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Looking for Twitter alternatives? Here’s how to use Mastodon
Fast Company ^ | 10-28-22 4:36 PM | Jared Newman

Posted on 10/29/2022 11:02:05 AM PDT by Olog-hai

Now that Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover is complete, many people are suddenly turning to Mastodon in their hunt for alternative venues for tweet-like social media consumption.

Mastodon hews close to Twitter’s overall style, with “toots” instead of tweets and “boosts” instead of retweets, along with mentions, hashtags, and a chronological feed. The key difference is that Mastodon has no ads, no creepy data mining, and no centralized ownership.

It can be a little tricky to set up, though, and you may quickly discover that its attempts to clone Twitter are at odds with its decentralized nature. But don’t let that discourage you from giving it a try. […]

If you want to help Mastodon shake its ghost town reputation, you’d better start contributing—ideally by posting about things other than Elon Musk and Twitter. …

(Excerpt) Read more at fastcompany.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Humor
KEYWORDS: boosts; decentralized; eds; elonmusk; jarednewman; mastodon; mds; mediawingofthednc; musk; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; retweets; toots; truthsocial; tweets; twitter; twittermob
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To: Openurmind

They knew that people like Kamala Harris would show up to bail them out. They were brazen because they knew the deep state would protect them.

My comments stand with respect to who Mastodon seems to be wishing to attract.


21 posted on 10/29/2022 12:28:51 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Revel

Because if you have a desktop and an old flip phone, you can’t get the code. I’ve tried 6x, and no-go.


22 posted on 10/29/2022 12:33:37 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: Olog-hai

“My comments stand with respect to who Mastodon seems to be wishing to attract.”

And I stand that you are mistaken how Mastodon works. It is like saying your phone text application is working to attract a certain group. It is just a tool like a simple text app not an entity or platform.

It can be beneficial to good groups just as well as bad groups.


23 posted on 10/29/2022 12:37:03 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

If the left is trying to attract leftist users to Mastodon, then they have their hooks in it. There is no such thing as true decentralization. I did not say the software itself is trying to do such a thing; that would be absurd.


24 posted on 10/29/2022 12:46:14 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Revel

Because it’s boring and I don’t like the layout. Now that Musk has Twitter let’s see what changes are made. If he lets many off the banned accounts back then that will change things there. I have looked at the other alternatives and just don’t find any of them interesting or compelling.


25 posted on 10/29/2022 12:53:21 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: Olog-hai

“If the left is trying to attract leftist users to Mastodon, then they have their hooks in it.”

They don’t though. It is like a pickup truck. It can be used to haul conservative gold or used to haul leftist manure and doesn’t know the difference. Truth Social is using Mastodon. Is Truth Social leftist?

And yes it is truly decentralized. You can even choose and create your own network of approved trusted nodes. It really is time for Conservatives to start utilizing these decentralized tools going forward.


26 posted on 10/29/2022 1:04:29 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

How do you know they do not?

Software is designed by humans and as such is designed to be controlled by humans.


27 posted on 10/29/2022 1:05:38 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Olog-hai

“turning to Mastodon in their hunt for alternative venues for tweet-like social media consumption.”

turning to Mastodon in their hunt for venues that censors everything but liberal propaganda.

There, fixed it


28 posted on 10/29/2022 1:09:54 PM PDT by antidemoncrat
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To: Olog-hai

“How do you know they do not?”

Because I have been dabbling with it for years now. It belongs to whoever wants to use it. And it is open source, nothing hidden about the software at all. It is wide open for all to review. And because you can use or not use nodes as you like one can set up a very secure and trusted network that has nothing at all to do with any other untrusted nodes.

Like say... Just FR members in the network... No problem. :)


29 posted on 10/29/2022 1:16:25 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Olog-hai

If this is a decentralized service, wouldn’t that make censorship difficult? And if so, SURELY the Twitter mob want NOTHING to do with a place where they might be exposed to “THOSE” ideas.


30 posted on 10/29/2022 1:30:20 PM PDT by FrankRizzo890
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To: EEGator

If it becomes dominated by liberals, then “Toots” is a remarkably good term for them. Considering what “toots” means in common usage. (Farts)


31 posted on 10/29/2022 1:30:33 PM PDT by sjmjax
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To: Openurmind

It belongs to whomever wants to use it? Then watch leftists use it to nefarious ends. Besides, I said nothing of belonging.


32 posted on 10/29/2022 1:48:35 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: FrankRizzo890

All I aside was point out that the left was directing the mob to that platform. They don’t do such things willy-nilly.


33 posted on 10/29/2022 1:51:51 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Openurmind

I’m in. I see zerotalk, zeroblog, zeromail etc. Now what?


34 posted on 10/29/2022 1:52:58 PM PDT by Pollard (Worm & GMO Free - some call us purebloods)
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To: Olog-hai

Let them... We can use the same tool for GOOD!


35 posted on 10/29/2022 1:53:01 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Pollard

Lol, I hoped you would see this! As you know it works similar to how the qTox does Pollard. And you are familiar with that.

“I’m in. I see zerotalk, zeroblog, zeromail etc. Now what?”

As in the client installed and into their system with your browser???

But you can create and seed your own websites. To create a user and interact, post, set up mail, Etc. you need to go to namecoin cryptocurrency and get a .bit domain. That will be your secure unique ID like a bitcoin wallet.

But to go check it out you don’t need one to access all the different stuff they have on there now. And there is some cool stuff, movies, their own version of Youtube, free music, Etc. You just can’t interact, post, or clone a site until you get one later.

Once you get in the system and look around it will explain more how it works. But what I did was make an external 64 gig linux stick to install Zeronet onto. That way everything is isolated just in case. Then followed their instructions to install it and run it from the terminal. But a desktop launch shortcut could be added so you can just click it to start it.

The terminal will fire up your browser and go to their directory landing page. They have their own directory of registered “Zites” by namecoin ID. But registering is not required, it is optional. I think you of all people will appreciate the concept and see the future benefits this tool really can have. And like I say, you can set up a trusted network of nodes after you get a site up and seeded. And you can make your own site a landing page for all your users instead of the Zeronet landing page.

So install the client and let me know if you run into anything. In the mean time I will switch to the Zeronet drive so I have my notes and fire Zeronet.


36 posted on 10/29/2022 2:22:00 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Pollard

You already got the client installed and in their system???

Is that what you meant? If so COOL!


37 posted on 10/29/2022 2:26:14 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Pollard

https://nameid.org/


38 posted on 10/29/2022 2:49:39 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

Absolutely agree there.


39 posted on 10/29/2022 2:54:34 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Openurmind
It's just a few commands to paste into the terminal to get this, here, http://127.0.0.1:43110/.

Checked out some posts on ZeroBlog. Looks like I can't get to ZeroMe without getting some sort of credentials/auth. Gave me an 'error undefined' when I tried to request one. Looks like I can't interact at all until I get past that.

40 posted on 10/29/2022 3:08:20 PM PDT by Pollard (Worm & GMO Free - some call us purebloods)
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