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You don't need to browse my timeline to look for past tips, they are all listed on my website at:
The "Quick Start" section at the top of the front page of the website is especially suitable for new people. It has the guides to all the basics.
If you scroll down past the quick start, you'll see the full contents of the site divided up into themed sections.
There is a profile verification system on Mastodon, but it works differently to other social networks. It's self-service and is based around you or your organisation having a website to verify from. More info about how to verify your Mastodon account at:
️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-verify-my-account
(If you're having difficulty getting the verification to work, you might want to try going through the troubleshooting list in the article linked above.)
Here's a guide to all the different ways you can discover accounts to follow and videos to watch on PeerTube:
️ https://fedi.tips/how-to-search-peertube
The different methods have pros and cons, I've tried to mention these in each section.
By the way, you don't need a PeerTube account! You can follow and interact with PeerTube from within Mastodon, the videos will show up in your timeline. You only need a PeerTube account if you intend to publish videos or create playlists.
If you're using Mastodon's web interface on a computer, you might like to know there are built-in keyboard shortcuts for almost all its functions. There's a list of all the shortcuts here:
️ https://fedi.tips/using-mastodon-through-a-keyboard
You just press the shortcut key when you're NOT typing a post, and it will do whatever it's assigned to.
You can also see the shortcut list built into Mastodon by typing Shift+? (or whatever your local keyboard layout uses to get the question mark to appear).
Welcome Sophie 
Please feel free to ask if you want help using this place, and there's also lots of help for new people on the website at https://fedi.tips 
If you're writing a website link in a post or profile on Mastodon, it's important to include the https:// at the beginning as this makes the link clickable.
If you write the link without https:// then it just appears as normal text and people won't be able to click it open.
NERDY BONUS TIP: Mastodon also supports several rare non-web types of link including gemini:// dat:// dweb:// gopher:// ipfs:// and ssb://. The "Gemini" link type is nothing to do with AI or Google.
There's also another feature for that scenario where you can ask for extra notifications when specific accounts post: https://fedi.tips/how-to-be-notified-when-someone-posts-on-mastodon/
Hashtags on lists would be fantastic, it's one of the most requested features on Mastodon. The developers definitely know there's demand for it, but I don't know when this might happen.
Nearest workaround is using the "advanced web mode" which lets you create dedicated columns for following hashtags with up to four tags in each column. More info at https://fedi.tips/how-to-activate-mastodons-tweetdeck-style-advanced-web-interface
If your main timeline on Mastodon is getting too full and too busy to keep up with, you might want to consider using the "Lists" feature. This lets you move accounts you follow over to separate mini-timelines and off your main timeline.
There's a guide to using Lists and lots of questions answered at:
️ https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-the-lists-feature-on-mastodon
People often use Lists to create themed mini-timelines, for example you might follow sport-related accounts on a sports list.
You can also change this after publishing a post by editing it!
It's never too late to use the correct setting.
Yeah, to make clear, Hannah has been great at responding to queries and listening patiently to criticism! I think that comes through in this thread for example?
And yes it's good to have more than one source of tech support. I encourage people to do their own support sites and/or use my text as a basis if they want to as it's available under CC-By-SA. I don't want to end up as a single point of failure on a site encouraging decentralisation
If you've participated or been tagged in a discussion thread but you don't want to take part or receive notifications about it any more, you can remove yourself from the discussion by using the "mute conversation" feature:
️ https://fedi.tips/muting-conversation-threads-in-mastodon
After you've done this, you won't get any more notifications about the thread.
Note that you need to go to your *notifications* to find the option to mute the conversation. This option may not be available in the thread itself.
Welcome Fearskaper
Please feel free to ask if you want help with using this place. There's also lots of help for new people on the website at https://fedi.tips
Just a little warning about editing polls on Mastodon: if you edit any of the options that people can vote for, it resets all the votes back to zero.
So, if you're posting a poll, make sure the options are correct at the start and don't edit them later (unless you're okay with resetting the votes).
This reset is apparently to prevent people being fooled into voting for something they don't want.
Here is a guide to how to make your posts accessible to blind, deaf and deafblind people:
️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-make-posts-more-accessible-to-blind-people-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse
The guide also includes step-by-step instructions on how to add text descriptions to your image, video or audio attachments.
This guide was written in collaboration with the author and accessibility advocate @WeirdWriter . I'd highly recommend you support him at https://sightlessscribbles.com/support and check out his writing at https://sightlessscribbles.com/posts
If you're using a keyboard and accessing Mastodon through your server's website, you can type emoji without having to use the picker.
Just type a colon : and without any spaces start typing a keyword. It will then present you with five emoji that match the keyword, and you can choose the one you want with the arrow keys.
For example if you type :sun you will see five different emoji for "sun".
If the one you want isn't suggested, click on the picker icon instead.
RE: https://fietkau.social/@julian/116053752525897737
Hello developer people!
@julian is working on getting reply controls to more platforms on the Fediverse. Reply controls could be important for safety and encouraging a more diverse range of people to join the Fediverse.
Julian is looking for collaborators to help and especially people comfortable with specs similar to https://fediverse.codeberg.page/fep/fep/044f/
You can reply to him in the quoted post below.
There's a screenshot in the guide at https://fedi.tips/how-to-activate-mastodons-tweetdeck-style-advanced-web-interface/
Mastodon's web interface has a special optional "advanced mode", which is designed for people on computers who want to view several timelines at once. Here's a complete guide to using it including how to switch it on and how to add columns:
️ https://fedi.tips/how-to-activate-mastodons-tweetdeck-style-advanced-web-interface
You can use it to have dedicated columns for timelines, accounts, hashtags, lists, bookmarks, favourites, DMs etc.
(If you used to use Twitter, it looks quite similar to the Tweetdeck interface.)
p.s. Admins should try activating Secure Mode
Secure Mode (aka Authorized Fetch) is a setting on Mastodon that admins can activate which makes blocks MUCH more effective.
It's off by default due to historical technical issues, but it works really well nowadays. I'd highly recommend admins at least try it, more info at https://fedi.tips/authorized-fetch
(It had a reputation for affecting compatibility and resources, but at least on my server it has run totally fine for years.)
🧵 Thread - Part 7 of 7