autumnus

1) Your first instance doesn't have to be your final home. A lot of people begin at mastodon.social and other large instances, but you might find small to medium sized active communities are actually lively and fun places to be. When you move an account, you can use the move notice in your old account to indicate that that account has moved. People are generally good at following mutuals in new server, especially after a few notes. Rule of thumb to choosing a new server: where does people you tend to follow live?

2) You don't need an account for each server you want to interact with. You might however want to have multiple accounts for different content and audiences. Most apps support multiple accounts. So it is not a hardship to manage them.

3) Invitation only/closed communities are not hard barriers. If you ask nicely to someone you know, you follow or the admin, by telling why you want to be there, chances are you will be given an account if there is space. Many instances are just trying to make sure they don't scale faster than they can moderate. A closed sign-up does not mean you are unwelcome.

4) pure twitter/wordpress mirrors and posters with no interaction are not considered good citizens by most. Follow people, talk to them. Boost and favorite. It is the best way to make new friends. This a networking and communication platform, not marketing one.

5) If you are creating a bot account there is a way to label them as such from settings. It is also conventional to note that fact in account description - there is even a mastodon instance dedicated to bots: https://botsin.space consider using that for particularly spammy bots. Don't forget to respect the #nobot tag.

6) boosting helps propagate content across instances. Boost content you like. Its actually helpful here.

7) If you only want to post images without interacting much and create a portfolio account of sorts. You might be better off with a pixelfed account. Pixelfed federates with mastodon, and like mastodon has many servers scattered, but it is focused on instagram-like image feeds. Similarly for video there is peertube which again comes with many instances. Again many people have a pixelfed and a mastodon, etc. You don't have to pick one over the other.

8) Follow your admin. No really. Its like living in an apartment building. You need to know if there is a maintenance coming, or policy changes. Note that different servers have different rules of accepted content, moderation rules and policies. Take a moment to look at their about page. It is not a uniform whole, you get to choose.

9) There is no plain text search really, so use relevant tags, that is how we find and organize content.

10) If you are new and want to have some content to read/follow. trunk is helpful lists of people you can batch follow. You can also request creation of new lists or ask to be added to lists.

Some servers that might be interesting to fandom, writers and other people on my DW following list off the top of my head.
tenforward.social (generic, star trek themed)
fandom.ink (fandom)
wondering.shop (writing)
mastodon.art (artists, illustrator heavy)

Bonus: fandom.stoptheimp.net
This fandom fediverse instance is actually a hubzilla rather than mastodon. So it is totally a different software but you should however still be able to follow and be followed by mastodon and other activitypub accounts, at least for public posts.

Say you are in stuck in a hole. 

You need a rope to climb out or you don't how how to climb and need to learn that. I am your girl. I'll do what I can to help to help, and try seek others too if possible.

It is possible there IS no way out of the hole. I'll stay close to you, as much as I can, and try to be there even if you are scared and in pain.

If you want me to go down to your hole with you because you are stuck there, or think that I should take your place because it is my turn or something, that's not going to happen. I don't care how you ended up in the hole, I don't care how unfair it was. I didn't push you to your hole. I am not the one keeping you down there even if you think me responsible by simple virtue of not being in one.

Besides, what makes you think you know where I am?  You don't know which holes I have been in, which holes I am still stuck in. Just because my voice is coming from above you or that I am trying help doesn't mean I am closer to surface than you are.

Maybe I have just sat in a much, much deeper hole than you can imagine in past so this doesn't feel so bad.

Maybe I have never seen anyone outside the hole when I was younger so I thought everyone was in holes. So I learned to how to live in them instead. I mean learning to climb around a little and a make-shift light and it is almost like my own little surface down here some days.

I am not saying you will be able to do those things, each hole is different, regardless of depth. I won't judge you if you don't judge me.

...and the rope offer still stands by the way.

Who knows, together we might even pull each other up.

Just interrupting the quiet because this happened twice in last weeks.

You are communicating with someone who has split their fannish id or pseudonym from their real identity. You need to ask them something or mention them.

Stop.

If you are replying to a written quote on internet, make sure you reply to the name declared in that quote.

If not, think on which context you want to refer to that person in.

Then think on which name they use in that context: org, real life, fannish politics or whatever.

Use that name. If they switched name, follow the switch. Ask if you are not certain.

Do not comment on their fannish account publicly or friends locked, on a topic that they are associated with under real name or vice versa, unless they okayed it. Ask the person if you are not certain.

Your carelessness can cause someone to get harassed, lose their job or get arrested in some countries. So pay attention. Their safety is more important than you posting that status or blog post 2 min faster.