What is the difference between a local timeline and a federated timeline?

A local timeline shows posts from users on the same server, while a federated timeline shows posts from users on other servers that your server is connected to.

Can I control who sees my posts?

Yes, you can choose to make your posts public, visible only to your followers, or visible to select groups of users.

How do I find and follow new users?

You can find new users through the search function, by browsing profiles on the federated timeline, or by joining themed servers and interacting with users there. To follow a user, simply click on the follow button on their profile.

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Reddit Posts - Mastodon

Score: 0 | Comments: 2

Have you tried other apps? (Personally I like Megalodon on Android). Can you try emailing yourself, just to confirm that your email is setup correctly?
I'm sorry to hear that your new phone is giving you trouble. This could be a problem with the app itself, since you can log in through the browser. Check to see if there is an update for the app. Also, make sure the OS on your phone is current. If that doesn't work, you might want to contact the app's support team for more help or try other apps as well. I hope this helps!

Score: 2 | Comments: 5

I run my own single user instance. I feel I get plenty of good 'engagement' (by which I mean interesting and stimulating discussions) on my posts. If you use hashtags, and use a couple of relays your posts will get seen across the fediverse, even from quite early on. I'm not necessarily convinced that whether you run your own instance or a bigger one like [mastodon.social](http://mastodon.social) has a big impact on discoverability early on, but there are a few things to keep in mind. My advice to anyone starting on the fediverse is: * actively engage in a meaningful way with people you share interest in. Aim for a good ratio of boosts, favourites, replies and your own posts. Be friendly, and never mansplain or be a smart-arse. (good life advice in general, I suppose...) * Follow hashtags you are interested in. * Follow lots of people you find interesting. Many (particularly smaller ones) will follow you back. Don't be afraid to follow - you can always un-follow, if they turn out to be an arse (or just boring) after a while. * Use interesting hashtags (and plenty of them) whenever you post - this is the crucial way to get discovered. If you decide to run your own instance, here are some additional tips: * Sign up an alt on [mastodon.social](http://mastodon.social) and boost your own posts for the first 1-2 months. This may sound underhand, but I felt it massively increased my federation early on. Don't spam though... * Set up a 1-2 mid-sized relays to get more exposure. * When following hashtags: Set up [GetMoarFediverse](https://github.com/g3rv4/GetMoarFediverse) and [FakeRelay](https://github.com/g3rv4/FakeRelay/) to feed interesting content into your instance. * This might be self-promotion, but: Set up [FediFetcher](https://blog.thms.uk/fedifetcher) to pull in missing replies and backfill posts made before you followed a profile (it sucks that it's needed, but it makes a world of difference to a single user instance). * Another self-promotion alert: Read my blog post on running my own instance (which is focussed on the technical aspects of running your own instance - so only read it after you have decided): [https://blog.thms.uk/2023/01/setting-up-mastodon](https://blog.thms.uk/2023/01/setting-up-mastodon) IMO running your own instance is the best part of the fediverse. But it also requires some effort, cost, and dedication to set it up and keep it running.
Your posts will be seen by people you interact with. If those people like what you say, they may follow you and/or boost you, at which point their followers will see your stuff. If you never interact with people, then no. Nobody will see your posts. I run my own micro instance with 4 users. I have 1500 followers. If you are interesting, they will come, but you MUST engage with other people.
Small and solo instances can have issues with discoverability, indeed. Both ways: to be seen, but also to see other people. There's a thing called relay that can help you with this. To be seen, following and interacting with a lot of people is necessary, as u/sarahlizzy says. Otherwise, what I did was to start on a regular instance (with about a thousand users) I stayed there for about a year, and only after I had built a network of people I moved to a solo instance, but because I follow and am followed by a good number of people, it's well federated.
Also you have to look for posts using hashtags and subscribe to those hashtags. So if there is a subject you're interested in you subscribe to the hashtag that you're interested in like Linux. Then you go into search for Linux and then there's a #linux. You subscribe to that hashtag and then people will see what people hashtag in. Then when you post something you hashtag to that subject.
Hi! I had the same concern when starting my instance, but as others have said it's all about interacting with people. You like someone's post or follow them, they may check out your account and follow you, which then allows the instance that they are viewing from see your content in their federated timeline. One thing that I did that was helpful at the start was find accounts from the bigger instances (mastodon.social for example) that fit the theme of my instance, I followed them so that I could start seeing some stuff appear on my end, that way I had federated content to interact with in the first place. After a year I have 730 followers, even though there are less than 200 accounts on my instance. You're in control of your reach, not an algorithm :)

Score: 2 | Comments: 11

I don't think there is a way to 100% guarantee the language that you see. Even if you set your language filter preferences to English, you may get non English posts from people that you follow. Also, I believe that if someone does not set their profile post language, then Mastodon will default to English 🤣
It's a known issue. At the moment there is no way to do what you (and I!!!) want. The option might get added in the future. I have worked out a **very** crude workaround by adding the following css to the Stylus plugin. You have to keep adding languages as they pop up. Like I said, very crude. And it doesn't touch any link previews. `p:lang(it),p:lang(de),p:lang(fr),p:lang(ja),p:lang(ru),p:lang(es),p:lang(uk),p:lang(pt),p:lang(ro),p:lang(zh) {` `font-size:50%;` `line-height:50%;` `margin:0px` `}`
You can block the sender or their host if that is an overseas host site. Unfortunately you can't block TLD's (like .de or .fr or .jp).
One of the reasons I occasionally look into translation locally

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FAQ - Mastodon

What is the difference between a local timeline and a federated timeline?

Can I control who sees my posts?

How do I find and follow new users?

Reddit Posts - Mastodon

Can't login on Android only

Confused about discoverability and hosting my own instance

Only English posts setting?