We welcome you to this space to connect with others, share information, create memories, and help each other to travel responsibly and considerately as we explore the world.
<mascot here? :D > mascot intro and why it was chosen
Here, you are a member, not just a user - We want to create community in this space, being respectful of each other as well as the places go and the people we see. This space is what we make of it.
What you'll find here
Keyboard Vagabond hosts the various fediverse alternatives to big tech and participates in the network. Available to you is:
- Piefed - Similar to and compatible with Lemmy, but with extra features for topics and communities. Both are an alternative to Reddit. See more at join-lemmy.org and join.piefed.social.
- Pixelfed - An alternative to instagram, where you can share your photos, albums, and create stories. See more at pixelfed.org.
- Mastodon - An alternative to twitter. Create your timeline by following users and hashtags. See more at joinmastodon.org.
- Bookwyrm - All about books! Discuss and review books with people across the fediverse. See more at joinbookwyrm.com.
- Write Freely - A minimalist, federated blogging platform. Comment and discuss across the fediverse, such as on mastodon (direct comments aren't available yet, but can be done on Mastodon). See more at writefreely.org.
- Picsur - Like Imgur for image hosting, to use for images in your blogs. You can also use Pixelfed. Contact the admin for Picsur signup, as there's no automated signup process.
- Piefed - Piefed has support in Interstellar (cross platform) and experimental support in Voyager (Android), though features like topics and communities are best served on the website.
- Pixelfed, Mastodon - have native mobile apps
Signing in - you'll search the server that you want to join, such as mastodon.social or mastodon.keyboardvagabond.com, or use the provided default instances.
What is the Fediverse
The fediverse is a collection of big-tech alternative social media that all communicate with each other using the same protocol, called ActivityPub. This means that not only can different “instances,” such as this community, participate with discussions on other servers, but also with the different applications. You can think of it like email, where people can have accounts with different companies, but can communicate with any other email provider - but on steroids.
You can make a post on Mastodon, tag a community on Lemmy/Piefed and people there can respond. Someone can make a video on PeerTube (Youtube alternative) and discuss on Mastodon. Your Write Freely blog posts will, if you enable it, be visible on Mastodon and people can follow your blog account.
Check out this amazing four minute video by Elena Rossini. You can follow her on Mastodon by searching @_elena@mastodon.social.
How to get started in the Fediverse
The best way to see what's available in the fediverse is to start off on a larger instance, which will be following the most content. From there you can follow communities and members on Keyboard Vagabond, or export your profiles, follows, etc over to Keyboard Vagabond. You can, of course, have multiple profiles across instances.
Once you choose and place and sign up, wait for your admin approval. Many instances require manual account approval to prevent spam.
Popular places to get started are:
Lemmy.zip for Lemmy or Piefed.social for PieFed, which is the software that this community runs.Mastodon.social - the largest mastodon instance. Search for hashtags or check out whats trending and follow them to create your timeline.
Pixelfed.social - the largest Pixelfed instance. Also search for timelines and hashtags of things that you're interested in or what may be trending.
Creating your experience
In the fediverse, there are no algorithms. No one is trying to harvest your data or monetize your attention. No one is trying to push anything in front of you. Try searching for hashtags like #travel or #travelphotography.
