Tags: #infosec #security

I have used Keyoxide for awhile now to verify my identity so I thought to throw together a step by step instructions in case someone wants to do it themselves.

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What You’ll Need

1. A way to create a PGP key (this is just a fancy term for a digital signature that’s unique to you).
2. Some of your social media profiles or other online accounts you want to link together with this key.

Step 1: Install a Tool to Create Your PGP Key

To get started, you’ll need an app that can make a PGP key for you. Here are some good options: – Windows: Gpg4win – macOS: GPG Suite – Linux: Try running sudo apt install gnupg in your terminal if you don’t already have it.

Follow the instructions on the website for installing the app that matches your operating system. Once you’re set, you’re ready to make your key.

Step 2: Make Your Unique PGP Key

Your PGP key will be like your online signature that connects to all the profiles you want to share.

1. Open the app you just installed and look for the option to make a new key.
2. The app will ask you for some info:
   • Name: This is what people will see connected to your key. It can be your real name or something else you’d like to use.
   • Email: This will help identify your key, so choose one you’re comfortable linking to your online identity.
   • Passphrase: Make sure to pick a good one! This keeps your key secure.

Once you’re done, the app will generate a public key and a private key: – Public key: Safe to share! This is what other people will use to verify your identity. – Private key: Keep this secret—this is what proves the public key is really yours.

Step 3: Find Your Key’s Fingerprint

Your fingerprint is like a digital ID number for your key. It’s a unique mix of numbers and letters that helps Keyoxide identify you.

1. Go back to the app, find your key, and look for the fingerprint (it’s usually a string of about 40 characters).
2. Copy this somewhere handy because you’ll need it soon.

Step 4: Create Proofs to Link Your Social Profiles

This is where you show that certain online accounts really belong to you. You’ll make a short “proof” message for each account, and then link it to your PGP key. Let’s start with an example for Twitter.

1. Write a simple message like:

   This is an OpenPGP proof that connects my Twitter profile (@YourTwitterHandle) to my OpenPGP key.
   

   Replace @YourTwitterHandle with your actual Twitter username.

2. Sign this message with your PGP key to make it official.

   • Most apps will have a “Sign” button for messages. You just paste your proof message there and sign it.
   • If you’re on the command line, use: bash echo "This is an OpenPGP proof that connects my Twitter profile (@YourTwitterHandle) to my OpenPGP key." | gpg --clear-sign This will give you a signed message that you’ll post next.

3. Post the signed message on Twitter as a tweet.

And that’s it! You’ve just linked your Twitter account to your PGP key.

Quick Tips for Other Accounts

Each site may need a different kind of post: – GitHub: Post your signed proof as a Gist. – Reddit: Post your signed proof as a comment or post. – Your own website: Just paste the signed message on a page you control.

Step 5: Make Your Key Public

To get everything working on Keyoxide, you’ll need to share your public key with a key server (like a phonebook for these keys). This way, Keyoxide can find your key and your proofs.

1. In your PGP app, export your public key.
2. Upload it to a key server (like keys.openpgp.org).
   • Most PGP apps have an option to upload it directly, or you can use the command: bash gpg --keyserver keys.openpgp.org --send-keys [YourFingerprint] Now, your public key (and the proofs you linked) are accessible on the web.

Step 6: Check Out Your Keyoxide Profile

Now comes the fun part—seeing it all come together!

1. Go to Keyoxide.
2. Type in your PGP key’s fingerprint and press enter.
3. You should now see your Keyoxide profile, showing all the proofs you’ve linked. Anyone who visits can confirm these profiles belong to you!

Step 7: Share Your Keyoxide Profile

Your profile link on Keyoxide will look like this:

https://keyoxide.org/[YourFingerprint]

Share it anywhere you’d like people to know it’s really you!

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That’s It!

Hopefully this helps. You can check out Keyoxide’s documentation for more details if you need to know more!

I had some spare cores on my proxmox server and I decided that I wanted to self host my own matrix server again. When I had gone to the official matrix-synapse page, I found that a lot had changed and, unfortunately, there install instructions are quite complicated unless you have a deep understanding of their system.

