#federated fandom

[iffeelscouldkill]

I've been thinking of doing some kind of "current Tumblr alternatives" post and I might as well attach it to this. But I'm also not an authority on most of them, so I'll just talk about the one I'm most familiar with, Mastodon.

Yes, it's still a thing. The main thing I would want people to know about Mastodon is that it's not Twitter. The UX is similar but most people who join expecting a Twitter-like experience are disappointed. It doesn't have that big, bustling, always-on energy that I think appealed to people about Twitter (I say "I think" because I never really did fandom Twitter so I can only guess based on what friends have said).

You CAN get a more Twitter-like experience by going to a bigger instance (instance = a sub-community of Mastodon that you make your "home base"). But the bigger ones tend to be more chaotic and less well-moderated. For me, the strengths of Mastodon come from having a smaller, interest-focused space where I can actually get to know people. That won't be the appeal for everyone, but that's what's kept me coming back.

My instance (my personal "home base" on Mastodon) is fandom.ink. It's a generally fannish space and has cool people and is well-looked-after by its mod, Alis. It's invite-only to make the growth manageable but any existing user (like me!) can grab you one if you want to join. There are some other fandom-focused instances too like blorbo.social - folks there seem pretty cool, the mod is good - and federatedfandom.net. There are also some fandom-specific instances; Fanlore has a list though it's infrequently updated (mostly by me).

Anyway, you should explore and check out the different options - you can make as many accounts as you feel like. Each instance has slightly different rules for content and posting so do make sure you're familiar with those, but the good fandom ones are fine with NSFW (generally behind a content warning, which is like a cut) and encourage people not to be dicks.

This isn't a "how to Mastodon" post, though I'm always happy to help people get to grips and can answer questions based on my own usage for close to 5 years. What I like about Mastodon is that the instances give you a smaller-feeling space to vibe and post but you can also interact with a wider "world" of other instances and people. There's some granularity in terms of post visibility, in that you can make your posts visible to only people you follow, only people in your instance, everyone, or just one person (NOT the same as DMs - it's the closest equivalent but the admin can still see those messages).

A note about Pillowfort - I don't use it myself (yet - I just made an account) but in a moment of unfortunate timing (or maybe not, if this gives them a bigger audience?) they've just posted a fundraising plea because they rely on community donations and they're running out. They seem like good people - they're committed to providing a space for NSFW and they don't want to run ads - but if you're looking for somewhere that's not financially hand to mouth, I'm not sure that Pillowfort is it. However, I kicked in $5 to skip the invite queue and I intend to explore it a bit.

Please add onto this with your Mastodon/Pillowfort/Dreamwidth/Bluesky/Cohost experiences since I can only speak to mine, but I hope they're helpful to someone!

Out of curiosity, where do you plan to head if Tumblr no longer becomes an option? Tumblr moving most of their staff to other projects isn't an immediate death knell, but it's definitely not a good sign for the longevity of this place and it may still be around for a long while yet, just buggy and slow as hell--do you have a place you'd settle into? I still haven't seen the perfect place to move come along yet (though, I'm on dreamwidth or on Discord ( lumigffa ) and those will be around for awhile. How's Pillowfort going for people? Bluesky? Is Mastodon still a thing?

[stardustcentral95]

[federthenotsogreat]

Chained ⛓️❌⚡

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about this one... 🫡

Just.... Not my best work-

Edit: after looking at it again, I did end up liking it 👍✨

[onwhatcaptain]

so does anyone else constantly get recommended garbage clickbait star trek articles on their homepage, or what

[prolibytherium]

Beautiful friendship

[television-overload]

I'm just curious...

If yes: what media/characters specifically? I find this so interesting!

If not: have you ever considered a career choice based on a form of media you enjoy, but ended up not doing it?

[lifestealzine]

There are 16 days left to apply to Heart Of The Ouroboros: A Lifesteal SMP Charity Zine!

