The Great Communicator @hikenwoodwork@social.cleverlibre.org

Some Mastodon thoughts, for bird-site expats (which include myself). I'm aggregating these from posts I've boosted before, so little of this is my own brain.

- There's no algorithm here. That means favoriting/liking doesn't do anything except communicate approval to the OP and others (which is still nice!).

- No algorithm means boosting ("retweeting") is the true method to increase a post's visibility. Do that more than you did on birdsite.

- There's no post-quoting here, and that's by design. Look at quote-tweets on the birdsite; it's a feature primarily used for toxicity.

- There's no direct word-search here either; that means you want to use hashtags to make posts more searchable. This is also intended, since word-searching posts was often used to harass/stalk on the birdsite and elsewhere, so that was left by the wayside here. This also means hashtags are much more a thing here than any of the algorithm-powered sites.

- It's encouraged to put in text descriptions when you post images; a lot of Mastodon users use screen-readers due to various disabilities, and getting an image description read out loud helps them immensely.

- Speaking of screen-readers: using capitalization in your hashtags allows the screen-readers to read them more easily, especially if you're smashing multiple words together. #rockmusic = unreadable. #RockMusic = readable.

- The best way to make threads is to make set your first post as public, but "unlist" all of your replies. This prevents your whole thread from clogging up feeds.

- Content Warnings should be used more liberally here. If you haven't gotten the impression yet, much of Mastodon was built and populated by marginalized groups who were harassed/bullied off of other platforms. This is the culture they built, to respect each other's mental health. It's not a rule, but it's well-appreciated.

- Consider chipping a few bucks towards whomever runs the server you're on; the strain is real, and most server admins were likely paying out of pocket before so don't have an existing donation base. The growth here has been extremely fast, and that means money's needed.

- DMs are just posts with privacy settings. So if you @ someone in a DM, you pull them into the thread. That could be embarrassing.

- Also, no, DMs aren't end-to-end encrypted, but they aren't on Twitter either. Don't use either if you want true privacy.

- Including your Mastodon handle in your birdsite profile will help people find you here; there's a tool (pruvisto.org/debirdify/ is one of them that's used) people can use to pull Mastodon handles from Twitter profile.

- Use the blocking and reporting features liberally, if needed. This should go without saying, but they work, and work well!

- If there's an entire Mastodon server you don't want to hear from, you can block the whole thing too.

- Preferences -> Appearance -> "Slow Mode": this can make larger "Local" feeds and any "Federated" feed much more readable.

I'll reply with some more as I see them, or reply here too. I've only been here 4 days but I'm loving it so far.

Happy #Humpday, #Mastodon!

“Wound Man” is an illustration which first appeared in European surgical texts during the Middle Ages. It laid out schematically the various wounds a person might suffer in battle or in accidents, often with surrounding or accompanying text stating treatments for the these injuries. This “Wound Man” dates to the 15th century and is from the Wellcome Collection in #London.

Which “wound” are you this week?!

#histodons #histmed #sciart #history #weirdfacts #author

Hot tip:
It's okay to change your opinion if you're presented with new information.

KEEP IN MIND! #Mastodon doesn't work like #Twitter!

Have you just made the #Twexit or the #TwitterMigration?

Favorites ⭐ - they're not "likes". They don't "elevate" posts, they just the poster know you liked their post.

Boosts 🔁 - these push someone's post into your friends feeds (and help discovery).

So if you ⭐ my posts, that's great (and I love you too)!

But if you 🔁 posts, then more people see them!

OH! - #Hashtags are how you search!

#mastodon #MastodonTips

Hello #Histodons

A brief #introduction - I’m Dr Dan O’Brien, historian of undertakers, funerals and death in eighteenth century England. I can often be found talking about early undertakers or researching their ephemera.

I also enjoy sharing items of mourning jewellery and other death-related items from history such as this delightful wooden skeleton. Hopefully you will join me for more interesting adventures in death history! #mementomori #history

(impt animal care note: she sat on the sticker, I didn't put it on her.)

Babe, you’ve hardly touched your electrolytes

Last Sunday's photo competition was a great success! I'm going to have a #boostsunday every week from now on. What do you have to do?

1. upload a photo with the hashtag #potd the hashtag #photography is also valid but I first look at #potd
2. I look at all the photos and choose winners from them.
3. I will post the winners on my account with credits at the end of the week on Sunday evening/Monday morning.

Good luck and have fun!

A boost is appreciated so we reach a wider audience.

Productive day at the workbench this afternoon continuing the Dutch tool chest build. Bottom lip and skids done and the handles installed - it’s becoming a heavy beast to keep lifting on and off the workbench now! Next step: the fall front.

#woodwork #woodworking

hurr durr ima #woodworker doing #woodworking things

@jahway603 @Gina

If you haven't already found it, check out Ana White's website for a lot of good free plans that use pocket holes.