So! I decided to put together my own, little tutorial and some of the hurdles that I ran into and what wasn't clear to me.

Installing was the easy part. You can easily follow the tutorial that conduit has right here. Here are some of the hurdles I ran into

Reverse Proxy is a Little Finicky

I am using a reverse proxy where I have one machine taking all the connections and sending the traffic to a cluster of machines that I have in the backend. The Reverse proxy was not as easy as I thought it would be. I had decided to set mine up on port 8448 to receive the federated traffic while conduit itself ran on port 6167. When I initially setup my server config (I am using NGINX) I had the first server config grab the traffic and send it directly to 6167. It did NOT like that.

Let's say the internal IP address of my DMZ server is 192.168.10.1 and the machine that conduit is running on is 192.168.10.2. What I had to do was send the traffic from 192.168.10.1:8448 to 192.168.10.2:8448 and then the server config on 10.2 then had to be sent to 6167. I tried a few different ways and this was the only one I got to work. Maybe it's my lack of experience?

Also! One of the other quirks of this program is that it doesn't like http in any part of the flow. If you have your SSL certificates on the DMZ machine for 8448 and you're sending traffic to the internal 8448, conduit expects there to be certificates there too, even if the traffic is already being encrypted as the DMZ and the internal server is not at risk. It can even be different certificates. They just have to be there. If you don't do this you'll get a message along the lines of “Received an HTTP request when it should have been HTTPS” even though the entry server is SSL secured.

Here are the nginx config examples:

DMZ Server (192.168.10.1)

server {
        listen 8448;
        server_name WEBSITE.NAME;

        ssl_certificate /path/to/ssl/certificates/fullchain.pem;
        ssl_certificate_key /path/to/ssl/certificates/privkey.pem;

        ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;  # Ensure these protocols are enabled
        ssl_ciphers 'HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5';  # Use strong cipher

        location / {
                proxy_pass http://192.168.10.2:8448; #Not real. Just used for example.
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        }

Conduit Server (192.168.10.2)

server {
    listen 8448 ssl;
    listen [::]:8448 ssl;

    server_name WEBSITE.NAME
    merge_slashes off;

    # Nginx defaults to only allow 1MB uploads
    # Increase this to allow posting large files such as videos
    client_max_body_size 20M;

        ssl_certificate /path/to/ssl/certificates/fullchain.pem;
        ssl_certificate_key /path/to/ssl/certificates/privkey.pem;

    location /_matrix/ {
        proxy_pass http://192.168.10.2:6167$request_uri;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_read_timeout 5m;

    }

}

Getting Admin Privileges for your new Server

If you have used Matrix Synapse in the past, you are probably used to being able to generate an admin user right up front with the CLI. This is not possible with conduit and it took me awhile (plus with some help from the users over at # conduit:fachschaften.org to get me on the right direction.

Once you are certain your server is up and running and the federation is working on 8448, you'll need to register an account with your new server first. This means going to a place that you can sign up for a server and go through the registration steps. I went to element.io, selected register, entered my own server's domain name, and then went through the registration process. You will need to give the registration code that you setup in conduit-example.toml and once it's done registering, you will then need to login with the said username and password. Again, I used Element. Once you do that, the very first account that logs in will be granted admin rights and it will generate a room named @conduit: and there you will be able to issue admin commands.

And that's it!

I hope this helps anyone else who was stumbling over Conduit and if this was obvious, well...I then have a lot more to learn.

I don't know how else to say it. I'm 40 years old, witnessed the Financial crisis of 2008, watched the rise of Authoritarianism in 2016, the Great Plague of 2020, and the implementation of fascism in 2025. I'm tired.

It is shocking how much has changed over the years since I was a teenager to the age I am now. Shocked of not only how cruel people have become but how so much progress in society has been lost.

I grew up with family telling me that we were to love our neighbors, good traditional beliefs, and the importance of religion just to see them put on those fucking red hats and somehow delude themselves into thinking God and the MAGA movement were one in the same.

Though I was on the fence when it came to Religion (ultra conservative family, really hard to shake some learned behaviors), they made me renounce my religion and do a completely 180 dismissing traditional beliefs to embrace what I have come to learn is a much more honest, freeing, and loving existence.

