"Meet Mastodon" by @webinista https://webinista.com/updates/meet-mastodon/
Fantastic, no-nonsense introduction to Mastodon and the fediverse. Lots of good advice on privacy, security, and how to choose your instance.
@nolan @webinista these "wtf is masto" guides are getting better and better! One quibble with this one and the one linked from it - I wish they would not answer the (admittedly very difficult) question of "what instance do I join" by recommending very large instances.
@deutrino I don't believe @webinista is arguing to pick an instance based on size, but yeah the linked post does.
IMO though that's not a bad strategy for newbies. If you've ever seen a freshly-launched instance, you'll know that small instances can feel very lonely. Picking a big one at least ensures you get a fairly representative sample of the fediverse. And folks can always switch to another instance. 😊
@nolan @webinista At the same time, inertia is the guiding force in so many things. People *can* switch instances, but that doesn't mean they will, especially given that it's not an easy process. Recommending the huge instances just makes them huger, which is neutral at best for the health of the fediverse. There is a wide selection of medium sized instances to choose from. (I usually sort by # of posts when browsing instances.social) - just my $.02 ☺️
@nolan @webinista it's not the worst advice, that's for sure, especially given the state of the art in answering "okay, but how do I find a medium or small instance which is relevant to my interests, has *some* traffic, and isn't likely to go away in 2 months when the sysop loses interest?"