<pid="top">This a guide to {instance-name} especially for new users. It concentrates on how to get along, without going too much into details. For specific technical questions (e.g., how to set up a GNU Social-instance) please ask in the groups <ahref="https://status.vinilox.eu/group/gnusocial">!gnusocial</a> and <ahref="http://sn.postblue.info/group/sn">!sn</a>, or on {instance-name}'s Public Timeline. You may also find technical information at <ahref="http://federation.skilledtests.com/">http://federation.skilledtests.com/</a></p>
<p>Users of one instance can follow, be followed by, and communicate with users of any other instance.</p>
<p>Other instances are, e.g., <ahref="https://loadaverage.org/">loadaverage.org</a>, <ahref="http://status.vinilox.eu/">status.vinilox.eu</a>, <ahref="http://micro.fragdev.com/">micro.fragdev.com</a>, <ahref="https://gnusocial.de/">gnusocial.de</a>, <ahref="https://indy.im/">indy.im</a>, <ahref="https://quitter.no/">quitter.no, <ahref="http://rainbowdash.net/">rainbowdash.net</a>, etc. The current number of microblogging instances using the GNU Social/StatusNet software is probably about 50, {instance-name} is one of them. As they all use the same software (GNU Social/StatusNet) and transmission protocol (OStatus), they can talk to each other just like e-mail servers can talk to each other, even though they are independant and run by different companies.</p>
<p>Connections between instances are established by users following each other. Via such followings all these instances can (at least in principle) be joined into one compound structure or network of self-contained instances. This is called the Federation. GNU Social/StatusNet is structured in such a way that there needs to be only one following of a user <strong>a</strong> from instance <strong>A</strong> to a user <strong>b</strong> from instance to <strong>B</strong> to make <strong>b</strong> visible to everybody in instance <strong>A</strong> via <em>The Whole Known Network</em>. (See below on the <ahref="#faq-9">Three Timelines</a>) The Whole Known Network is the wider network of instances as seen by {instance-name}. It looks different on, say, loadaverage, because on loadaverage there are different followings to remote instances than on {instance-name}. </p>
<p>There is no central "unit" the breakdown of which could bring down the whole network. If one instance goes down or the admins starts doing things you don't like, you can create your account on another instance. You will still be on the GNU Social-network and still be able to communicate with your GNU Social-friends. You just need to tell your contacts your new address.</p>
<p><em>All Mustards support geolocation, upload and display of image attachments, display of oversized notices from instances with larger character limit (open as attachment)</em></p>
— <em>Tweetdeck 0.38.2</em> (closed source) (last version before Twitter took over TweetDeck) is usable for basic functions. Download: <ahref="http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/tweetdeck-0-38-2">http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/tweetdeck-0-38-2</a> Instructions: <ahref="http://qttr.at/dmm">http://qttr.at/dmm</a><ahref="http://qttr.at/dmn">http://qttr.at/dmn</a><br>
<pclass="indent">Links needs to be shortened manually before posting the notice. The "URL ><"-button will shorten any URLs pasted or written in the notice form.
<p>In Classic {instance-name}:
<pclass="indent">Links are shortened automatically after the notice is posted. The settings are personal.<br>
<p>New {instance-name} is the default user interface. It is visually very similiar to other well known commercial microblogging services. Its technical name is "Qvitter". In discussions "Qvitter" and "New {instance-name}" can mean the same thing, but "Qvitter" mostly refers to the software and "New {instance-name}" refers to the installation of the Qvitter-software on {instance-name}.</p>
<p>Classic {instance-name} is the canonical GNU Social-/StatusNet-interface. At the moment some settings and features (e.g., creating a group) have to be done in Classic {instance-name} as they are not yet implemented in New {instance-name}.</p>
not only all notices of the Public Timeline but also those of all people on other ("remote") instances of the GNU Social-/StatusNet-federation followed by at least one {instance-name} user (i.e. accounts known to {instance-name}).</p>
<p><em>(1): Change to "Ask me first" and you will receive e-mail notifications when someone wants to follow you. It leaves the subscription request pending until you either confirm or reject it. (But this does not work in New {instance-name} yet, so be careful with this setting.)</em></p>
<p>You can delete your account, but all your notices will be deleted on {instance-name} as well – and this will break conversation threads. If you restore your account on another instance, it's better to rename your {instance-name} account to something like MyNickhasmovedtoFragdev instead of deleting it.</p>
<p>You are forwarded to Twitter and have to authorise {instance-name} to use your Twitter account.</p>
<p><em>According to user reports this doesn't always work on the first or second attempt. If it doesn't, you may have to try again later. The cause of the problem may be on Twitter's side. Your browser must not block Javascript or Cookies.</em></p>
<p>Favs and Repeats/Requeets look like this in New {instance-name}: <ahref="http://qttr.at/du6">http://qttr.at/du6</a> and like this in Classic {instance-name}: <ahref="http://qttr.at/du5">http://qttr.at/du5</a></p>
<p>In Classic {instance-name}, there is an option to post to "My colleagues at {instance-name}". This will stop the notice from "federating". It will only be visible to your followers on {instance-name}.</p>
<p>You can create a group for nearly any topic, like Feminism, Football, FreeBSD. ("nearly" because Swedish law prohibits slander and hate speech and holds the owner of a site responsible for such content.)</p>
<p>You can be a member of as many groups as you like. As group-member you can post to the whole group by attaching ! to the group name, e.g., <em>!feminism</em>, in the notice. All group members, whether or not they follow you, will get the notice in their Home Timelines. You follow and unfollow a group like you follow and unfollow a person. </p>
