This is mostly for you folks who are using Mastodon (because the rest of you probably know already!).
There are a LOT of alternatives to Mastodon. Sometimes the important differences aren't obvious.
I'll just mention
Streams as an example, because I happen to be using it and I like it. Streams is the latest branch off the family tree that includes Friendica and Hubzilla. Superficially, the interface resembles Facebook (unlike Mastodon, which resembles Twitter). There is no 500-character limit for posts. There are cool features like groups and a "cloud" file storage system. You can clone your channel to multiple Streams instances in case one site goes down.
But one of the subtle differences is: In Streams, we don't need Fediblock. We can set up instance blocking if we want to, either for a whole server or for an individual user, but the other privacy features of Streams generally take care of problems before they start.
I'm not here to push Streams -- just pointing out that, if Mastodon isn't giving you the Fediverse experience that you want, you might benefit from switching to
something else.
Here's a bit more about Streams from its creator:
How is streams different from Mastodon?
Mastodon allows you to build walls between server instances and lets total strangers intrude into your conversations - by default.
Streams allows you to combine server instances into a cohesive entity that is much larger than any individual instance through network-wide single sign-on, and protects against total strangers intruding in your conversation - by default.
With streams, conversations are the primary unit of communication and you control the audience and interactions of your conversations. Mastodon throws individual posts into space and the pieces need to be assembled from all over the planet if you want to follow the actual conversation. This may include total strangers and toxicity, spam, and abusive behaviour.
We're not saying one is bad and the other is good. Each has advantages and disadvantages. We just chose the default behaviour to be the one we find offers the most rewarding and less toxic online experience.
But the really big difference is that streams supports both ways of doing things.
Because we aren't in control. You are.