[h1]START HERE: Information for utter beginners[/h1] [h3]Where am I?[/h3] Bunny of Doom is a private [url=https://blog.statler.ws/the-fediverse-a-brief-introduction-for-non-nerds.html]Fediverse[/url] server. (Sorry, visitors, you can't register for an account here.) When you login, you'll find yourself on your [b]Stream[/b] page. At top-left is your Profile Picture, which is a drop-down menu containing a few items including "Logout". Next to that is the word "Stream", which tells you where you are, and reloads the Stream page if selected. On the top right, the magnifying glass is a search function. Next to that is a three-line symbol which opens a drop-down menu showing a bunch of functions. (But you already knew that because you found "Help".) Your stream (what Facebook calls your "Feed") runs down the page. If you aren't connected to anyone else in the Fediverse yet, it may be rather empty. Once you have connections, you'll see their posts (and your own) in your stream. At the top of the stream, the "Share" box is where you can write a new post. To the left of that is Stream Filters, which let you narrow down what is displayed in your stream, and a Suggestions box with a few channels you might want to connect to (or not). (On narrow smartphone screens, use the arrow at top-right to toggle display of this column.) If you receive notifications (for comments on your posts, private messages, events, etc), they will display to the right of your stream. (On smartphones, use the "!" icon to display notifications.) [h3]Left menu (under your Profile Picture)[/h3] [b]View Profile:[/b] The basic information you entered to describe your channel. You can edit this. [b]Channels:[/b] A "channel" can be either a personal identity, or a group. You can have multiple identities and multiple groups, and operate all of them through your single login. If you have multiple channels, this is where you select which one you want to use at the moment. [b]Safe Mode:[/b] Defaults to "On" every time you login. "On" means that if anyone posts an image and marks it as being "sensitive" or "not safe for work", you will see only a faint gray shadow of it. Switch to "Off" for uncensored images. [b]Logout:[/b] Just what you'd expect. There is no harm in staying logged in continuously, or logging in from more than one device at the same time. [h3]Right menu (under the three-line symbol)[/h3] Many of the available features on this site are provided in packages called "apps". A small set of apps is installed by default, but there are a bunch more that you can add yourself, if you want extra features. The right menu (a.k.a. the "App Tray") lets you select many of the apps. By default, you will see the following: [b]Access Lists:[/b] Create lists of your connections, to make it easier to restrict your posts to only certain recipients. [b]Channel Home:[/b] The home page of your channel, similar to what Facebook calls your "Main Profile". [b]Connections:[/b] This is where you manage your connections to other Fediverse channels (what Facebook calls "Friends"). [b]Directory:[/b] A list of Fediverse channels that this server knows about. You can search and filter the list to find new connections. [b]Events:[/b] Your personal calendar and events. [b]Files:[/b] All the files that you have uploaded. [b]Help:[/b] A (sadly, incomplete) collection of help files for using this system. [b]Photos:[/b] A gallery of image files that you have uploaded. [b]Settings:[/b] A whole lot of settings for your account and your current channel. [b]Stream:[/b] Takes you back to your Stream page, with posts and comments by you and your connections. At the bottom of the right menu, [b]Installed Apps[/b] lets you control where your apps are displayed (in the right menu "App Tray" or on the top "navbar"). [b]Available Apps[/b] lists more apps you can add (see the [url=https://forum.statler.ws/help/en/apps]Available Apps Help Page[/url] for descriptions). And [b]Arrange Apps[/b] lets you rearrange the App Tray list from its default alphabetical order. [h3]My stream is empty! How do I connect with someone?[/h3] If you already know the channel's address (which looks something like [b]@name@example.com[/b]) or its homepage ([b]example.com/channel/name[/b] or [b]example.com/@name[/b] or something similar), select [b]Connections[/b] from the App Tray (right menu). In the left column are tools for finding and adding new connections. (On a smartphone, tap the arrow at the top to display or hide this column.) Type/paste the address or link into the "Add New Connection" box. A dropdown list will show known channels that match what you entered. Select the right one, and hit the "+" symbol to connect. If you're trying to find someone but don't know their address or homepage, select [b]Directory[/b] from the right menu "App Tray", and try entering their name in the "Find Channels" search box. You can also search by keywords that are in the channel's description. This site's Directory can't find every single channel in the whole Fediverse, so you might also check suggestions lists such as [url=https://mastodon.online/web/@FediFollows/108521414258703203]FediFollows[/url] for interesting channels. Once you've made a connection from your end, the person at the other end generally needs to approve the connection. You should see a notification when this happens. [h3]How do I post something?[/h3] Go to the top of either your Stream page or your Channel Home page, and click/tap the Share box. For a simple public post, with no links, images, or fancy formatting, just type your text in the big box. Add a title at the top, if you want. The eye icon will display a preview of your post. When you're ready, hit the Share button. Or hit the X icon to cancel without posting. Writing a comment on a post works the same way. Put it in the "Comment" box beneath the post. (If you don't see a "Comment" box, that means the author of the post has not given you permission to comment.) If you want to reply specifically to someone else's comment, use the curved-left-arrow button to open a comment box. To add a photo (or other type of file) to your post, put the cursor where you want it to appear, and hit the paperclip icon. Select the file that you want to upload. A big blob of cryptic code (which is a link to your file) will be inserted into your post. Use the eye icon to preview what you're going to get. To add a link to a web page, use the linked-chain icon. In the popup, paste the URL. You can select "Insert link only" or "Embed content if possible": the latter attempts to make a fancy link with an image and a text snippet (similar to how Facebook displays links). What about formatting? You can include HTML, [url=https://forum.statler.ws/help/en/bbcode]BBCode[/url], or [url=https://forum.statler.ws/help/en/markdown]Markdown[/url] formatting tags in your text, to get boldface, italics, blockquotes, tables, etc. But be aware that many readers of your post or comment will see only the plain-text version (including everyone using Mastodon, which is the most widely-used Fediverse server software at present). [h3]Tips and hints[/h3] This service has a lot of features that are fairly self-explanatory -- if you know they're there. Here are a few examples: When you're reading posts and comments, the little profile picture to the left of the author's name is a dropdown menu. Using this, you can connect to the author (or if you're already connected, edit the connection details), send a Direct Message (i.e. a private post), or block this channel from appearing on your stream. If you're logged in here, and you open another browser tab and visit a page hosted on a different Fediverse server, you [i]may[/i] automatically get logged in on that site. It depends on the other server's software and settings. But when this happens, you can use many of the other site's features (e.g., commenting on posts) just as if you were seeing them on this site. (This is one way to get involved in discussions that aren't yet showing up on your stream.) If your stream is still too empty, you can add conversations that your contacts are participating in. Go to Settings > Channel settings > Security and Privacy, and turn on the "Friend-of-friend conversations" option. Also, take a look at Settings > Channel settings > Miscellaneous. "Enable ActivityPub protocol" connects you to most of the Fediverse. If this setting is Off, your reach will be limited to a smallish group of servers running software similar to what we're using here. (Which may be exactly what you want.) [hr] [i]Last updated 2022-10-17[/i]