If you only use Mastodon through the official app, you are missing out on lots of features such as scheduled posts, pinned posts, list creation, account redirects and much more.

Third party apps and Mastodon's website interface have a lot more features than the official app, and tend to get new features earlier too.

You can find out about all the different ways of using Mastodon in this guide:

️ https://fedi.tips/which-apps-can-i-use-should-i-use-the-official-app-or-a-third-party-app

The official app is not the only way!

#FediTips #Mastodon

@Hawaii

Thank you for the shoutout

If anyone wants help with using this place, feel free to ask!

There is also lots of help for new people on the website at https://fedi.tips (especially the "quick start" section at the top of the page).

If you upload a video to #PeerTube and spot a mistake in it after publication, don't panic!

You may be able to replace the video file without breaking existing links or comments:

1. Log into your PeerTube server's website
2. Go to "Videos"
3. Click "Update" on video to correct
4. Click "Advanced Settings" tab
5. Under "Replace Video File" click "Select file", choose corrected video file
6. Click "Update"

If you don't see this option, ask your PeerTube server admin as they can activate it.

On Mastodon you can search just your own posts by including the phrase "from:me" in your search.

There are lots of these special phrases (called "operators") which let you customise your Mastodon search, so that you get a very specific set of search results.

You can see a complete list of Mastodon search operators in this guide:

️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-search-for-stuff-on-mastodon

You can combine several operators in one search, or use a minus sign - before an operator to exclude it from the search.

#FediTips

The #Guppe situation happened because all groups were on one server, so when that server went down all the groups did too.

FediGroups is a good immediate solution for getting groups up and running again, but it's also a single server so it's vulnerable.

As a long term solution we need to have groups hosted on many different servers. If one server goes down, groups on other servers could carry on.

Techy people might be interested in hosting/forking Guppe from source at https://github.com/immers-space/guppe

p.s. For those wondering how this can happen, the .pe domain which gup.pe used has a highly unusual clause which allows anyone to buy the domain 12 days *before* it expires:

"The .CH, .ES, .FR, .LI, .PE, .SG, .COM.SG, .COM.AU, .ORG.AU, .NET.AU TLDs must be renewed 12 days prior to the actual expiration date. If not renewed, the domain will enter the redemption stage right away regardless of the number of days left until expiration."

https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/9916/2207/tlds-grace-periods

(Thanks @anonax for info!)

Okay, some really bad news but also a suggestion for a way forward.

The Guppe groups domain name was sold by their registrar before they could renew it. This means all Guppe groups are broken, and their web addresses point to a spam blog

However, there is another group provider called FediGroups, you can find out more on their site:

️ https://about.fedigroups.social/home

FediGroups has features that Guppe never had, including private groups.

(More info about #Guppe situation: https://github.com/immers-space/guppe/issues/118 )

I'm an unpaid volunteer, I run 5 websites and 5 accounts helping people use Mastodon and the wider Fediverse. I pay their bills every month.

If you want to help these sites & accounts keep going, you can buy me a coffee:

️ https://ko-fi.com/fedithing

(No registration, choose any amount, all currencies work, one-off or monthly donations)

Alternatively, become a patron:

️ https://liberapay.com/FediThing

All support greatly appreciated!

️ @FediTips, @FediFollows, @FediVideo, @FediGarden & @homegrown

The "unlisted" or "quiet public" post visibility setting on Mastodon is often misunderstood.

An unlisted post DOES NOT show up in search results, trends, hashtag follows or the Local/Federated timelines.

An unlisted post DOES show up in the Home timelines of your followers, including when you make a thread with replies.

If you want to avoid your own long threads cluttering up followers' Home timelines, use a Fediverse server or platform that supports very high character limits.

#FediTips

Do you have a friend who has joined a different server and you want to follow them, but their account doesn't show up in searches?

The surest way to find each other's profiles is to exchange account addresses with your friend and paste these into the search box in your app or server. You can find your account address on your profile page:

️ https://fedi.tips/whats-my-accounts-address-how-do-i-follow-other-peoples-addresses-how-can-people-follow-my-address

Pasting an account address causes that account's profile to show up on your server, you can then just click "Follow".

#FediTips