I don't use pocket holes much these days, but used to use them a lot and the furniture I built from those plans has held up for >10 years.
#woodworking

Hello #academic mastodon, first post from zirk.us, trying to rebuild my networks of smart and interesting things and people! Happy greetings to all Twitter refugees and hello to anyone interested in #humanities #universities #arsenal and #woodworking!

A coffee table that's not ment for coffee #woodworking

#introduction

Another Twitter immigrant looking for new digs. Living in the Pacific Northwest.

Career: 43 years in tech, last gig was at Google (Pixel, Pixel Buds, Glass, Android). Embedded systems specialist with an emphasis on low-power, audio, and sensors. Retired in 2020.

Hobbies: #maker #woodworking #homeautomation #photography

I love to cross the streams by combining tech with other hobbies, e.g. 3D printing and woodworking.

Excited to share a thing I built this weekend. It's an end table, mostly made out of scraps and wood I found in the trash. I learned a lot and I'm really pleased with how it came out. It's got a sort of modern meets rustic vibe.

One of these days I'd like to try a similar base with nicer materials as a coffee table design.

#woodworking

It never fails to surprise me how many people are like "I'm a software engineer, I work all day with embedded systems and C and compilers and R and high level analysis of big data and statistical reporting on metadata trends.... and also I do #woodworking using 18th century hand tools because fecking computers, y'know?"

Literally, walk into a room with ten engineers, and three of them can probably cut a decent dovetail if they don't dream of building an entire dresser from cherry and walnut.

It’s heartening to scroll through legions of interesting people and posts here. #introduction follows: I enjoy #woodworking without electricity, #flyfishing (and tying), #hiking around forests to find mushrooms and learn names of plants/trees, playing #boardgames, and reading (mostly #scifi and #fantasy genre). My day job is managing a website. I advocate for the #openweb, #opensource, #rss, and #privacy to anyone who will listen to me.

Here is my obligatory #introduction.

I’ve worked in the fields of #science and #engineering for over two decades. My degrees are in mechanical engineering, but I’ve spent many years both professionally and recreationally crossing over into the computer science realm when it intersects with my interests and projects.

I’ve been a #Linux user since the mid-90s, and I’ve been paid to admin Linux and Unix number-crunching boxes, including Irix, HP-UX, AIX, and other fun OSes that either don’t exist anymore or you probably haven’t heard of.

I enjoy programming, especially #Python, #Golang, and #Julia, although I’ve used another dozen or so languages along the way, everything from FORTRAN to Perl and TCL to Haskell (and lots in between). I’m an electronic hobbyist, and you may find me tinkering with #RaspberryPi and #Arduino boards.

My technical interests also include #woodscience, #mathematics, #numbertheory/#numericalmethods, #statistics, #datascience, #sliderules, and #TeX.

I like making things, so my hobbies include #watercolor, #drawing, #woodworking and #blacksmithing. I also love #books and reading, with a proclivity towards #history, #art, #religion, #BiblicalCriticism, #scifi, #fantasy, and classical #literature.

I like to listen to and play #music. I play #guitar and dabble in lots of other instruments. My favorite styles of music are #folk, #celtic, and #Americana, but I enjoy a diverse mix of genres, so you might catch me listening to Cat Stevens and Tom Lehrer one day and Johnny Cash and Eminem the next.

I love #nature, mountains and oceans, #hiking, and #birding. I like to #travel to new places, see new things, and experience the local food and culture. Speaking of #food, I like to #cook.

I also like gaming, especially on my #Nintendo #Switch and #Steamdeck.

There are many #introductions but this #intro is mine.

I'm a professional technical #generalist. I write #code, read code, research, discover problems, and develop solutions.

Been in some form of the computer industry starting in 1995. It's what pays the bills: Career trajectory was #dialup ISP #helpdesk ➡️ Corporate IT ➡️ firewall/IDS analyst ➡️ CERT/SOC #Technical #Leader ➡️ Cisco Talos Technical Lead ➡️ currently at Netography, solving security/threat monitoring through #Netflow.

For fun/enrichment/growth: I dabble in making #DJ mixes, #woodworking, #3dprinting /CAD, #circuit design, #music production, studying #Japanese language & culture, a little bit of a #coffee snob learning #latte art, I love to cook, and I make a bangin margherita #pizza.

Making a hashtag post of some of my interests and expertise (or lack thereof): #synths #punk #siouxsie #fania #vinyl #ttrpgs #boardgames #analoggames #videogames #mechanicalkeyboards #keebs #woodworking #contentmoderation #socialmedia #internet #history #film #almodóvar #elpaísvasco #lepaysbasque #travismcgee #adidas #hardware #modularsynthesis I dunno lots of other stuff.