on your profile image to go to your profile page, then click Edit profile
3. Scroll down to the box marked This is an automated account, tick the box
4. Click Save changes

I thought bots were bad? Why is Mastodon encouraging them?

Bad bots are discouraged and blocked, good bots are encouraged and followed.

Good bot accounts can be extremely useful. For example, some bots post sports results or weather alerts, which are exactly the kind of thing people might appreciate seeing in their feeds at any time of day or night. This kind of account would be difficult for a human to maintain 24 hours a day.

Bots can also be entertaining, with some bots running games or posting amusing content.

Can bots interact with people?

Some bots can interact, yes. When there is interaction, it is usually automated, hence the “Automated” label. Vote Chess ⧉ is a nice interactive account, it lets people play chess against a computer by voting for the next move (you can follow it at the address @VoteChess@botsin.space).

Also, sometimes the bot’s human maintainer will post via the bot’s account and reply as well. However, on automated accounts this is rare, and the assumption should be that there is no one monitoring the account.

Where can I find a list of good bots to follow?

Have a look at the Bots category over on Fedi.Directory ⧉.

So why do bots have a bad reputation?

The bad bots you sometimes hear about are where someone has automated an account to do something nasty or anti-social such as posting spam. Bad bots tend to be rare on the Fediverse, and would usually be blocked pretty quickly once the nastiness is reported.

So “Automated” isn’t a bad sign?

If you see an account labelled “Automated”, that is actually the sign of a good bot, because it’s the owner of the bot who chose to label it as such. Another good sign is if the bot’s creator has included a link to their own account on the bot’s profile page.

Bad bots usually try to disguise the fact they are bots, and don’t use the “Automated” label.

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You can embed posts from Mastodon on your own website, blog or other platform that lets you post HTML code. Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in through your server’s website or the web app
2. Go to the post you want to embed
3. Click ⋯ at the bottom of the post, then select Embed
4. Copy and paste the HTML code into your website’s page code

What does embedding mean?

Embedding means the post itself will be displayed on the website, and all the post’s interactive elements such as links, images, video, audio etc can be clicked on and will work. For example, news website The Verge embedded a post from Mastodon in this story ⧉.

How do I embed Mastodon posts on WordPress sites and blogs?

If you’re using the block editor in WordPress, don’t use WordPress’s “Embed” block. Instead, use WordPress’s “Custom HTML” block and paste Mastodon’s HTML embedding code there.

Alternatively, if you’re editing the page’s code you can paste the embedding code directly.

How is embedding different from posting a screenshot?

Embedding a post means the post itself is displayed, and any interactive elements such as links, video, audio or images can be clicked on. Screenshots are just pictures of a post and cannot be interacted with.

Some posts don’t have an “Embed” option. How do I embed them?

If a post has a restricted visibility, it cannot be embedded because the creator of the post doesn’t want it to be widely seen. You can only embed posts with a public visibility.

I embedded a post but it doesn’t look like a Mastodon post any more? It uses some other format?

The post you embedded may be from a different type of Fediverse server. Embedding shows the post in the format used on its own server rather than your server.

Timelines on Mastodon servers show posts from all across the Fediverse. Some of these posts are from other Mastodon servers, but some are from different kinds of servers. For the sake of making timelines easy to read, your Mastodon server will display all posts in the same Mastodon format, but that’s not necessarily how they appear on their own server. If you embed a post from a different kind of server, it will look different when you embed it.

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If you’re using Mastodon through your server’s website on a computer, you can control it almost entirely through your keyboard. Particular keys will carry out particular functions, and you can type emoji too.

Hotkeys on Mastodon

Hotkeys are always on, press shift + ? (or just ? on some keyboard layouts) to see a complete guide to which keys do what.

Note that some of these keys are only useful in the advanced web interface (multicolumn) mode, but most of them can be used with the default single column mode.

For your convenience, here’s the complete list:

Typing emoji through a keyboard on Mastodon

If you’re using Mastodon on a computer, you can type emoji directly with your keyboard.

Just type : (colon) and a keyword without a space. A dropdown menu will appear with the top five matching emoji, and you can pick one with the arrow keys. For example :sun will bring up the top five emoji matching the keyword “sun”.