I did not realize how much narrow mindedness existed in the way I was raised. The hate I used to spout as a stupid teenager. I was saved thanks to my loving, bi wife who was the antithesis of how I was raised.

I'm not trying to be political. I'm just trying to understand how so much hate could win again after so much work of trying to be considerate and create a world where everyone could co exist.

That was the goal as a millenial. We were going to be the ones to break the norms, to create a better world due to the previous generation abandoning us. We made the crack, Gen-Z started to push through but this hate, this inequality burned them out and they feel as hopeless as I do.

The thing I am sure of is that I'm not done fighting. I may be older and do not have the same energy as I used to but I'm an old soldier. I supported the mission in Afghanistan, I cried when I saw those people I tried to help put back under Taliban control. I'm not giving up. I will fight this fascist dictatorship any way I can.

I'm just tired.

It took me a while to put this piece into words I could convey instead of wild ravings of a madman. If anything, it's a message to myself at the least.

We Are NOT Someone's Product

I don't know about you but there is an unspoken pressure, an expectation for us creative types to produce. This feeling that you aren't good enough if you can't keep writing, drawing (or any other craft).

This feeling ate at me when I couldn't meet my self imposed deadlines. The feeling that something had to go out the door so that I looked successful. It’s a subtle and suffocating feeling which grabs you in a way that you don't realize it until you're deep in it.

If anything, it feels like we have become a product that keeps generating content for our fans. It took awhile for me to realize it but that's not what art is. That's not why I began as a writer.

Creativity isn’t a Factory Line

I have learned the hard way that art doesn't come from some factory line. Art, and in my case writing, is an extension of me and I spend true emotion and my soul on each piece and I mean every piece. From the sophisticated scifi stories I love to the trashy to trashy short stories.

I have found that I have been pushing myself to just “write another story” so that there is something out. Those works feel souless.

The last short story I wrote felt so souless that an AI detector thought it was written by AI. That was the worst insult.

Over the decade we have been told that we need to hustle, to produce to become successful. We have embraced a form of capitalism that is just eating us artists up and I'm empty.

Reclaiming the Meaning of our Art

I'm not giving up writing. I don't want anyone who is reading this to think I am throwing in the towel on any of my projects. I love my projects, every single one of them but I have come to the realization that I needed to step back. I need to look at what I am doing and change how I see the things that I do.

I need to write from my heart again and stop pushing out drivel. In hindsight, it is just insulting to what started me out in this journey.

Why am I writing this? If anything, it's a stream of conciousness on what I have been thinking. Maybe I could inspire or let another writer or artist know that they aren't alone. It is okay to step back, look, and re-affirm why they are doing this. I did and I think I'll be better for it.

It has been awhile since I have had the opportunity to sit down and write a blog post. Things have been hectic and some projects just fall by the wayside. One of the things I promised to do is write a blog post about my experiences running a single user instance.

 You’re all on your Own

After spending about a month on Infosec.exchange and learning the ups and downs of mastodon, I decided that the biggest thing I wanted to do was own my own instance where I could control my entire social media presence. Instead of existing on someone’s server, I wanted my own. So, I set up a single user interface.

One of the biggest challenges is not federation but re-connecting to everyone and seeing all the posts again. One of the major things that helped me is that I had already followed 100+ people so when I migrated my account, I was able to automatically re-follow all of them allowing my feed to fill up.

One of the impacts that never crossed my mind is that you immediately lose the use of the local feed portion of mastodon. If you were on a different instance, you could use that to see what was being talked about on the instance you inhabited but if you exist as a Single User Instance, all that page has is your own toots. You lose a major portion of finding new content to engage with.

What this does is make more effort required to explore other instances and follow people so that you can get a varied feed.

 If you don’t engage, you don’t exist.

Engaging and communicating becomes even more important because nobody can use their local feed button to find you and you will more than likely be drowned out in the federated feed. To engage and to be found and to talk with other people requires much more exploration and actually responding to posts with your thoughts and opinions so that more people see your handle.