<p>Lists are available only in Classic {instance-name}. Due to feature merges in GNU Social, they do work but are a bit messy to manage.</p>
<h3>Adding users to a list</h3>
<p>The main hurdle with lists on {instance-name} is to create a new one. After its creation, you can manage it and add people from {instance-name} as well as from remote instances on its newly created page (see below).</p>
<p>To start a list in Classic {instance-name} you best proceed by browsing through the subscription lists of someone who has an account on {instance-name}, not on a remote instance. In the latter case you will not be able to add people from their subscription lists to your list, i.e, create a list at all.</p>
<p>In both subscription lists you'll find beneath each person listed a tiny box with an edit-symbol. As they show up in these lists, it's no longer problematic whether they have their account on {instance-name} or on a remote instance. Click on that and type the name of your list. You'll receive an error message, but don't mind, just click "ok" and refresh the page. The list has been successfully created and is now shown in the left hand side column.</p>
<p>To manage your list, go to your page in Classic {instance-name} and open the list by clicking on its name in the left column. On its page, click "Edit" and a menue opens.</p>
<p>In the section "Add or remove people" below you can now search every person known to {instance-name} from the whole network by name and add her to your list. (Which isn't possible when the person appears only in subscription lists of people on remote instances. See above.) Likewise you can remove the person from the lists here.</p>
<p>Right now you can remove people from a list, even empty a list, but you cannot delete the list in the upper section. Trying to delete it only returns an error message that is effective this time. So be careful not to create too many lists that later on clutter your left hand side column.</p>
<p>In the upper section you can reword the list's name and give it a description that shows up on its page. With the option "private" you can make the list invisible to other people on {instance-name}.</p>
<p>If you click a remote nickname in New {instance-name} you are brought to a small profile window showing the full remote address, e.g., @blabla@status.vinilox.eu</p>
<p>In Classic {instance-name} you're forwarded to the remote instance's user profile (which may differ in layout and theme from Classic {instance-name}). Look for the Subscribe-button (usually in the upper right). A subscription box opens and you are prompted to enter your own "webfinger address", i.e., {nickname}@{instance-url} Subscribe and you are redirected to your Classic {instance-name} page where you have to confirm the subscription.</p>
<p>There are several ways to make notices visible only to selected people, not to the public. <strong>None of these work in New {instance-name} yet.</strong></p>
<p>d. Post to a public group and close the lock on the right of the drop-down menu beneath the message field → The post will only be visible to the group members. (Although at the time of writing, this does not work. The post will be visible to everyone.)</p>
<p><em>(Note to d: Make sure you don't leave "Everyone" or "My Colleagues at {instance-name}" selected, otherwise your post will go to the timelines of every {instance-name} user, which is not what you want if you close the lock)</em></p>
<p><em>(Note to d: The lock method is only available in Classic {instance-name}. There is no lock feature in New {instance-name} or any other known client at the time of writing.)</em></p>
<p>Sometimes in a blog-post or email, you don't want to cite just one notice but a whole conversation. Each notice, each reply, and each conversation has its own URL, and the ways to find them differ slightly in Classic {instance-name} and in New {instance-name}.</p>
<p>In New {instance-name} click on the time stamp of a notice (or "details" if you have expanded it). This will show the notice page with the conversation expanded.</p>
<p>Click on the the time stamp of any notice. The notice will reappear on a separate page. Click "in context". The whole conversation that this notice is involved in will be displayed on a new page, with the selected notice either in the top or further down.</p>
<p>Similar to following persons or groups you can, in Classic {instance-name}, subscribe to (or follow) hashtags and search words. Notices containing them will then appear in your timeline. </p>
<p>Following search words and hashtags is not limited to notices from accounts on {instance-name} but includes notices from remote instances as well.</p>
<p>To follow hashtags (# + ...), put the word with the hashtag-symbol # prefixed into the search box of Classic {instance-name} and press Enter. You'll arrive at the search result page. Similiar, to subscribe to search words, put them without hashtag-symbol into the search box. You'll get a much larger list because the search not only covers individual words but also looks for occurrences of the phrase inside larger phrases. To both the hashtag and the search word, click on the tiny "Subscribe"-button in the upper right corner of the lists. You'll then receive the notices containing them in your timeline.</p>
search words and phrases: <ahref="{instance-url-with-protocol}{nickname}/search-subscriptions">{instance-url-with-protocol}{nickname}/search-subscriptions</a></p>
<p>On those pages you can manage your subscriptions, that is, add more phrases and hashtags or unfollow them.</p>
<p>In the latest versions of GNU Social, repeats/requeets do not get sent to your followers on other instances. This was possible some time ago in StatusNet, but this feature has been removed due to a security issue. GNU Social developers are working on a solution. In the meantime, if you really want your Repeat/Requeet to federate, you can always do a "manual repeat", i.e., write RQ @username, and then copy-paste the notice.</p>
<pclass="faq-credits"><em>Thanks to <ahref="https://quitter.se/simsa0">@simsa0</a> and <ahref="https://quitter.se/mcscx">@mcscx</a> for their work on this FAQ. Any errors are due to bad editing by <ahref="https://quitter.se/hannes2peer">@hannes2peer</a>.</em></p>
