Comment Section for A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the open source Twitter alternative | TechCrunch

This TechCrunch article provides an in-depth guide to Mastodon, an open-source alternative to Twitter. The platform has seen a surge in users, especially after Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. Mastodon was founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko as a nonprofit organization aiming to benefit the public. It operates as a federated network similar to email and hosts individual communities, or "instances", with their own rules and moderation policies. Mastodon supports some Twitter conventions like replies, retweets (called "boosts"), favorites, bookmarks, and hashtags. However, it lacks support for quote tweets and its direct message system operates differently. The platform is open-source, allowing anyone to download, modify, and install it on their own server. The guide further explains how to create a Mastodon account, choose a server, and interact with posts and other users. The platform also offers different privacy options for posts and allows cross-posting from Twitter through third-party tools. The article concludes that Mastodon may offer more customizability and personal interactions than Twitter, but it currently lacks the global audience and intuitive navigation of its counterpart.