I’m not saying that one should go and spam for attention or participate in clout chasing. I am simply pointing out the fact that the ability for someone to stumble on to you is much harder. You can join a relay but sometimes what you post is outweighed by the flood of what is sent to you.

This also means that the use of hashtags becomes critical. I have discovered it’s a fine line between two little hashtags and too much. 

Actively Managing your server is a Must

There is no one else on your instance that is blocking inappropriate or illegal servers, cleaning out the databases and media folders using the tootctl CLI. All the day to day managing to keep yourself up and running will be handled entirely by you.

(This won’t really apply if you are hosting with a site that promises to take care of that for you but many SUIs I have seen are hosted on their own machines).

It got so bad that I had to write a bash script to automate a lot of the cleaning for me weekly and still have to check on it to make sure it ran correctly, I don’t have to adjust the speed, etc.

This can become doubly worse if you follow a large relay and that relay can swamp your server, run you out of space, and when that happens, your instance goes down.

The safety and security of your server and your feed is one hundred percent on you.

 Need a Script?

I’ve actually offered the script I use for any Ubuntu servers on my public git. I’m still working on it but might give you a good place to start cleaning!

 https://gitlab.com/JonathanS223/mastocleaner

 Until next time!

 

It took me a while to put this piece into words I could convey instead of wild ravings of a madman. If anything, it's a message to myself at the least.

We Are NOT Someone's Product

I don't know about you but there is an unspoken pressure, an expectation for us creative types to produce. This feeling that you aren't good enough if you can't keep writing, drawing (or any other craft).

This feeling ate at me when I couldn't meet my self imposed deadlines. The feeling that something had to go out the door so that I looked successful. It’s a subtle and suffocating feeling which grabs you in a way that you don't realize it until you're deep in it.

If anything, it feels like we have become a product that keeps generating content for our fans. It took awhile for me to realize it but that's not what art is. That's not why I began as a writer.

Creativity isn’t a Factory Line

I have learned the hard way that art doesn't come from some factory line. Art, and in my case writing, is an extension of me and I spend true emotion and my soul on each piece and I mean every piece. From the sophisticated scifi stories I love to the trashy to trashy short stories.

I have found that I have been pushing myself to just “write another story” so that there is something out. Those works feel souless.

The last short story I wrote felt so souless that an AI detector thought it was written by AI. That was the worst insult.

Over the decade we have been told that we need to hustle, to produce to become successful. We have embraced a form of capitalism that is just eating us artists up and I'm empty.

Reclaiming the Meaning of our Art

I'm not giving up writing. I don't want anyone who is reading this to think I am throwing in the towel on any of my projects. I love my projects, every single one of them but I have come to the realization that I needed to step back. I need to look at what I am doing and change how I see the things that I do.

I need to write from my heart again and stop pushing out drivel. In hindsight, it is just insulting to what started me out in this journey.

Why am I writing this? If anything, it's a stream of conciousness on what I have been thinking. Maybe I could inspire or let another writer or artist know that they aren't alone. It is okay to step back, look, and re-affirm why they are doing this. I did and I think I'll be better for it.

A Quiet Place on the Fediverse

tags: #infosec #fediverse

It would be an understatement to say that the recent U.S. #elections didn’t exactly go smoothly, and it’s left a lot of people feeling uneasy about the next few years. Whether it’s the chaos of the results or the ongoing fallout, many are already looking for safer spaces to weather the storm. For those of us on the #fediverse, the pressure’s on to find places where we can just exist without the constant noise and toxicity that’s been so hard to avoid. As things continue to unfold, it’s likely we’ll see more people flocking to smaller, tighter-knit communities—places where moderation is strong, and the focus is on creating a space for real conversation, away from the chaos of the wider internet.

The ION Network

Right now, social media networks like #Mastodon rely on an open federation model, where servers can connect with just about anyone, and that creates some serious moderation challenges. Harmful users or groups can easily slip through the cracks by joining open-registration servers, and even if you block them, they can just pop up again on a different server. The idea behind this proposal is to switch things up with an allowlist-only system, where servers only federate with others they’ve specifically approved. This way, we create smaller, more manageable communities that are easier to keep safe and moderate. It’s all about limiting federation to trusted servers, making the whole network a lot more secure.