Eclipse Federation was the #1 most requested team and topic people wanted to see according to our interest check results.

Want to draw / write them, or perhaps another favorite doomed trio? Click here to apply!

[princesscatherineblog]

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at the presentation of the Final of the Gentlemen's Singles between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on Day Thirteen of The Championships - Wimbledon 2019 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 14, 2019 in London, England.

[coff3w]

The irony of life.

[hyperfixation-stationn]

Found this song and you already know I had to add it to the Ford Pines playlist

Dude got his grant!!! He gets to go to Gravity Falls! Yippee!!! Surely nothing bad will happen in Gravity Falls :D

[laanswife]

Gif from @telumendils

When I watched the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Melanie Scrofano appeared, I was like: "Who is this beautiful woman on my screen?". Then I searched on the Internet and saw in her philology the series Wynonna Earp, which I had already heard of so I decided to stop and watch it at another time.

This month I decided to start watching and I've already watched 3 entire seasons (I watched the first one in just one day), because, what the hell, this series is incredible and it doesn't get the recognition it deserves.

Ps.: Now I live and breathe this character, because she's a bitch with a badass gun and gorgeous hair.

Gif from @dreamlonelywolf

[sailorsally]

Found this in the comments under the vid of him at the Twelve Final Days premiere. The song in question is "Falling for you"

Killing that man.

[stardustcentral95]

OBSERVER/WATCHER JAIDEN

I'm still in denial that Jaiden has left the QSMP but proud she made a decision that would better herself.

Please feel free to make art about this prompt, I would love to see it!

If this blows up I might make a few comic strips/writing to what I think happend and why she is this way!

[federthenotsogreat]

Ẁ̷͇̍̈́̈́̓̈́̒͂͋̚͝ẖ̶̿̓͌̔́̽͒̕͝o̷͖̭̎͆ ̷̛͈͕̜͎̻̟͓͎͈͖̭̎̂̇͘͜ͅa̶̧͍͔̤̻̫̪͈̗̳̬͉̥̙̩̔̋̏̚ͅm̸̢͈͇͉̳̞̲̲͔̀̂̊̀̕͝ͅ ̷̙̤̫̫̝̹͍̮̯̬̞̓̑͜͝I̸̧̢̠̲̜̺̻̭̘͕̥̻̫̥̩̔̒̑̉̓͝͠͝ͅ

based on my idea of reclusa having been a concordian at one point, who after eons of isolation, has slowly forgotten himself

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Regarding Elena, I'm glad we have a character most are accepting as a female/feminine worker, but please don't he/him all the other workers just cause they're not overtly feminine. The workers don't have specified genders, the ones we know to be male are that way cause the audience and CCs started referring to them by masculine pronouns and presentation. People jump so quickly to assuming everyone is male unless proven otherwise despite a huge part of Fred's arc being they didn't even know what the fuck gender was, much less which one they were. Cucurucho doesn't have a gender or pronouns, they even have a female voice modulator when speaking English and Jaiden called them a woman when she met them on the first day and people still defaulted to seeing them as some sort of man. The workers can be anything and everything, lets not limit that

[54625]

People gotta start understanding that a fictional character's actions do not have to be justified, because they're a fictional character.

A character does not have to be morally good to be compelling. A character does not have to be morally good for people to enjoy them. Sometimes characters are enjoyable and compelling because they aren't morally good. It is often reductive to gloss over a character's flaws and pitfalls, because that isn't the point. They aren't supposed to be perfect, and you pretending that they are shows a lack of comprehension.

"Character A should be allowed to do this because..." No they shouldn't. And that's okay.

"Character A is justified in this because..." No they aren't. And that's fine.

Understand nuance in the stories you enjoy. A character doesn't have to be in the right just because you like them. Sometimes people do fucked up shit, and you're taking away from that by pretending it's not fucked up. Let characters be morally grey; a lot of them are better that way.