• CyberMao [it/its]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Oh okay. Short answer is a mastodon instance a single server within the Fediverse. There’s two ways to think about it: structurally and socially.

    Structurally, it’s like email. If you get your email through Google, you can message anyone on any email server, but google is the one who actually gathers up that content and presents it to you. Gmail is your “local instance”.

    Socially, your local instance is like the people in your apartment building. You throw a block party and these are the people who will come and shoot the shit. You can access the full Fediverse from any instance, but it’s nice if the wider Fediverse gets chaotic to switch over to sorting by local-only and seeing what your local instance peeps are up to. You can get to know them

    • HarryLime [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Okay I guess I get the concept. But it also kind of seemed like fifty different twitter clones when I tried using it before.

      • CyberMao [it/its]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Yeah you can choose your frontend but the big ones aren’t different enough to obsess over unless you’re into that. Finding an instance you like affects the experience way more