If there are more than five matches for a keyword, they will not all appear on the dropdown. If so, you’ll need to search for them from the picker icon 😂 in the top right corner of the editing box.

The keywords are based on the alt text of an emoji. If you’re wondering how to search for a particular emoji in future, find it in the picker and then hover your mouse over it. The alt text will appear, and you will be able to use this keyword to bring the emoji up using your keyboard.

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This tip no longer works, I’m leaving this page here in case anyone follows a link to it, but it’s no longer listed on the front page.

On older versions of Mastodon you could see an account’s first page of posts by adding ?min_id=0 to the end of its profile URL. This no longer seems to work on current versions of Mastodon.

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Remote following or remote interaction is where you go to the website of a Fediverse server which you’re not a member of, and try to follow an account or interact with a post there. By default it will ask you to sign in again or tell you the name of your server, because it’s asking your own server to confirm who you are.

This is obviously pretty cumbersome, especially if you’re browsing the websites of many different servers as they will each ask you separately. But there is an easier way:

1. Log in on your own server, either via your server’s website, wep app or app store app
2. Copy the web address of the post or profile from the other server’s website
3. Paste this web address into the search box on your own server. This will make the other server’s post or profile appear within your own server, and you will be able to interact with it directly without having to log in again or give your server name.

Does this work with web addresses from different types of Fediverse server?

Yes! For example you can copy and paste the web address of a PeerTube video or Pixelfed photo into the search box on a Mastodon server, and the video or photo will appear within Mastodon. By the way, it will look like a Mastodon post if you paste the address into Mastodon, but you can see its true form by looking at its original page.

Is there any way to do this automatically through web browser plugins?

If you have Firefox on a computer you can install the Simplified Federation add-on ⧉ which automatically signs you in when you’re doing a remote follow.

Why is this so awkward and cumbersome? Why can’t it be smoother by default?

Remote following is meant more as a method of last resort, rather than the main way of using the Fediverse. You’ll find it a lot easier to follow people from other servers within your own server’s interface, and once your server has noticed an account or post you will be able to find it again by searching for it within your own server.

Why can’t the apps do this automatically?

The latest versions of a lot of apps do recognise Mastodon and other Fediverse links, and do the copy-pasting for you seamlessly behind the scenes. That’s why you may see a brief delay after clicking a link, while the app does the copy-pasting and presents you with the post or profile within the app itself.

However, this automation doesn’t always work. If your app fails to recognise a link as leading to a Mastodon/Fediverse server, that’s when it shows you the server’s website and you need to manually copy-paste it back into the app’s search box.

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Every account and post on the Fediverse has an “original page” on the server that the account or post is hosted on. The original page shows the latest and most complete version of a profile or post. They’re called original pages because they are the original versions of posts and profiles that are federated to other servers.

How do I find a profile or post’s original page?

If you’re using the website or web app:

1. Log in through your server’s website or the web app
2. Go to a profile or post and click on ⋯ or ︙
3. Select Open original page, which will open the original page in a new browser tab

If you’re using an app store app:

1. Log in through your app
2. Go to the profile or post and click on ⋯
3. Select Share, then select the option for opening it in a web browser

Once the page is open, the original page’s web address will be visible in the browser’s address bar at the top.

How to copy original page links for posts more quickly

You can also copy original page links for posts without actually opening them in the browser.

If you’re using the website or web app:

1. Go to the post
2. Click ⋯ on the post
3. Click Copy link to status, this will copy a link to the original page onto your device’s clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere

If you’re using an app store app:

1. Go to the post
2. Click ⋯ on the post
3. Click Share, then select Copy, this will copy a link to the original page onto your device’s clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere.

What’s the point of original pages?

The main reason for looking at the original page is to see the latest and most complete version. However, you can also use original pages to do many useful things, with some examples given below.

Checking if a blank profile really is blank

If no one on your server has interacted with a profile before, it may appear blank. You can open the profile’s original page to check if it really is blank.

Browsing a profile’s followers and follows lists

Sometimes a profile’s follows and followers may not be visible to your server, or it may be incomplete. If you go to the original page and click on the follows and follower lists there, you will see their complete versions. (However, note that some people deliberately keep their follows and followers lists hidden for privacy reasons.)