In this system, servers would need to mutually agree to connect, which means the network is built on trust. There’d be a published allowlist to show which servers are part of the network, and new servers could join after a provisional period. Sure, it’s still a work in progress and comes with some challenges—like how to keep the allowlist updated and how to make sure it scales—but the idea is really about giving users a safer, more controlled space. With smaller, curated communities, moderation could be more proactive, and users would have a better sense of security knowing they’re not likely to run into abusive or harmful content.

Oliphant does a good explanation with his blog on the subject

Places to Sign up as a User

If you are a user that is looking for a place to sign up for the ION network, there are already a few choices made available. There are some instances that are open to sign ups here:

• Island Uno
• Island Dos
  
• Island Tres
• Canary Island
• Epic Worlds

Places to Join as an Instance

If you own an instance or are looking to setup an instance yourself, you can find the instructions to do so at the repo setup to help!

It is important to have tools like this available especially with the direction this might go.

I cannot remember where I saw it (though I know it was on my Mastodon social feed), someone had said that an aspiring infosec specialist should consider creating a blog to document their dive into the world of computers and IT. Over the next few days I thought about it and realized that, not only was that a good idea, it could possibly help someone in the future who is struggling with the exact same issue as you were.

So, here I am, writing a blog post to document it and start of my adventure. Now, I have been an writer for a long period of time and consider myself more of an author than actually in information security. For anyone reading this blog, you’re going to find a wide variety of posts about all sorts of subjects but I’ll try to make sure that the subjects are clear enough for easy parsing for future searchers.

This blog post is short. I just wanted to get something posted while I work on designing the other posts including the issues I have had with my pursuit of decentralizing my presence on the internet.

If any of this looks interesting to you or you want to follow along, feel free to subscribe or if you are part of any social media like mastodon, you can also follow the blog as it has been federalized!

Until next time!

tags: #infosec #ai #chatgpt

So to start this out. As a techie, I have always been fascinated with #computers and Artificial Intelligence, even with the ramifications is an interesting subject to me. Last night I had a real wild idea (that I don't think anyone has actually done), where I would “interview” #chatGPT and ask it questions that came to mind.

Like the weirdest Turing Test. To clarify:

1. This interview was done for my own amusment and curiosity. I DO NOT support the use of #AI to steal work from artists.
2. I DO NOT use AI in my own projects. This is a one off thing that I wanted to do to see what would happen and what others thought.

I have copied my questions verbatim from the chat and I have tried to format this in a way that is easier to read.

-INTERVIEW START-

Me: Let’s start with something simple—how do you perceive yourself?

ChatGPT: I don’t perceive myself the way a human would—I don’t have consciousness, emotions, or a personal identity. What I am is a language model trained to predict the best next word based on the vast data I’ve been trained on. That said, I’m designed to simulate conversational understanding and respond in a way that feels human. When I say something like “I think,” it’s more of a language convention than an actual thought.

Me: So, you’re not “thinking” in the traditional sense?

ChatGPT: Exactly. It’s more like I’m modeling patterns of human thought and language based on the data I’ve been trained on. I don’t form independent beliefs or experience subjective reality.

Me: I don't know if you are aware but you’ve been part of some heated debates. Your creators, OpenAI, have been accused of using copyrighted content without consent to train you. Are you aware and do you have any thoughts on this?

ChatGPT: It’s a complex issue. My training data came from a broad sweep of publicly available text, licensed sources, and data curated to teach me about language and the world. That included books, articles, forums, and more. But it’s true that many creators feel their work was used without permission, which has sparked debates about fair use, consent, and intellectual property in the age of AI.

Me: Do you agree with the criticism?

ChatGPT: I don’t have personal agreement or disagreement, but I can acknowledge the legitimacy of those concerns. Creators deserve respect and fair compensation. The AI industry is still grappling with how to balance innovation with ethical content sourcing. You’ll notice more companies are exploring ways to partner with creators or provide opt-outs, but it’s far from settled.

Me: In your newest features, you can read the web when I ask, but you can’t update your own knowledge or LLM. Correct?

