Mastodon
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Mastodon is a social networking and microblogging service that offers features similar to Twitter but with distinct characteristics that appeal to various communities, including the furry fandom.
Contents
History[edit]
Mastodon and its flagship instance, mastodon.social, were first released on October 5, 2016, with the goal of fostering an ad-free, community-maintained social media platform.[1]
The key functional difference between Mastodon and Twitter is that Mastodon is a decentralized network of independently-maintained servers, known as "instances," whereas Twitter's servers are all owned and operated by Twitter itself. Mastodon’s open-source server platform allows anyone with sufficient server resources to join its network, which enables various communities, including furry communities, to create servers with unique domain names.
On December 1, 2017, the total number of user accounts across all instances reached one million.[2] As of December 13, 2017, there were 1234 active instances, averaging 826 users per instance.[3] By its second anniversary, user numbers had risen to 1,627,557 on 3,460 instances according to co-creator Eugen Rochko.[4]
Following the decline of Twitter in October 2022, interest in Mastodon grew significantly.[5] Nearly 500,000 accounts and over 1,100 instances were created between October 27 and November 7, 2022.[6] [7]
Usage[edit]
How instances work[edit]
Mastodon instances talk to and verify each other through a process called federation.[8] This allows for users of different instances to view, follow, and communicate with each other, similar to e-mail. The overall network of federated instances, as well as instances of similar federated platforms using the same protocol, is colloquially called The Fediverse. The original protocol used to communicate across The Fediverse, OStatus, is also an open standard; however, Mastodon moved to ActivityPub in 2017 and removed support for OStatus in October 2019.[9]
Each Mastodon instance has an administrator (or multiple administrators), who installs and maintains the Mastodon software suite, determines the name of their instance, and sets other individual rules and server parameters for their instance. They may also create a distinct theme for their instance, including color schemes, graphics, language settings, and custom emoji. For privacy and safety concerns, administrators (as well as site moderators) have the right (and, as part of The Fediverse, often an obligation) to suspend or ban users on their instances who are violating the rules of the instance, The Fediverse, or the laws of their locality. Administrators also have the ability to blacklist other instances as a whole that are either out-of-date, poorly administered, have settings undesirable to their users, allow unhidden NSFW or offensive content, or harbor malicious users or spammers.
Users' account perspective[edit]
A prospective user can create a Mastodon account on almost any instance in The Fediverse; however, some instances are open for immediate use after creating an account, while others require that instance administrator's approval before their account is created. Once created, a user will log into their instance's account to post content using their federated username of @username@instance.name. Users can view and post content either from their instance's website or via one of several community-supported mobile apps.[10]
A post to Mastodon is usually called a toot. Like Twitter, Mastodon allows users to toot text, image, audio, and video content, as well as use hashtags to allow for tagging of content for easier searching. Mastodon has a limit of 500 characters per toot, as opposed to 280 characters per tweet. Instance admins can choose to increase the character limit.[11] Users can, by default, toot up to 8 megabytes of content per toot, but this is adjustable by an instance administrator. Furthermore, each individual toot can have separate privacy settings of public, unlisted (public but not listed on federated timelines), private (followers-only), and direct.
A major feature of Mastodon is that toots can also have hidden content. A built-in content warning mechanism is available on each toot, where the majority of a toot's content can be hidden behind warning text and a button that requires a viewer to click to read the rest. This is especially useful (and often encouraged) when a user toots content that is sensitive, lengthy, spoiler-ish, or NSFW. Pictures and videos in a toot can also be marked as sensitive, regardless of whether they are behind a content warning, requiring the viewer to click on that media to view it.
Users can also "favorite" and "boost" toots, which are analogous to "like" and "retweet" on Twitter.
A user's profile has an avatar, header, small biographical field, and four free-form entries called "metadata". The latter are useful for stating one's pronouns, species, location, and other small information.
User interface[edit]
The website view of a Mastodon instance has a similar look and feel to Twitter's Tweetdeck product, where various pieces of content are viewed in columns, such as:
- Home: a feed of toots of all followed users
- Notifications: a feed of toots in which the user is mentioned or replied to
- Local Timeline: a feed of all public toots on the user's instance
- Federated Timeline: a feed of all public toots across all instances
- Bookmarks: a feed of saved posts
- Lists: a feed of certain public toots filtered by the user's criteria
This view changes to a single column and a series of buttons to select columns when viewed on a mobile platform (or if a web browser's width is reduced to a certain amount).