Using original page addresses to interact with posts and profiles

If there’s a profile or post that you can’t find by searching on your server, but it does show up in results on search engines such as Duckduckgo, Google etc, you can use these pages to force your server to notice people and posts it hadn’t noticed before, including pages from other types of Fediverse server. Just copy and paste the page’s web address into the search box on Mastodon, and it will make that post or profile appear within your own server where you will be able to interact with it directly.

Not just Mastodon, there are original pages on all kinds of Fediverse servers

Original pages aren’t just on Mastodon, they work with any Fediverse server type. For example if you know the web address of a PeerTube video or Pixelfed photo, you can paste it into the search box on Mastodon and the video or photo will appear within Mastodon. You will then be able to interact with it as if it was a Mastodon post.

The process of copying and pasting web addresses works in a very similar way to account addresses.

Sharing Fediverse content with people outside the Fediverse

Original pages are really useful if you want to share a profile or post with people outside the Fediverse, as you don’t have to be logged in to see them. Just give people the original page’s web address and it will open in any browser, they don’t have to log in or be a member.

Why doesn’t Mastodon just show original pages everywhere, instead of sometimes showing incomplete ones?

Click here for more discussion about this, including why it happens and what might be done about it.

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You can automatically crosspost between Mastodon and Twitter in either direction using third party services. Crossposting means when you post on Mastodon the same content will also be posted on Twitter (or vice versa).

This can be controversial if you’re just mirroring your Twitter account to Mastodon without interacting on Mastodon at all. Some servers specifically ban such “zombie accounts”. Going in the other direction, if you’re active on Mastodon and mirroring it to Twitter, there’s generally no controversy.

Which crossposting services are available?

Professional paid crossposting services such as Buffer ⧉ and Publer ⧉ are still working, but bear in mind the money you pay to them will partially be paid to Elon Musk’s company too as that is the only way anyone can access Twitter’s API nowadays.

There used to be lots of free crossposting services, but all of them have shut down due to Elon Musk’s closure of Twitter’s free API.

Should I monitor my account if it is posting content automatically?

Yes! Your followers will want to reply to your social media posts, and it is a good idea to react to what they say.

However, if it isn’t possible for you to monitor your accounts, please mark them as automated through Mastodon. This lets people know that you’re posting in one direction only.

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On Mastodon, you can customise your notifications to adjust what triggers a notification to appear and what kind of notification it provides. The notification options you have depend on what you are using to access Mastodon:

• On your server’s website, go to your Notifications column and click on the slider icon in the top right corner to open the notification settings. Note that there are even more options available if you scroll this settings menu down a bit.
• On the official app, go to the main timeline and click on the cog icon ⚙️ in the top right corner, then click on Notifications.
• Third party apps will have various different interfaces for customising notifications, but they’ll usually be in their settings sections.

Different ways of accessing Mastodon will give you different options for customising notifications, for example the website lets you adjust which notifications cause a sound.

What about email notifications?

Email notifications on Mastodon are a totally separate system that happens to have a similar name. To adjust your email notifications:

1. Log in through your server’s website
2. Click ⚙️ Preferences
3. If you’re on the desktop website, click Notifications on the left of the screen. If you’re on the mobile website click ☰ in the top right and then Notifications.
4. Choose your email notification settings. If you don’t want to receive any emails, untick all the boxes.
5. Click the Save Changes button in the top right corner of the screen

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If you want a clickable website link within a post or on a profile on Mastodon, remember to include https:// at the beginning when you’re writing it. This tells the server that you want the link to be clickable.

Twitter automatically changes anything with a dot in the middle into a clickable link, but this doesn’t happen on the Fediverse because some people want to include dots without making clickable links.

Can I make other types of links clickable on Mastodon?

Yes! As well as website links, you can also use many other kinds of links. All of these will work as clickable links on Mastodon: https://, http://, gemini://, dat://, dweb://, gopher://, ipfs:// and ssb://

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Fediverse addresses have two parts, the username and the server name.

