Welcome to Verum Social!
Social networking, back in your hands
It's never been easier to share your thoughts. You can publish anything you want: links, images, text, and video. All on a community-owned and ad-free platform.
Verum Social has 5000 characters. Your photo's thumbnails can be changed using focal points. You can use personalized emoticons, hide information behind spoiler alerts, and control who sees a particular post. mishandled it? You can quickly rectify errors by deleting and redrafting.
Verum Social is based on Mastodon that gives you the freedom to enjoy content you like. You get to choose who you want to see in your feed, which is non-algorithmic, ad-free, and chronological.
Here are some helpful tidbits for Verum Social newbies.
You can just type @user to specify someone who is on the same server as you, or @user@server to specify someone who is on a different server.
You will receive an alert right here if you are followed or mentioned by anyone on any internet server.
My entire tag is @verum@verumsocial.com.
So let's talk a little bit about the timelines. There are three of them (unlike twitter, which just has one):
Home, Local, Federated.
Everyone you are following appears on your Home timeline, just like you would expect it to on Twitter.
Every post created on your local server appears in the local timeline.
What is interesting is the federated timeline. It creates a single timeline from all of the servers' timelines.
You can view everyone on the server who has followed them by doing so (assuming the post is public).
As a result, this timeline accurately depicts every Verum Social user online (though not really).
Our Federated Feed is quite robust and covers hundreds of instances because we also have a bot that roams the office and federates with everyone it encounters.
The only other aspect that is distinct is whether a post is listed or not.
You can set a post to be listed or unlisted in addition to the standard privacy settings found on Twitter.
It should go without saying, but do not be racist, sexist, or hateful, and do not harass others. Don't be shitty! It's a pretty shitty thing to do!
Staff
In addition to the site's owner, @verum verumsocial.com's moderation staff include:
Note:***We will never advertise on Verum Social or sell your information to third-parties***Your data is safe with us***
Rules
What will get you banned:- Anything illegal.
- Intentionally creating a Verum Social account to circumvent people blocking you.
- Explicit hate-based racism, sexism, and other hateful speech, but generally unpopular opinions voiced respectfully will be fine.
- Being a bot (unless you post unlisted and do not auto-follow)
- Any account setup solely to advertise a product or service
- NSFW without a content warning
- Spoilers without a content warning
- Blocking of moderators is prohibited since it interferes with their ability to moderate content. However if you do not wish a moderator to comment on your posts outside of official moderator communication such a request will be honored.
What won't get you banned:
- Hurting someone's feelings
- Anything that can be solved by a personal block
- Cursing
- Lewd jokes
- A bot where all posts are unlisted
Despite the fact that we support the right to free speech, we aim to foster an environment where people respect one another. Don't treat individuals disrespectfully; if they do, block them and go on. An administrator will get in touch with the parties concerned and try to negotiate a peaceful resolution if we get a report about one of our users. We'll have an adult conversation about it. Keep in mind that there is a person on the other side of the computer; if we can act responsibly in real life, we can do the same online.
Federating: Silencing & Blocking
We do not censor or block other Fediverse instances because of their agenda, politics, or users' or staff members' viewpoints. We just demand one simple requirement from the servers we federate with: respect for a user's ability to disconnect. Blocks will only be reserved for technical assaults like DDoS attacks; offending servers would only be hushed, not blocked.
Some examples:
- If, for any reason, a user requests another user to not tag them, this request will be respected without exception.
- If a user is blocked and it is clear the user who was blocked that this was directed at that user. Then creating additional accounts specifically to circumvent this block would be disallowed. If the user was unaware of the block then they wouldn't be accountable however.
- Unsolicited advertising must be opt-in only. This means commercial advertisements which directly tag individual users without permission from that user, especially when done in bulk, will not be allowed.
We understand that moderators will not always catch all of the offenses listed above. If a server does not appear to be in compliance with the above federation policy, we will first contact the server's moderators. We will continue to federate if those moderators actively take action to handle those cases as they are reported. Only cases in which moderators are made aware of the aforementioned cases and fail to act will result in defederation.
Similar to the above, we will always contact the admins of the other server, typically with a CC from a non-Verum Social account, if we receive anonymous reports of **any** incident of any type from a foreign server directed towards one of our own users. We will, however, respect any request made by a moderator or administrator not to be contacted for any reason.
We currently do not block or silence any servers in the fediverse.
Longevity and Verum Social
A problem with a federated social network like Mastodon is that users must be certain their instance won't vanish over night. We've seen this happen on several occasions, so we want to allay your concerns if you decide to use Verum Social.
We're not planning on going anywhere, however, we have a strategy in place if we do.
What if we do decide to close down?
The Verum Social won't likely close because we have solid staffing and financial standing. However, we promise to provide you at least three months' notice if we do decide to shut down the instance. Our members should have ample time to discover a new instance, migrate, and let their followers know about it.
Cross-posting
The automatic copying of posts from one platform to another is known as "cross-posting." The simultaneous posting to various platforms from the same app, like Twidere, is not included in that description. We consider all posts from Twidere or PostyBirb as originals.
Cross-posting from Mastodon to other social media sites is completely allowed. Cross-posting to Mastodon from another platform is allowed under the following conditions:
- The posts do not include platform-specific references, e.g. talking about "here" meaning Twitter, or including text from other non-Mastodon users verbatim (e.g. cross-posted quote tweets)
- The account is at least semi-regularly monitored by the author, so that interactions from Mastodon users are not ignored
- The account being cross-posted is owned by the same person. Third-party copying of content is not permitted
Mobile & Desktop Apps
Thanks to Mastodon's open API, you can use it from any of these apps developed by third-party developers.
Android
iOS
Web
Desktop
Attributions
What to do about self-harm and suicide concerns on the internet
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, you’re not alone. Use the contact info below to get help.
- United States: Contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Crisis workers are available 24 hours a day. Calls are free and confidential.
- Other countries & regions: To find a crisis center near you, visit International Association for Suicide Prevention.
If you or someone you know is thinking about engaging in self-harm or suicidal behavior, you should seek help as soon as possible by contacting services with expertise in crisis intervention and suicide prevention.