@lohang Thanks! I'm coming from the #linux & #FOSS side of things. I think the biggest hurdle new Linux users face isn't technical, it's social and cultural. Open source doesn't make sense in our broader culture. But I'm very glad to see a federated social web in action. It's kind of a melding of anarcho-syndicalist philosophy and open source technology. Fascinating (I say in Spock voice.)

@TheyCallMeMo hahahaha! That too!🏳️‍🌈

@odinsdream It is what I've observed so far from my home instance, but I'm checking out the federated timeline and following people from other instances. I'm sure there are hate speechers on Mastadon, but they are not running (ruining?)the dialogue for everyone. E.G. a quick search of #feminism showed people actually talking about feminism and feminist issues, rather than one huge misogynistic troll fest blocking actual feminists from talking to each other. Which is what I found on Diaspora :(

@ewankeep That's good to hear. Right now I'm trying to really settle into finding an instance that feels like a friendly place where I can actually talk to people and feel not overwhelmed. It looked to me like mastodon.social was too big, but I've heard good stuff about octodon.social recently.

@odinsdream Cool. I hope you find a good fit. :)

@odinsdream @ewankeep so how does this work. On a smaller instance you just follow the public timeline and can cut through the noise to find people to talk to that way?

@iluxan I've just been paying attention to the instances Local timelines.

@iluxan @odinsdream
Sure. Watch the feed of your local instances for people who look interesting. Also make us of hashes #whotofollow #writers #books #sciencefiction. If you want to stand on the edge check out the fediverse (global) feed. Keep in mind I'm new here, too, but this seems to be working.