By default, Mastodon and most other Fedi server types hide the server part of the address within posts so that they are easier to read. All you will see in conversations is the first part of the address, so you would see @john even if the full address is @john@example.com. (This is similar to how real life conversations often just use a person’s first name.)

This means that it’s a good idea to choose something distinctive for a username, because in posts people will often just see the username on its own.

I’m not sure what you mean. Could you give some examples?

An account with the address @MarvellousWidgets@example.com, would look like @MarvellousWidgets in conversations. People can refer to it in discussions and it’s still clear who is being talked about: “Have you seen the latest release from @MarvellousWidgets?”

If it had a more generic username such as @software@example.com, all that people would see of its address in posts would be @software, and it’s not clear who is being talked about. A discussion using it would look like this: “Have you seen the latest release from @software?”. People would have to click on the username each time to find out who they are, because so many other accounts have a similar username.

I have my own server with a custom domain. That makes my address distinctive, right?

Yes and no. The full address with a custom domain is indeed very distinctive, but because the domain is hidden by default in discussions, it is still important to choose a distinctive username, as this is what most people see most of the time.

Don’t use dots / full stops / periods in usernames

Some Fediverse server types allow you to use . in usernames while others (including Mastodon) don’t allow it. People will not be able to follow you from Mastodon if you use a . in your username, so it’s safest just to avoid using . in usernames.

Don’t use really short usernames

If your username is very short, it is physically more difficult for people to click on it or tap it. Try to use at least four or five letters, preferably more.

What happens if two accounts with the same username are mentioned in the same post?

Mastodon etc will automatically show accounts’ full account addresses if two accounts with the same username are mentioned in the same post. This is also similar to real life conversations: if you were talking about two people called John in the same conversation, you might mention their surnames so that people know which John you’re referring to.

Why doesn’t Mastodon just show everyone’s full account addresses within posts?

Account addresses can be very long, depending on the domain name used by the account’s server. It can be quite hard to read a post where full addresses are used all the time. Just showing the username makes posts a lot more readable.

How do I find out the full account address of a username?

Just click on the username, that will take you to the user’s profile page which includes their full and unique account address.

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The “Lists” feature lets you create mini-timelines that show posts from selected accounts you already follow. You can also optionally hide listed accounts’ posts from your main timeline, and just browse them on the lists.

Why would I want to make a List?

If your main timeline is getting a bit crowded from following so many people, you can add accounts to Lists and then hide them from your main timeline (see instructions further down the page).

Alternatively you might just prefer having themed Lists to browse. For example, you could create a List which just shows posts from artists you follow, or just news accounts, or whatever kind of theme you want.

Okay, so how do I actually make a List on Mastodon?

You can create and use Lists on your server’s website, on the Mastodon web app and on some third party Mastodon apps such as Tusky for Android or Mona ⧉ for iPhone/iPad.

To create a list through the web version of Mastodon:

1. Open your profile page, then click on the section marked Following.
2. Browse through the accounts you follow. When you find an account you want to add to a list, click on their name to open their profile page.
3. On the profile of the person you want to add, click on the ︙ symbol and select Add or remove from lists. This will cause the Lists editor to open.
4. Create a new list by typing a name for the list into the white box (you can skip this step if you’ve already created a suitable list).
5. Click the + sign next to the list you want to add the account to.
6. Click anywhere outside the Lists editor box to close the editor.
7. You can browse Lists by clicking the Lists icon on the right of the screen (three horizontal lines with three dots). If you’re using the website through a computer, direct links to lists will also be visible on the right side of the screen.
8. Don’t worry if a list looks empty. Lists always start out empty as they don’t show posts from before the list was created, but you will start seeing new posts appear on the list over time.
9. To edit or delete an existing list, click on the list’s name to open it and then click on the slider icon in the top right corner of the list. This editor also includes a search box for searching accounts you follow, if you prefer to add accounts to your list that way.

…and that’s it! You can add more accounts to lists by repeating these steps.

By the way, third party apps may have slightly different interfaces for lists, but it’s the same feature.

You can also add accounts to Lists (though you can’t create new Lists) on the official Mastodon Android app. Go to the profile of an account you want to add to your list, click ︙in the top right corner and then Add to list…

Can I view accounts on Lists without them appearing on my Home timeline?

