There's a progressive metal band with the same name that I'm a fan of that brought the animal to my attention. I thought it's a pretty cool name/animal.
It’s **mastodon** with two Os. You will get it wrong at least once.
#### I don’t get the local vs. federated timeline thing.
“Local” toots are from the server you signed up at. “Federated” are the all the toots your server knows about. (It's complicated, but short version is: “toots from people that you and other locals follow.”)
Federated universe. The network of compatible social media servers such as Mastodon, Friendica, Hubzilla, Kroeg, PeerTube and more. Typically if you've got one account on a server in the fediverse, you can follow and befollowed by folks from other servers.
There are different ways in which something can be decentralized; in this case, Mastodon is the "federated" kind. Think e-mail, not BitTorrent. There are different servers (instances), users have an account on one of them, but can interact and follow each other regardless of where their account is.
Since Mastodon version 1.6 we use the [ActivityPub](https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/) protocol. Currently ActivityPub is a proposed W3C standard. Mastodon still supports OStatus for compatibility purposes.
The network ("fediverse") has existed before Mastodon, populated by GNU social servers, Friendica, Hubzilla, Diaspora etc. Not every one of those servers is fully compatible with every other. Mastodon is compatible with other software that implements the ActivityPub protocol, and with some software that implements OStatus. Notable recent additions to the network are PeerTube and Kroeg.
These should be taken as an estimate since all stats are voluntary and collection is based on discovery (Mastodon servers do not submit any stats anywhere automatically).
Development of Mastodon and hosting of mastodon.social is funded through [Patreon (also BTC/PayPal donations)](https://www.patreon.com/user?u=619786) and [Liberapay](https://liberapay.com/Mastodon/). Beyond that, the project is not interested in VC funding, monetizing, advertising, or anything of that sort.
The software is free and open source and communities should host their own servers if they can, that way the costs are more or less distributed. Many instances have their own Patreon and Liberapay pages, among other community funding methods.
#### This looks a lot like Twitter, what’s the difference?
Mastodon is decentralized. Anyone can run a Mastodon server, under their own community rules. Twitter is run by a central authority, and sets the rules for everyone.
[Many instances exist](https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started) for almost every interest. It's okay to try a couple of public ones while looking for one that feels right. Talking about your interests on a public instance like [Mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social) may help you get invited to other instances.
You will find a preview of what the federated timeline of an instance looks like on their frontpage. Alternatively, to preview what an instance is saying, use [this preview tool](http://www.unmung.com/mastoview?url=mastodon.social&view=local) created by [Kevin Marks](https://mastodon.social/@kevinmarks).
If you use Chrome or Firefox for Android, you can add Mastodon to your homescreen. It will act as a native app in many ways including push notifications. Alternatively, try [Tusky](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keylesspalace.tusky).
You can search for people and hashtags, but not general text. Use the box above the tooting area. If you are on the mobile layout, click the pen in the navigation.
Some instances are private and will not federate with your instance. Others may be blocked by your instance. To find out more about how your instance federates, ask your admin.
#### Can I have more than one account? Can I use the same email on different instances?
Yes and yes! If you find another instance you would like to join, sign up! Note that not all instances are open to new registrations and it’s possible that someone has already taken your preferred username.
#### How do I prevent people from impersonating me?
Because anyone can create a username on any instance, it is impossible to prevent others from using the same username on another instance. Some people have taken to running their own single-user instance to verify themselves, or use [Keybase](https://keybase.io/).
This could occur for several reasons. A person's posts may be private. You must be a follower of a private account to see their non-public posts. Additionally, if someone has blocked you, you will no longer see any of their posts.
When you add a picture to your post using the camera icon, an additional toggle will appear that looks like a crossed out eye. Clicking this will hide your image behind a "Sensitive Content" warning, preventing others from seeing your images until they click on them.
Click the Settings cog in the top left corner of the app, and select Security. From there, select "delete account". **Deleting an account is irreversible. The username will remain permanently unavailable.**
Click on **Getting Started**, then **Extended Information**. An info page displays. If that information was configured by the admin, it will show up there.
Each instance handles moderation differently, and each has their own moderators. It’s okay to ask what the rules are for the instance you are on. Usually the rules are posted on the instance's about page ([like the “more” page at Mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/about/more))
#### How do I report offensive content?
Beneath each post, you will see three dots. Clicking on those will allow you to expand a post or report the content. When reporting content, select all posts that need moderator attention.
If your admin takes harassment seriously, you can report it to them through the post-reporting system. This can be found through the ellipsis (“…”) beneath the post, or by contacting your admin directly.
Private (followers-only) and direct messages will definitely reach people on Mastodon instances of version 1.6 and higher. They will not be sent to servers that only implement OStatus. You are unlikely to encounter such servers however.
Yes! Hashtags are tracked and are often fun, but some tags help people avoid triggering posts. This is especially appreciated on public posts of #POLITICS, #HEALTH, #DEPRESSION, or #LEWD OR #NSFW topics. Such posts are also what the Content Warning system was designed for.
“✅” is an emoji, *only* for laughs. There is no verification on Mastodon, as verification in the traditional sense would require a central authority. You can copy and paste “✅” into your bio if you wish, but it does nothing. If you want to really assert your identity, link to your Mastodon profile from another website where your identity is already established, or use Keybase for cryptographic verification.
Deleting a post propagates to the same places where the original post went. As a rule, it means yes, it gets deleted everywhere. There can be network delays and processing delays. Under rare circumstances a copy could remain somewhere, especially if the post was public.
If you are looking at their profile from the expanded view, click their avatar. This will take you directly to their instance, which displays all their public toots. Alternatively, opening any link of their username in a new tab will likewise take you there.
The date & time (sometimes relative time, such as "2m", that is, "2 minutes ago") of a toot always links to the public page ("permalink") of the toot. Right click it and copy location.
Open preferences and select all languages you don't want to see. Keep in mind that language detection is automated and therefore imperfect, you may still see some toots you don't understand, that does not mean the filters don't work.
The primary function of Mastodon is delivering your toots to your followers. Your toots do not leave your server unless you have followers from other servers, in which case they go to those specific servers. There are other cases, such as when you address a message to someone from another server without them needing to be your follower. Mastodon does not discriminate between local and remote followers. However, the "federated" and "local" timelines you can browse display only toots with the "public" privacy setting. Choosing the "unlisted" or lower privacy setting will opt your toot out of those timelines. Similarly, an unlisted toot would not show up in a hashtag timeline even if you used that hashtag in the toot.
PNG, JPEG, GIF images, as well as WebM and MP4 videos. A GIF will be automatically converted to soundless MP4 which will behave like a GIF in the UI. Similarly, a soundless WebM or MP4 video will also act as a GIF in the UI.
This FAQ was compiled with contributions from [@Gargron](https://mastodon.social/@Gargron), [@raccoon](https://mastodon.social/@Raccoon), [@upside](https://octodon.social/@upside), [@zacanger](https://mastodon.social/@zacanger), [@NthTensor](https://octodon.social/@NthTensor), [@ametlles](https://mastodon.social/@ametlles) and many others in the fediverse!
