Notices by Fedi.Tips (feditips@mstdn.social), page 3

If you want to keep your follower and follow lists private, here's how to do it in Mastodon:

1. Log in through your server's website
2. Click on "Edit Profile"
3. Tick the box marked "Hide Your Social Graph"
4. Click the "Save Changes" button

You will still be able to see your follows and followers when you're logged in, but other people won't.

#FediTips #MastoTips

There are lots of ways you can use #RSS on the Fediverse:

-Follow any Mastodon account's public posts through RSS by putting .rss at the end of their profile URL. Use this address in your feed reader software.

-Follow any PeerTube account or channel by clicking the options menu next to the Subscribe button and selecting RSS.

-If you are on a Friendica server, you can use it as a feed reader. Paste an RSS feed address in the search box, that feed's posts will appear in your home timeline.

p.s. If you're wondering what the heck RSS is, there are a couple of excellent videos about it on the Fediverse:

"Stop using social media for news, RSS is much better" by @thelinuxexperiment

https://tilvids.com/w/mgJ2R4gfQ3XqZPZFHtWDPE

"Newsboat RSS reader: fight the algorithm from the terminal!" by @veronicaexplains

https://tilvids.com/w/rLT639z5v6McXRjZVNLxwq

Do you want to discover nice, responsible Fediverse servers sorted into topics, regions, languages and types?

I run a site called FediGarden which is a curated list of servers that comply with certain standards of moderation and reliability:

➡️ https://fedi.garden

The standards which these servers comply with are listed at https://fedi.garden/about-this-site

The site also has an account that features servers every day at:

➡️ @FediGarden

If you want your server to be listed, contact this account!

Calckey is a Fediverse server type which includes lots of features that Mastodon doesn't yet have, such as emoji reactions, markdown, customisable interfaces, widgets and lots more.

To see for yourself, have a look on the official website at:

➡️ https://calckey.org

For the latest updates, follow the official account at:

➡️ @calckey

If you want to try signing up, there's a stable server at:

➡️ https://calckey.social

#Fediverse #Calckey #ActivityPub

The excellent @dansup (creator of @pixelfed) also maintains two very useful Fediverse tools:

➡️ https://fedidb.org - A dashboard for the Fediverse, with details of how server types and specific servers are growing.

➡️ https://fediverse.info/explore/people - An opt-in directory of people on the Fediverse sorted by keyword. You can add yourself to the directory by including special hashtags in your profile.

If you've used them before, take another look as they've both just been revamped.

#Fediverse

The official Mastodon app is doing something new which is potentially very dangerous to the existence of Mastodon and the Fediverse.

The official Mastodon app now prompts users to join mastodon.social by default, when previously it prompted them to pick a server. If you're new this may sound harmless, but let me explain.

The entire point of this place is to be a social network spread out on as many servers as possible (the reasons are here: https://fedi.tips/why-is-the-fediverse-on-so-many-separate-servers/).

(1/6)

You can ask search engines such as Google not to index your account by doing this:

1. Log in through your server's website
2. Go to Preferences > Other > Opt Out Of Search Engine Indexing
3. Tick the box and click "Save Changes"

(If you're on mobile you will need to click ☰ to see preferences)

Bear in mind this method relies on search engines obeying your request. If you want to be absolutely sure a post isn't indexed, use a non-public visibility.

More info at https://fedi.tips/hiding-your-posts-from-search-engines-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse

You don't need to use link shorteners on Mastodon!

All links on Mastodon count as 23 characters towards your post limit, no matter how long the links actually are.

Link shortener services like bit.ly, t.co etc track users who click on their links. This is really bad for privacy, so Mastodon removed any practical need to use them. If you still use link shorteners on Mastodon, it will be obvious to everyone that you are just doing it for tracking purposes.

More info at https://fedi.tips/you-dont-need-link-shorteners-on-mastodon

If you're going to have a verified link on your Mastodon profile, PLEASE verify through your own site if you have one. Don't rely on third party verification sites.

I'm currently trying to work out if the broadcaster NPR owns
a particular account, but I have no idea if it's real because it's verified by some random third party site. If it really was NPR, why wouldn't they just verify through their own site https://npr.org?