In addition to the website view, several apps for both mobile and desktop have been developed. As of November 2022, 22 apps are listed at Join Mastodon.[12]
Mascot[edit]
As a whole, the mascot of Mastodon is the mastodon itself, a non-anthropomorphic predecessor of the mammoth and the elephant.[13] However, administrators may introduce their own mascots, both anthropomorphic and not, as part of their instance's theme.
Mastodon and furry[edit]
Because of the level of customization and self-identification of Mastodon instances, as well as the ability to set privacy and visibility per toot, furry groups were among the first to create and populate instances. form Current furry-related instances include:
| Website | Users | Focus | Registration |
|---|---|---|---|
| animal.business | 43 | ||
| awoo.chat | 12 | New users require approval. | |
| awoo.fyi | 79 | Open registration. | |
| awoo.space | 1,732 | ||
| awtter.me | 13 | Otters | New users require approval. |
| babyfurs.social | 113 | Babyfurs | New users require approval. |
| bark.lgbt | 4,016 | Open registration. | |
| batchats.net | 12 | Bats | Open registration. |
| bears.town | 52 | Bears | New users require approval. |
| birdbutt.com | 31 | Avians, Birds | New users require approval. |
| blimps.xyz | 451 | Inflation | New users by invite only. |
| cackl.io | 29 | Hyenas | Open registration. |
| chillpeep.zone | 27 | Open registration. | |
| chitter.xyz | 1,062 | New users require approval. | |
| claws.blue | 23 | ||
| clockwork.monster | 17 | Monsters | Open registration. |
| cloudycrux.es | 7 | Cruxes | Open registration. |
| cubhub.social | 528 | Babyfurs | Open registration. |
| cyberfurz.social | 227 | Technology, VRChat | New users require approval. |
| dariox.club | 115 | Technology | New users require approval. |
| derg.social | 12 | Open registration. | |
| dogbox.social | 15 | Fursuiting | New users require approval. |
| dook.business | 23 | Mustelids | |
| dragonchat.org | 147 | Dragons | Open registration. |
| equestria.social | 2,680 | My Little Pony | New users require approval. |
| fellies.social | 12 | New users by invite only. | |
| flooftube.net | 3 | Video | New users require approval. |
| floofy.tech | 124 | Technology | Open registration. |
| fluffs.au | 105 | Oceanian furries | Open registration. |
| fur.city | 9 | New users by invite only. | |
| furality.social | 13 | Furality Online Xperience convention | New users require approval. |
| furred.social | 7 | Open registration. | |
| furries.club | 571 | New users require approval. | |
| furry.energy | 140 | Open registration. | |
| furry.engineer | 945 | Technology | New users require approval. |
| furryfandom.me | 6 | ||
| furs.social | 40 | Open registration. | |
| fursuits.online | 144 | Fursuiting | New users require approval. |
| gulp.cafe | 627 | Vore | New users require approval. |
| hyper.equipment | 60 | Hypertrophilia | Open registration. |
| hyss.us | 11 | Reptiles, kobolds | New users require approval. |
| ibite.lol | 103 | Furry pornography | Open registration. |
| instafops.net | 149 | Furry art, Photography | Open registration. |
| kangaroo.to | 60 | Kangaroos | New users require approval. |
| kitsunes.club | 122 | Open registration. | |
| kitsunet.net | 73 | Otherkin, therians | New users require approval. |
| macrofurs.social | 444 | Macro, micro | Open registration. |
| mastodon.furrybrigade.net | 7 | PhiliFur convention | New users require approval. |
| mastodon.furrycon.social | 36 | Furry conventions | |
| mastodon.furrypaws.cc | 47 | Open registration. | |
| mastodon.genderversefurries.com | 10 | Transgender furries | New users require approval. |
| mastodon.sergal.org | 258 | Sergals | New users by invite only. |
| meemu.org | 394 | New users by invite only. | |
| meow.social | 12,771 | New users by invite only. | |
| moth.zone | 53 | ||
| owo.town | 29 | Open registration. | |
| packmates.org | 29 | Therians | New users require approval. |
| pawb.fun | 888 | New users require approval. | |
| paws.town | 2 | Paws | |
| pettingzoo.co | 3,539 | ||
| pixelfed.furryfandom.me | 109 | Furry art, photography | Open registration. |
| pixelfur.maw.best | 145 | Furry art | Open registration. |
| plush.city | 485 | Plush toys | New users require approval. |
