Driven by my increasing interest in free, open source and federated software that allows people to utilize the Internet more deliberately, I've finally tried Mastodon.

I'd heard some hubbub when it launched five years ago and ignored it, partially because I think it's natural for me to ignore hubbub, as much of it seems fueled by short-lived rather than well-grounded enthusiasm. At the time, I didn't understand what distinguished Mastodon from Twitter (or even that it was, as it clearly is, largely patterned on Twitter), and didn't anticipate that this particular journey of exploration would lead me back to it.

Since I joined, Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter has stoked some of my fellow tweeters to share their Mastodon accounts as well. That is not the reason for this column, but since there are such agitations of interest, it seems a good time to share briefly what I've found out.

Like many projects of this spirit, there's one main mind behind it. In this case, it's a fellow called Eugen Rochko from Germany.

I'd summarize Mastodon as "Twitter, except anyone is allowed to own a copy." Not just a copy of tweets, or even of all the tweets, but all of Twitter. With a little resourcefulness, they can install and run their own entire Twitter, make it accessible to whomever, and be its sole lord or lady, operator, and rule-setter. I've seen people concerned or touchy about Twitter's rules and rulings reminded there are other social networks to go try, but this solution – just run your own! – is perhaps the cleanest of all. Of course, this means their virtual newfound city will begin empty, like any newly-founded city. Not everyone who uses Mastodon will run and rule their own instance of it – most will simply join one that already exists – but the notion that anybody theoretically can run one is Mastodon's signature differentiator.

You might think, then, that each instance of Mastodon is henceforth isolated from every other, but that's where the role of Mastodon's "federated" nature matters. While each instance runs wherever on Earth it runs, each can communicate Internet-wide using common protocols, which enable users to communicate across virtual city boundaries. (This includes "favouriting," "following," replying, and so forth.) This works in practice, though it's a little clunkier.

Like web sites, Mastodon instances are referenced by domains. As Twitter's single domain is "twitter.com", Mastodon's many instances are the addresses of their many installed locations. Eugen himself runs one of them (I'm assuming it's likely to have been the first one), found at the domain "mastodon.social." When you join, you can create an account at any instance and work from there, resulting in a long-form account name that includes the domain. For example: my preferred account name is Starfia, and I signed up at mastodon.social, so my full account name is @Starfia@mastodon.social.

A tangent about joining: I expect the question "which instance of Mastodon should I join?" feels unnatural to users of the everyday Internet since it's not even a familiar kind of question, but it is the correct question for people who want to join. Finding instances run by people "out there" is like finding web sites run by people "out there" – you have to do a little exploration using the tools you already have, including common search engines. There are at least a couple of Mastodon directories I've easily found, but this is free software, and runners of Mastodon instances are under no obligation to appear in them; surely some remain mysterious and hidden. Unless your heart is set on finding an ideal, cozy community with a particular topical focus and rules in which to "live," I think it's probably the right choice for the average Mastodon-curious person to sign up at mastodon.social. (There's also an official orientation site which summarizes the concepts I've been typing about.)

There's also a little friction associated with the cross-instance interaction I mentioned. For example, if I were to visit "dragonscave.space" to pay my compliments to an artist on their fine dragon portraiture, I might have to do a quick window-based login thing with my full account name before interacting.

From within Mastodon's interface, you can view a "local timeline" with posts from the instance you've joined, or the "federated timeline" with posts from across Mastodon instances. (This is perhaps the readiest way to discover other instances. I don't know whether or how these are curated or culled, but they do seem to come from across the world, with a variety of topics and languages. I've twice heard viewing the federated timeline called "opening the fire hose.")

Mastodon's default web interface is handsome and tidy, its basic features and settings approximately replicate those of Twitter, and there's a mobile app client to use away from the web, also developed by Mr Rochko.

Will I keep using this thing? So far, I've posted a few things, met a few people, and encountered much less of the rhetorical junk I've found on Twitter. It currently feels like a village I stroll through on the way from some more important place to some other more important place, but it's a feeling I've enjoyed. Even if Mastodon isn't for me, I'm certain I'm glad I found it, took some time to understand it, and can share one more example of Internet software composed with care, primarily for the benefit of its users. Eugen, if you ever somehow stumble upon this, thank you for your work.

To continued exploring. 🥮