Welcome to post.lurk.org

This page is for new users of post.lurk.org. Here we have compiled some information that can help you with the software we use, including resources that explain what the Fediverse is about. If some links are dead, please let us know so we can update this page!

What is an instance?
In brief: the Fediverse is a is an ensemble of interconnected servers that are used for all sort of services (micro-blogging, file hosting, video sharing, etc). An instance is the name given to the server, and sometimes by extension the community, around a particular server that runs software to offer a service as part of an interconnected network of other servers and services available through the Fediverse. https://post.lurk.org is an instance for the LURK community. It runs a modified version of the Mastodon software, which is a FLOSS micro-blogging platform. Generally speaking, users on our instance can interact/follow other users from other instances.



Discovering content and people
The Fediverse and Mastodon are not super intuitive. The most difficult thing is to discover content and people you find interesting. For that there are generally two strategies:
 * First, you can post and subscribe to hashtags. This is currently the best way to find particular conversations. For example you could look at or post to #fediverse to find others interested in that topic. Most commonly #introductions is used to describe briefly what you are interested in, that way people can follow you. We recommend that you write such an #introductions post so that some of us can boost you for visibility.
 * The second strategy is to make use of both the 'Local' and 'Federated'/'Global' timelines. The local one shows all posts written by people on post.lurk.org. The 'Global' timeline shows all posts by people followed by people on post.lurk.org but who are themselves on a different part of the network.

Post visibility
Mastodon has quite granular visibility settings for your posts, you find them in the message compose field. Here is how they work:



'''In addition to those we have another option (the chain link) which makes your posts not federate, meaning they are only visible on post.lurk.org. Only people registered and logged in post.lurk.org will see a local, non-federated, post.''' This is specific to the modified version of Mastodon that we run. This is not a feature that you will find in the vast majority of other Mastodon instances. We think this is an interesting feature because we believe that not all conversations/posts should be broadcasted to the whole network. It helps develop the local subculture within LURK, get to know and trust each other, and provide a safer space for private jokes or difficult conversations.

Account Settings

 * It is possible to switch to different colour themes and even a multi-column layout in your preferences: https://post.lurk.org/settings/preferences/appearance
 * If you want to move to another instance, no problem! You can migrate your social graph here: https://post.lurk.org/settings/profile
 * If you know of other people who could feel at home on post.lurk.org, that you trust, and can clearly identify to the "Is this for you?" section of post.lurk.org, then please invite them by generating an invite code. https://post.lurk.org/invites . Make sure you also send them here when you do so!

Terms of Service and Server Rules
Super important, if you did not read them yet, please check our terms and rules. https://post.lurk.org/about/more

Staying in touch
In case the instance is down, or if you have a problem, you can get in touch via email (see https://lurk.org) or chat by using https://partyline.lurk.org

Due to a recent changes in Mastodon, new users do not follow automatically the admins of the instance by default. This is a an issue for a small community like ours as we were using this feature to keep track of users activity (including boosting some of your initial posts so you can get more visibility across the network at first), and also use our own personal account to communicate about server maintenance and general LURK news. Therefore please do follow our shared admin account @lurk. From time to time we also run a server side command to make sure all users are still following this account, so no, there's no escape :)

Please send us a direct message to @lurk if you have any questions or issues that you'd like to address, if you are feeling unsafe and/or if you think there might be a breach of the terms of service and you'd like to discuss this with us before taking action.

Of course you can also follow our personal accounts, if what we post is relevant to your insterests: @320x200, @lidia_p, and @rra.

Support the infrastructure!
'''Last but not least, LURK can only run such services thanks to its community. If you are in a privileged enough position in which you can afford supporting us financially, please consider chipping in to make LURK sustainable in the long run! We need to break the free-as-in-beer culture of surveillance capitalism.''' https://opencollective.com/lurk