Discussion
If you have any questions about using Mastodon or the wider Fediverse, please post them in the replies and I'll try to find you some answers.
It would be especially nice to hear from new people and people who aren't confident about technical matters. There is absolutely no such thing as a silly question! 🙂
That looks like it might be an image for which there's no cached version stored on your server, that's why it works when you view it on its original server.
Servers may restrict how long they store images from other servers, in order to reduce their storage costs. Most old posts are never viewed again, so most of the time people don't notice if the image isn't stored.
Normally if you view an old post it fetches the image again, but sometimes it shows "preview not available".
Would this also happen on brand new posts, not old posts?
I see it on posts from people I follow, on posts from our server's trending list, and also posts that show up in my feed because I follow a hashtag. I think whenever I see this it is on relatively new posts - could be anywhere from 5 minutes to a few hours.
I just went back and found the post I used as an example (it's from about 2 hours ago) and now it is showing up.
Maybe it's a delay?
@FediTips i have one - why did mastodon change the format?
The format of the website interface?
They did a post about their reasons at https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/10/5.0-a-closer-look/
@FediTips I’ll volunteer the first stupid question! I’d like to respond to this post, but only to FediTips and not have the rest of the Fediverse read it. Many times I’ve wanted to respond directly and individually to a post but don’t see how to do that. I’m used to other platforms where it’s clearer. How do I do that?
Not a stupid question at all!
You can change who sees posts or replies by adjusting their "visibility setting".
The visibility setting is visible above your post or reply and looks like "🌎️ Public" or something similar. Click on this, then change it to "Private mention" or "Only people I mention", then save the setting.
You can also set a particular visibility to be your default, if you prefer not to use public by default.
More info about all of this at https://fedi.tips/who-can-see-my-posts-in-mastodon-how-do-i-send-dms-in-mastodon/
@FediTips How come c.im no longer has translate option? Is there a work-around?
"Translate" is there if the admin has paid for a translation service, but this costs them money every month and there is a limit on queries per month so this option may sometimes disappear.
Ask your server admin if you want to find out the exact situation on your serrver.
A workaround would be copy-pasting the text into a different translation app or site.
@FediTips Why is it that when a user posts multiple related messages (e.g., a poem posted stanza by stanza [for why I don’t know]), I see them in reverse order. And sometime interlarded w unrelated posts)?
If you're looking at your normal "Home" timeline you see the latest posts at the top, so the related messages (also called a "thread") appear to be in reverse order. The unrelated posts are from other accounts you follow which have posted at around the same time.
If you click on any one of these related messages, you will see the entire thread in the correct order instead, plus all of its replies below the thread. The unrelated posts will disappear while viewing a thread.
@FediTips Is there a consolidated guide anywhere about how the different Fediverse platforms interact with each other? Like I know I can browse PieFed or Lemmy communities from a Mastodon server by looking at the boosts, but how can I browse Mastodon from PieFed or Lemmy? How can I view Mastodon posts from Pixelfed? What does a favorite from Mastodon translate to on another platform?
That's been my primary question about the federated platforms.
As far as I know there's no complete guide anywhere, probably because there are so many platforms and they are constantly changing so it would be quite labour-intensive for a volunteer to create and maintain.
Favourites on Mastodon generally translate to the equivalent of likes on other platforms (e.g. on PeerTube a Mastodon favourite becomes a thumbs up).
Pixelfed lets you view Mastodon posts by following Mastodon accounts, but by default it only shows posts with images or videos.
@FediTips can we have the "trending" option back? plzkthx
It still says "Trending" on most servers, Mastodon's developers seem to be experimenting with renaming it "Explore" on mastodon.social (which is what it was called years ago!).
I don't know which one they will use on the release version, but I agree, trending is a clearer name.
@FediTips hmm... when I go to "explore" it just seems to be a repeat of my 'home' feed...
Are you viewing it through the website?
At least when I've tried it with a mastodon.social account it shows trends?
@FediTips
Can anyone tell me why when I try to apply auto alt text to a photo all I get is a long list of strangeness?
And, how do I correct this?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Where or how are you getting auto alt text?
When I am trying to add auto alt text to a photograph I want to post.
How are you trying to add it? Is it an option in a mobile app?
If you're using the "add text from image", that just copies text in the image, it doesn't provide a description.
(Manual descriptions tend to be better anyway as the person posting understands the point of an image and doesn't bother with irrelevant details.)
@FediTips
Do I need separate accounts on a Pixelfed instance, a PeerTube instance, and a Mastodon instance to POST those different types of content?
Then, do I need separate accounts on the different services to VIEW the content? Like, can I follow then view someone's Pixelfed posts on my feed from a PeerTube instance?
To post from a server, you need an account on that server. So, if you want to post from Pixelfed you need an account on a Pixelfed server etc.
Following however is much more open, you can follow almost all Fediverse account types from general social media server types such as Mastodon, GoToSocial, Friendica etc.
In PeerTube's particular case though, other types of servers can follow you but you can only follow other PeerTube channels/accounts.
Does Bonfire bring those different Fediverse platform/media types together?
I'm not sure what you mean by bringing them together? Is there something specific you wanted to do?
If you want multiple kinds of features on a server, that's up to the developers writing that server's software.
Pixelfed does not let you post without images or video (I think also silently ignores any posts without those from people you follow).
So if you only have a pixelfed account and want to interact with people without images then you would need one on another system that supports text only posts like Mastodon or GoToSocial.
Yup, that too! By default Pixelfed ignores posts without images or videos attached. You can switch that off so that text posts become visible for accounts you follow, but you can't do your own text-only posts from pixelfed.
Thank you, this is kind.
As it happens, this came up the other day.
How can one find out who owns and who controls
@\followbot@\anni.social
which is following thousands now, while it followed only about a hundred just three days ago?
I'm not sure, its profile isn't visible, but from the name it sounds like it's there to help federate the posts of certain accounts onto its server.
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@FediTips
Thanks, just thought of a question. FYI, I'm using Mastodon web interface, not an app.
Does anyone know why some posts (not content warning posts) have a blurred image with the message "Preview not available, click to open"?
If I click the image then a new tab opens with clear image but there's no way to see alt text. My workaround is select "open original message" from the menu.
I wonder what cases this? It does not matter whether it's someone I follow or not.