Discussion
I'm working on a YouTube mini series explaining the Fediverse!!
Who are the most knowledgeable people in this realm who I should definitely talk to?
What do you think is important to include in my series? I want to hear thoughts!!
@taylorlorenz Someone from the @gazaverified team?
Also, @jaz about content moderation
Make sure to include BIPoC, e.g. @Yehuda
@taylorlorenz i know things, i think. scream at me?
@taylorlorenz please not only tech people. We also have @_elena or @aemarielle or @davidrevoy
@taylorlorenz please not only tech people. We also have @_elena or @aemarielle or @davidrevoy
@taylorlorenz Suggest both @darius and @kissane
@taylorlorenz @_elena is very good at explaining Fediverse stuff 👍
@taylorlorenz Heard joke once: Woman goes to scientist. Says she's confused about the Fediverse. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says she feels all alone in a confusing culture where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.
Scientist says, 'Treatment is simple. Great journalist Taylor Lorenz is in town tonight. Go and see her. That should answer all your questions.'
Woman bursts into tears. Says, 'But sir… I am Taylor.' Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.
@taylorlorenz I think the most important concept is that Fedi is social networking, not social media. There is no media company publishing us as their product here. It's just people talking to each other. Pretty much everything else follows.
I think it's also worth looking at how many governments and institutions have an official presence on Fedi now. Many have chosen that path to enable direct connection with the public instead of being mediated by a private company.
@taylorlorenz The trending page usually have people different than the typical userbase I'd encounter on american platforms. It is decentralized, so sometimes I get to see dutch or german posters even if I don't know any of their language.
Mastodon fediverse is part of why I have a home here. I get to avoid meeting the same group of chronically online posters raking over 200k posts since 2010s and reading about whatever irks them.
@taylorlorenz how about Nicole, but you can call her the Fediverse chick?
@taylorlorenz Please represent people from the global south, @liaamancio comes to mind
For some more great and diverse perspectives maybe speak to @Yehuda who runs a Native owned and operated BIPOC friendly instance and advocates for more BIPOC visibility and fairer representation in the Fediverse, and @vantablack creator of @FediPact and Legendary Defender Of The Fediverse
@taylorlorenz Already you are getting many good responses to your question, and I notice many names whom I recognize as some of my favorites. Sometimes one of them posts something I simply take as fact, without my bothering to verify. One thing I have not verified, but have treated as if a fact, is from someone with a YouTube channel who posts content in the English language, but who speaks another language in his home country. He posted that the new AI thing with YouTube altered his carefully selected English subtitles without him knowing or being notified. This was an issue for him because he and some of his viewers use English as a common language, but the AI generated changes to his captions did not help or improve this communication choice. When he posted that, I deleted my YouTube account and now spend more time on PeerTube.
I read through the lists people gave you already, and my one addition would be people who create games and events for us to enjoy, like:
@hashtaggames with host @paul
@monsterdon and #Monsterdon which I think is arranged by @Taweret
@JoParkerBear and #JoWordle.
@taylorlorenz
@mapache who wrote Badgefed, a guide on how to federate Wordpress blogs, and several other projects
There is a fedimagazine being written by fediversers in spanish
I am not part of it but I can say it is very representative of this side of the fediverse
@taylorlorenz
Please don't forget to mention that in many mastodon servers there is a rule that you cannot "annoy" people, yes it's as arbitrary as it sounds. As you could imagine the simple fact of disagreeing with someone in the comments (even if is made with absolute respect and rationality) will annoy that person so you can be banned for that. The consequence is that some mastodon branches aren't a place to discuss rationally, only a place where you show off your opinions and there is no debate admitted about it.
@taylorlorenz I'd nominate @Edent, both very social and very much versed in the tech itself.
@taylorlorenz @FediTips provides detailed beginner friendly information through their sites and handles
@taylorlorenz The different programs and their forks! (Like #Mastodon, #Pleroma, #Misskey, and the history of their forks)
The #Reddit-style forum #Fediverse software like #Lemmy and #Mbin
Attempts from big tech to adopt the #Fediverse (like #Threads)
@taylorlorenz I could certainly offer some historical framing… 😬
@taylorlorenz
@mekkaokereke is one of the luminaries here.
@taylorlorenz is the scope of this just Mastodon or could it also include things like PixelFed, WriteAs and PeerTube? Just a thought.
Talking to the forkiverse admins would be a good case study on moving a community here:
@taylorlorenz I'd second the recommendation for @cwebber
I'd also recommend a glance at my essay on why Mastodon/Fedi is currently the best choice for social networking: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/11/03/Time-to-Migrate
@taylorlorenz I think one thing worth mentioning is that there are lots of people on Mastodon that aren’t influencers, or experts, but just interesting people sharing slices of life with others. Things like cats, nature, art, pets, funny stories, weather and a lot more make it a bit more human in my opinion.
There are definitely news feeds and analysis from topic experts ranging from climate to legal, but there is also a lighthearted side and a socially engaging side you don’t find on things like BlueSky. Here, people will actually respond to something you post (without flaming you :-)
@taylorlorenz I'll (humbly) suggest @jerry - admin of the long-standing infosec.exchange masto instance, proprietor of the jerryverse (i.e. a wide variety of Fedi instances), and all-around good chap 👍
@shellsharks 
there are many great suggestions in the responses to @taylorlorenz request.
I’m happy to help if needed.
@taylorlorenz I would be interested to hear from other journalists on the platform, if you know any, about their experience and on which instance they’ve settled.
I remember when I joined there was a concerted effort to grow journo.host, but I’m not sure what came of it. If someone asked me who to follow today I wouldn’t have good answer.
@taylorlorenz You should talk to @evan and @cwebber for sure
@taylorlorenz I’m not such a well traveled soul on the Fediverse, but I’m fairly sure you could connect with some of the friends of the guests on Fireside Fedi.
Also, my vote would go to @dumpsterqueer, one of the more public facing devs of one of the smaller projects aiming to make hosting accounts individualistic and simple
@taylorlorenz the data scientist @nrennie who is a leader in #dataviz
@taylorlorenz I'd suggest @FediTips and @FediFollows
@taylorlorenz If you can manage to speak to George Takei he was an account everyone followed during the early Mastadon era. It was a strange way people started populating their feeds.
It probably fragments pretty fast afterwards although the beige.party instance stands out as a high quality follow. Everyone on the instance is great to follow if only for the engagement and amusement they generate.
@taylorlorenz Christine Lemmer Webber obviously...and anybody else that works at Spritely institute.
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