Basically the title. I’ve been thinking of checking out Mastodon, and I’d like to get opinions on which instances are great. I’m mostly just looking for something like Beehaw. That is to say, a chill and friendly place that’s at least decently active.

Thanks. As a bribe for your participation, please enjoy this close-up photo of a deer that walked past the window at work today. NVM, the picture won’t upload. Please imagine a cute deer in your mind instead.

  • Butterbee (She/Her)
    link
    fedilink
    English
    48 months ago

    I’m not sure how the entire instance is but I follow @FoxNews@brands.town from there so they can’t be all that bad! Jokes aside, (though you should really check out FoxNews the #1 fox news network on Mastodon), mastodon.art is very cool and has great vibes. Where ever you end up signing up, I encourage you to find some people from .art and give them a follow to inject your timeline with the good stuff.

    Tech.lgbt is a tech focused instance for people with marginalized identities. I follow a few cool peeps from that instance.

    peoplemaking.games is an instance for people who work on games, whoduvthunkit. Peeps from there seem cool when they come across my feed.

    That all being said with mastodon it’s more important that you vibe with the admin policy than the subjects focused on by the instances. I am on .art, but I also am into urbanist stuff and bicycling (especially as a mode of transportation, not as a sport), so following hashtags like #biketooter puts that kind of stuff in my feed. My advice is to take the suggestions you get from this thread, and maybe look at a few more from your own searches, and check out the instances patreon to see how well they are doing, what kind of news updates are they posting (notes about defederating from bigots is a pretty good start there), and then choose a small to medium sized instance that seems like it will stick around for a while. Then go ahead and follow whatever topics you want.

      • Butterbee (She/Her)
        link
        fedilink
        English
        38 months ago

        the system is working! I don’t know what beef admins have with instance you are from but I appreciate the .art administrations proactive stance. Usually blocks happen after they have reached out and not come to agreements about certain user behaviors.

    • @MangoKangaroo@beehaw.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      38 months ago

      I will be sure to inject my feed with art and news of foxes whereever I end up. Thanks!

      The admin vibe check is definitely important for me, so that’s part of the reason why I’m feeling things out and seeing where people have liked hanging out.

    • Gamma
      link
      fedilink
      English
      38 months ago

      brands.town has some great accounts!

  • jimmydoreisalefty
    link
    English
    38 months ago

    I am also interested!

    What communities may we be missing on?

    • @MangoKangaroo@beehaw.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      68 months ago

      The one that I do know about is hachyderm.io, since that’s where the official Beehaw account is. I’m probably leaning in that direction but I’m curious what other instances people like. :)

  • bbbhltz
    link
    fedilink
    38 months ago

    Instances that require invites might be a good place to look.

  • Chris
    link
    fedilink
    English
    38 months ago

    Honestly, it doesn’t really matter that much. 99.999% of my content I see comes from the people I follow and what they post and boost. Start by following people that interest you-and the rest just happens.

  • Whimseymimple
    link
    fedilink
    28 months ago

    Before starting my own personal one, I used ones run by @Stux, mstdn.social and masto.ai. He has another one that’s based around coffee lovers, too: mastodon.coffee. They’re pretty laid back servers!