Yes! You can hide posts by accounts on your lists Home timeline:

1. Log in through your server’s website
2. Go to the Lists section
3. Click on the list you want to hide on Home
4. Click on the slider icon in the top right corner
5. Select Hide these posts from home

This means you can have lists that are entirely separate from your Home timeline.

Why do I have to follow accounts that I add to Lists?

The following requirement is for the sake of safety and privacy. On some social networks such as Twitter, List-style features have been misused by trolls and bullies to make lists of potential victims.

On Mastodon, the follow requirement gives people more control over being listed. If an account has follow requests activated, it lets them control whose Lists they may end up on, and if an account blocks someone that also prevents them being added to that person’s Lists.

Do boosts show up on Lists?

Yes, you see everything you would see from that account on your Home timeline.

Can I follow hashtags on Lists?

No, not at the moment. However, this is a very popular suggestion and if you’re comfortable using Github you can vote for this option by giving a thumbs up on the relevant issue ⧉.

How many Lists can I create?

As many as you want.

Can I share Lists with other people?

No, they’re just for your personal use.

What do all the options mean on the Lists feature?

Edit list – Lets you change the list’s name and add or remove accounts from the list

Delete list – Deletes the list

Hide these posts from home – With this option switched on, posts that appear on your lists will not appear in your Home timeline

Show replies to no one – You will not see any replies in your list, only new posts by the accounts on the list

Show replies to members of the list – You will only see replies by accounts on the list to other accounts on the list, and new posts by accounts on the list

Show replies to any followed user – You will see replies by accounts on the list to accounts that you follow, and new posts by accounts on the list

If I move my account to another server, can my Lists come with me?

Yes. Lists are now available to export and import as part of the account transfer process.

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First of all, it’s worth saying that most people do not need multiple accounts. The Fediverse is designed in such a way that people on different servers can interact seamlessly, as if they were all on one network. For most people one account is enough, because it lets you interact with people on the whole network. However, there are situations where having more than one account is useful.

So, why have multiple accounts?

Lots of possible reasons:

• Separate personal and work accounts.
• Specialist accounts that focus on particular topics, separate from a general account.
• Some server types are built for particular kinds of content, such as PeerTube for video, Pixelfed for photos, OwnCast for live streaming, BookWyrm for book reviews etc.
• Temporary accounts to try out another server before possibly moving main account there.

What are “alt accounts” or “alts”?

“Alt accounts” or “alts” just mean alternative accounts owned by the same person. They may be permanent or temporary.

Can I be signed into several accounts at once?

Yes, all the official and third party apps support being logged into multiple accounts simultaneously, and you can also be signed into several accounts at once on the web browser and web apps.

Apps normally have an account switching button in the corner of the screen which you can press to select which account you want to use. Alternatively, you can use several different apps if you prefer. The official Mastodon apps have a switcher in the bottom right corner of the screen, hold it down to add an account or switch between accounts.

If you’re using accounts through the web browser and your accounts are on different servers, you can be signed into multiple servers at once and switch between them by keeping each one open in a separate tab. You can use the same email address when signing up for accounts on different servers.

Should I sign up for multiple accounts on the same server or different servers?

If you’re going to have multiple accounts, it’s highly recommended that you sign up on different servers. Having accounts on separate servers brings significant advantages:

• If a server breaks down, accounts on other servers will still work. It is extremely unlikely that several servers would break down at exactly the same time, so if you have multiple accounts you will always have at least one working account.
• Web browser and web app users can be signed into all of their accounts at once if they are on separate servers.
• By having accounts on different servers, you can use the same email address for all of them.

It’s the independence of each server that makes it good to have accounts on separate servers. It means any kind of problem that hits one server will not affect your other accounts.

Can I sign up for multiple accounts on the same server if I want to?

Yes, you can, but it will be putting all your eggs in one basket. If that server goes down, it means you lose all access to the Fediverse. It also makes it more difficult to log in on web browsers and web apps, as you will probably have to keep signing in and out.

How should I promote my other accounts?

A common way to promote your other accounts is to mention them in your account profile page. It’s also highly recommended that you follow your other accounts, so that their content will federate more widely.

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