Third party verification causes more problems than it solves 👎

@KevinWho

Here are instructions for how to verify your account, including the option to have a green verified link in your profile:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-verify-my-account/

It can be done on your own site, and also on sites you don't own if the site allows HTML code to be inserted on your page. For example, some universities allow academics to insert verification links on their staff page.

But the third party services I'm criticising are ones with no reputation of their own, so they're sort of useless.

If you're moving to another server, follow the entire procedure below to transfer both your followers (people who follow you) and your follows (people you follow) to your new account:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/transferring-your-mastodon-account-to-another-server

This also transfers bookmarks, mutes and blocks. Posts stay behind, but they will redirect to your new account.

Some have been using a shorter procedure which only covers followers, and then been surprised that their follows are gone. Don't worry, you can still transfer your follows!

I run the sites https://fedi.tips, https://fedi.directory, https://fedi.garden, https://fedi.video and https://growyourown.services

I also run accounts at @feditips, @FediFollows, @FediGarden, @FediVideo and @homegrown

I'm an unpaid volunteer. If you appreciate these, you can buy me a coffee at:

☕ https://ko-fi.com/fedithing (No need to register, choose any amount, all currencies work)

Alternatively, you can become a patron at:

🔄 https://liberapay.com/FediThing

Thank you! :blob_cat_heart:

One of the leading independent news outlets on the Fediverse, the Texas Observer, unexpectedly finds itself having to fight to stay open.

They've been a progressive news source since 1954, and have recently been promoting the Fediverse as a way for news media to escape corporate capture.

If you want to help them stay alive, here are some options:

- Give a donation at https://www.gofundme.com/f/laid-off-texas-observer-journalists-and-staff

- Boost their appeal for help at https://texasobserver.social/@TexasObserver/110098765781725050

- Follow them at @TexasObserver

One of the main challenges for new servers on here is discovering content to interact with.

Relays speed up the discovery process, and allow even a single user server to automatically see a large part of the Fediverse.

There's a new relay service by @astro­@c3d2.social called FediBuzz Relay:

➡️ https://relay.fedi.buzz

It allows servers to subscribe to custom relays based on tags or instances. (If you use this, can you let us know your experiences in the replies?)

#FediAdmin #MastoAdmin

Have you wanted to run a @peertube server with open sign-ups, but you were worried about new members posting nasty content?

PeerTube's latest version 5.1 has just been released and includes sign-up requests, where people have to say exactly why they want to sign up. You then have to approve their request before their membership is activated.

You can use this feature to moderate who actually gets an account, and it should make PeerTube open sign-ups much easier to moderate 👍

#PeerTube

Gancio is a free open source Fediverse event planning system, aimed at communities wanting to organise their own events instead of using Facebook or Google.

You can interact with Gancio events from Mastodon etc through ActivityPub, and it also supports RSS.

The Gancio website is at https://gancio.org and the project's official Fediverse account is at @gancio

The software's code is at https://framagit.org/les/gancio

#Gancio #Fediverse #Events #ActivityPub

Takahē is a new kind of Fediverse server which is aimed at small to medium size servers. It's unusual as it allows the same server to host multiple domains, and allows each user to have multiple identities. You can find out more from the project's official website at:

➡️ https://jointakahe.org

You can follow the project's account at:

➡️ @takahe

Takahe accounts can be followed from Mastodon, and it works with Mastodon API apps.

#Takahe #Fediverse #ActivityPub

BookWyrm is a federated social reading network, and the Fediverse's alternative to Amazon Goodreads.

You can find out more about how to join at:

➡️ https://joinbookwyrm.com

The official project account is at @bookwyrm

BookWyrm lets you import your data from Goodreads, LibraryThing, Storygraph, Open Library and Calibre. Here's how to do it:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/importing-your-data-into-bookwyrm-from-goodreads-librarything-storygraph-openlibrary-or-calibre

You can follow BookWyrm accounts from Mastodon, as they are both part of the Fediverse.

:friendica: Important note for #Friendica users! There's a bug that affects visibility of Friendica replies:

https://github.com/friendica/friendica/issues/12654

Basically, replies by Friendica accounts using direct/mentions visibility in apps that rely on the Mastodon API will actually be public.

The linked issue mentions Fedilab as an example, but apparently this bug affects any Friendica-compatible app which relies on the Mastodon API.

(via @apps )