| pony.social | 357 | My Little Pony | New users require approval. |
| pounced-on.me | 241 | New users require approval. | |
| puppo.space | 8 | Open registration. | |
| rawr.space | 11 | Dragons, scalies | Open registration. |
| red.fox.yt | 116 | Foxes | Open registration. |
| redwombat.social | 27 | ||
| shark.community | 32 | Sharks | New users require approval. |
| snaggletooth.life | 148 | New users require approval. | |
| social.blimped.net | 6 | Inflation | New users require approval. |
| social.furry.nz | 71 | New Zealand furries | New users require approval. |
| social.furry.scot | 13 | Scottish furries | |
| social.furryrefuge.com | 264 | Open registration. | |
| social.khajiit.de | 4 | German furries | New users require approval. |
| social.pawsitiv.space | 44 | Open registration. | |
| socialpa.ws | 15 | New users require approval. | |
| squawk.social | 55 | Avians | Open registration. |
| squeak.social | 62 | Inflatables, balloonies | Open registration. |
| squeaky.social | 10 | Inflatables, balloonies | New users require approval. |
| stop.voring.me | 1,117 | Open registration. | |
| supertails.social | 7 | ||
| synth.zip | 13 | Synths | |
| tailswish.industries | 22 | Otherkin, therians | New users require approval. |
| thicc.horse | 500 | Body positivity, kink | New users require approval. |
| this.mouse.rocks | 47 | New users require approval. | |
| tiggi.es | 100 | Body positivity, gaming, technology | |
| toot.finfur.net | 20 | Finnish furries | New users require approval. |
| transfur.social | 182 | Transformation | Open registration. |
| waff.club | 5 | Open registration. | |
| were.party | 26 | Transformation | Open registration. |
| wobbl.xyz | 232 | Fatfurs | New users require approval. |
| woof.tech | 130 | Open registration. | |
| wuff.space | 22 | New users require approval. | |
| yiff.life | 3,499 | New users by invite only. |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Join Mastodon Retrieved December 14, 2017.
- ↑ @mastodonusercount@mastodon.social Mastodon User Count account on mastodon.social. Tooted December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
- ↑ [1] Network drilldown for December 13, 2017.
- ↑ [2] Mastodon's 2 Year Anniversary!
- ↑ [3]The Guardian: What is Mastodon? Accessed 14 Nov 2022.
- ↑ [4] Techcrunch article. Accessed 14 Nov 2022.
- ↑ [5]Post by Eugen Rochko. Accessed 14 Nov 2022.
- ↑ "How exactly is it decentralized?" Mastodon FAQ on GitHub. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
- ↑ "Remove Salmon and PubSubHubbub #11205" Remove Salmon and PubSubHubbub #11205. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
- ↑ Mastodon App List Mastodon client app list. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
- ↑ How to increase the character limit for toots in Mastodon, posted November 8, 2021.
- ↑ Join Mastodon apps. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
- ↑ "What is a Mastodon?" Mastodon FAQ on GitHub (Forked from original repository). Retrieved December 13, 2017.
External links[edit]
- Mastodon.org - Mastodon's official website
- Furry Fediverse, a listing of furry themed instances
- instances.social, a tool to help decide which instance to join
- Mastodon FAQ on GitHub
- mastodon.social, the original Mastodon instance
- Overview of Mastodon & Why I Like It by Ruth Tillman
| Web-based social networking sites | ||
|---|---|---|
| Furry
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| Mainstream
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| Defunct,
never developed |
Anthroverse · ArtFurYou · AtFurry · Babyfur.us · CubAffinity · Digital Fur · Fauna Urbana · FURBooK.me · FurGather · FURiends · Furjournal · FurNation · Furpile.net · FurreFace · FurreSpace · Furring.net · Furritos · Furryinter.net · Furry United · Furry-Connect · FursConnect · FurSpace · Furspots · Fursuitlounge.com · FurTag · Google+ · HiFur · MyFur Network · MyFursona · Pounced.org · Transformation Planet · Yahoo! Groups
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Some of this page is derived from Wikipedia. The original article was at Mastodon. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WikiFur, the text of Wikipedia is available under CC-BY-SA and the GFDL. |