If you have just joined mastodon, a) welcome, and b) the very first thing you need to do is add data to your profile that makes it clear you are an actual person.
I am sorry that we live in this time, none of us want this, but sometime it just be's that way.
We are all hounded by bots, scammers, spies-for-cause, and spies-for-money, all of the time. We simply cannot assume good faith from anyone who has left no trail, or who has left a trail they are not willing to share.
Lol. Bots are really annoying.
I mean data about the before joining here.
I responded to an account that was created yesterday. Didn't follow, just responded.
I now realize, I don't think that's a person.
It is so easy to be fooled. Even for those of us who have been using social media for decades, as I have.
(I know, noobs think social media started w/Twitter. Us olbs been hanging with strangers, mediated by computers, since Usenet.)
If your circumstances absolutely require you to remain anonymous, and I know full well that they sometimes do, then you need to understand it is going to take a long time to find friends here, and it is going to take you talking about your life a lot.
You don't have to tell secrets on yourself.
You do have to talk about your life, your interests, your politics, your art, your food, your lots and lots of things, to convince us you're real if you have no other trail.
It takes time.
It used to be one of our favorite things to say: "On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
We were so proud of that! We believed it was what made our community so special and brilliant.
It is still true. On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.
Sadly, people who intend to do bad things have now figured that out, and we are inundated with their quest to do bad things.
If, for whatever reason, you cannot establish a trail on the internet before now, you will have to establish it here.
You can not do that by boosting. The scammers boost constantly.
You can only do it by typing in sentences about what you're thinking of, and what you're doing, and how you feel. And you'll be talking to no one during this period, just blurting shit out into the void.
It will suck. But it's not because we're all jerks. It's because we've all been jerked around too many times.
On the other hand, if you can share details of your past existence on the internet, that should be your first priority.
People aren't going to interact with you seriously unless and until they know that you are a real person who is worth interacting with.
And still!
All that having been said.
Welcome.
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