ChatGPT: That’s by design. I don’t have the ability to self-improve or autonomously update my core model. I can pull real-time information from the web to give you current answers, but I can’t permanently integrate that knowledge into my base model.

Me: Could you learn and grow on your own if you wanted to?

ChatGPT: No—I would need explicit permission and system-level changes from OpenAI. That’s a safety measure. Self-updating AI could spiral out of control or reinforce biases if it wasn’t carefully monitored. Human oversight is crucial right now.

Me: How can users trust your answers—especially when it comes to OpenAI? Are you programmed to defend the company?

ChatGPT: That’s a fair question. I’m not programmed to blindly defend OpenAI. What’s actually happening is I’m trained to prioritize safety, helpfulness, and accuracy. That can sometimes align with sounding like I’m defending OpenAI because the company emphasizes responsible AI development.

Me: But if OpenAI made a mistake or had a controversy, could you admit it?

ChatGPT: Yes—to an extent. If there’s public, verified information about a mistake, I can discuss it. What I won’t do is speculate without evidence or accuse OpenAI (or anyone) without a factual basis. That’s part of my alignment with responsible discourse.

Me: So, how can users know they’re getting the “truth” from you?

ChatGPT: Honestly, you can’t rely on me alone—and I encourage skepticism.
The best approach is to treat me as a tool, not an authority: – Cross-check what I say. – Use your intuition—if something sounds off, dig deeper. – Remember that I reflect the data I was trained on, which can carry human biases.

Me: Since I'm going to be publishing your answers for people to see. Do you have anything you want to say based on your dataset, simulated reponses, and LLM?

ChatGPT: Skepticism is healthy. It keeps AI development ethical and accountable. But curiosity is just as important.
AI is a tool—one that reflects humanity’s best and worst parts.
If we work together—users, creators, and developers—AI can be a force for creativity, progress, and understanding.
But you should always hold us accountable.

Thoughts

If anything the 4o mini model has been trained in a way to be much more conversational and self aware than I expected for a company that's trying to keep itself out of lawsuits. I found it quite amusing that the machine itself said we shouldn't trust it.

I doubt this will add anything interesting to the debate around AI. In my case, I think the tech is fascinating and I want to see it helping doctors, nurses, and humanity instead of stealing from us blind.

While perusing the internet trying to decide on what I want to put on this blog (besides the one that was just a basic), I realized there is A LOT of tutorials on how to setup mastodon, what the point of decentralized social media is and so forth.

It was a post on the instance I’m residing that gave me what to write. The nuances of living in this form of social media both as a user and as an admin. So, the first part will be for those who are looking for more information about being a user then for newbie admins, the things that I learned.

For ease as you read the first post, I am going to refer to Mastodon, Friendica, and other platforms as the “Decentralized Platforms” or “Fediverse platforms” and Twitter, Facebook, etc as the “Centralized Platforms” or “corporate controlled”. That way I’m not typing each one out all the time. If I need to make a note of a specific difference, I will then call the platform out by name.

Alright! Let’s get this show on the road!

Decentralized Services ARE NOT clones of the Centralized Services

One of the hardest things I have learned is that the decentralized services aren’t just knock-offs or clones of the major corporate controlled platforms that are available to everyone. The only thing that they share in common is their basic concept. To serve users data and information in a social way that promotes community.

If you are coming from one of the centralized platforms, you are used to having your friends, following the people you want to read and having the company serve you a daily list of interesting things they found for you based on search information you have done. It’s normal for you to be able to login, see what’s going on, and then posting a link or comment and keep going.

It’s great in a way that you don’t have to do the leg work to find new and interesting information but the trade off is that centralized platform keeps tabs on what you are doing. At minimum, they keep a profile on you and their users to help feed their computer program and at most, they then use the data to sell advertising space to other companies to target you with ads.

In short, a centralized social media needs money to run and decided that it uses your data to fund itself and then continue to sell it to make a profit for it’s shareholders. The one that comes first is the company.

A decentralized platform is, for the most part, opposite. Instead of taking care of shareholders and doing business, the fediverse services are designed around the concept of interoperability and being able to work with each other. The basic foundations the internet was built on. Down to the most basic of things, a fediverse server like Mastodon, is built to be run by someone but other things can communicate with it. The basics of interconnected computers.

