@Sheril Mastodon is MUCH better and has the tools to stay that way even with a massive influx of users. Toxic servers can be blocked by your admins, so don't hesitate to report to them! :)

@Sheril a lot of it comes down to your instance admins. If there are people reading this who are having difficulties with abuse or harassment on mastodon, start by reporting it early and often. (Remember to read your instance rules.) If your admins don't act, find a new home instance. That's how we keep a strong network.

@Sheril At least here is an infrastructure and admins willing to help. It is possible to either have harassers blocked by their host, or their unwilling host being blocked by other instances. I don't know if good will is enough to solve the problem, but exactly that was lacking on Twitter (in summer my account was disabled because somebody has flagged a tweet by me from *2017* about having my teeth fluoridated; I had to delete that tweet, but racist etc. stuff is a permanent menace).

@Sheril I don't have a bluecheck over there, but between being Jewish and a woman and disabled, yeah it's been kind of rough over there and Mastodon seems to be a lot better about all this for now.

@Sheril there are terrible servers and horrible people on Mastodon as well. Many Nazis and alt right fled here after being banned on twitter.

The good news is that it's easier and more effective to shield yourself against them on Mastodon.

For one, your server, mastodon.social simply blocks most of those terrible servers entirely. You'll simply never see anything from them.

For the rest, a warm welcome and stay safe! (And be liberal with the block feature)

@Sheril From the bottom of my heart, I hope it will stay this way for you, and everyone! The most positive thing is that the original vibe of a welcoming and respectful community is being kept and guarded, so in case those horrible things should happen to you again, there should be people stepping in and fighting alongside you. Also you can contact the admins, who might be more responsive on a smaller server, you'll have to see how it goes, I'm afraid. But please know you do have allies here!

@Sheril oh I’m so sorry to hear that, I don’t think many of us realise how much abuse some were getting. I stopped being brave enough to be off padlock there ages ago.

This seems like a much better place, I hope it stays like this

@Sheril welcome!

@Sheril

You might be pleased to know that soon there will be an instance that centres Jewish voices:

https://blog.babka.social/values/

Ask @emacsen for more details

@Sheril I hope it stays that way. Only time will tell

@Sheril Sorry you had/have to endure this. I hope this new home will treat you with the respect that you deserve.

@Sheril Don’t know what to say about your awful experiences on precious site, but whooshing you POSITIVE vibes here and I look forward to following you.

@Sheril I’ve had similar responses on other platforms, seemingly because I have the audacity to state my opinion as a woman. I’ve developed a very thick skin, sadly, to the point where I find myself always taking a defensive stance whenever I engage on a “social” platform. Has this made me a stronger person? Yes. But I’m also much more tired then I’ve ever been. My experience so far with #mastodon has been much more positive. This #community synergy wins hands down.

@Sheril welcome to the fediverse!

@Sheril Personally I think free speech is something nice/important to have. But on purpose poisoning the mind of people with all kind of lies, conspiracy theories and other crap, like for example Trump is doing 🙈 I think that should not be allowed when it is so clear and it affects so many people… But for the rest, you do not have always to agree with someone but keep it clear, respectful and professional 🤷‍♂️

@Sheril Strong agree. Twitter has been mostly bad for awhile. Just didn't have a better alternative. Until now.

@Sheril exactly!

@Sheril I’m a straight, white male and even I found Twitter too toxic to continue using a while ago. The environment there (and on FB too) is horrific. I can only imagine how awful it is for a minority and a woman.

@Sheril

It is absolutely better if you're on the main servers (or ones with good moderation policies), but we have to work to keep it good here too. Welcome and hope it's comfy here for you x

@Sheril
I hope it continues this way for you.
For me, where I live, I would never think religion or ethnicity from your name, maybe German. And that it sounded nice (Cherrybranch)

@Sheril Uhg, a day after Elon's takeover "National Justice Party" and "No White Guilt" folks just started crawling out of the woodwork. They weren't flaunting their usual dogwhistles either -- their posts were full on fasc. (twitter did end up suspending most of the accounts I reported, but it did take a bit longer than normal)