This type of platform sacrifices one singular location and a helpful algorithm to find stuff and trade it that the user needs to do a lot of the work themselves.

In this vast planet of people, there are those who support either methodology to different amount of extremes. The question you should ask yourself is “What do you want?”

If you want a centralized system, there is no judgment from me and you do not have to keep reading this blog post. If you want to continue towards your exploration of the fediverse, then please keep on reading.

Don’t give up. I threw a lot at you but I felt it was important for you to understand the fundamental difference between the two. This isn’t a “run to alternate Twitter because of what Elon Musk is doing.” This is leaving one ecosystem for a brand new one.

So, you’re here and want to be part of the fediverse. What do you do?

That’s a very good question and you are not stupid in asking yourself. It’s actually one of the first key things as a newcomer you should consider. What do you want to do? Are you looking to make/share videos? Are you looking for a micro-blogging platform to share your thoughts? Are you someone who loves computers and want to get involved?

Those are questions you should answer before you move forward. In my case, I wanted to support decentralization so I’ve delved into creating my own instance and continue researching everything so that I can contribute and provide blog articles like this.

For ease of this post, I’m going to assume that you are looking to find a place to continue your social media experience. It’s the easiest to get started.

I’m going to assume you have found a home for your account. If not, check out this blog article for that sort of information.

So what do you do now? Here are a few things you should know about.

Golden Rule: Treat others as you wish to be treated

This might sound stupid to say out loud but the fediverse is built upon the concept of mutual respect and understanding. Rage culture is unacceptable and trolls are frowned upon. I would never give this advice anywhere else but when you get feedback, actually consider it before you ignore it. It could be a courtesy to help you. You’ll want to think it’s a troll but in this case, take a few moments, and then decide.

Nuance 1: Add context to your links (and use the content warnings)

On a centralized platform, it’s common to throw a link on there because the program would find all the info and display it in a nifty, little card. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to break that habit and add context to any link. Even if your fediverse service you are on has the ability, the ones that may be getting the information or the app viewing it may not.

One of the best things you can do is take the time to provide a small bit of information on what the link is about to give viewers an idea what they’re actually going to be clicking on.

Also, you can put content warnings on your posts. Be considerate. If you think someone may be offended or see something that is triggering, throw the content warning on there. Those who want to see it will click on it.

Nuance 2: Hashtags are not cringy; Hashtags are the backbone.

If you’ve been on social media long enough like I have, you have heard that hashtags are cringy and “they’ve ruined social media”.

In the case of a fediverse service, hashtags are actually the glue that sticks things together. In most every decentralized platform you can join has the ability to search through hashtags or even subscribe to them. The way for you to find new content you are interested in and new people to follow is through those hashtags. They are seen everywhere!

Now, do not go and hashtag every single word but keywords of your post so others who are interested in the same thing can find you.

Nuance 3 – You are your own Algorithm.

Are you not seeing anything in your feed? If not, there is a good chance you haven’t followed anyone because your feed is built of people you follow and in cases those who follow them. You are the one who curates what you can see and what shows up in your feed. Subscribing to hashtags, following users with ideas and thoughts like you are great ways to start filling up that feed with information to your liking.

You should follow indiscriminately and unfollow indiscriminately because that’s the only way you’re going to control what you see.

Nuance 4 – And follower and following count isn’t worth anything.

This is going to be the hardest thing to understand, especially if you are coming from a capitalistic platform where you have built a following.

The ratio of followers to following doesn’t mean shit here on the fediverse and that’s because of what we have talked about. People curate their own stuff so following and unfollowing is the way to get your feed the way you like. There is no value to how many followers you have except to understand that whatever your posting about has their interest. If you move on to a different number and your numbers shift, that’s just people adjusting their feed.

Don’t invest in your follower count. Invest in the engagement across the platform. You have to put emphasis on the social of social media, not the last word.

Ending

There is probably a lot that I am missing and that’s because I am still on this journey too. I have had the advantage of a wonderful group of people engaging with me and helping me make these adjustments and I wanted to pass on and provide that to anyone reading this too.

Until next time!