Matt @matt@writing.exchange

Would anyone be interested in leading some community programming here on #WritingExchange?

I'm thinking along the lines of starting bigger discussions, sharing prompts, holding events, amplifying the writers here, etc.

We could arrange it so that you're more central to the instance than I am. I'm still around, but don't have much personal time to do these extra activities. But I think it'd help make this a great place to hang out.

I'm also going to completely open up #WritingExchange registrations for the next couple days, so people don't have to wait for approval.

Know anyone who would like to join #WritingExchange? While public registrations need admin approval, anyone here can invite someone by generating a special invite link from this page:

https://writing.exchange/invites

We're keeping our 1,000-user limit, but we just freed up about 50 spots after clearing out old, unused accounts. So feel free to invite anyone you think would like it here!

As we're up to 995 users here on #WritingExchange, I'm going to make room for new users by removing accounts that are at least two years old and completely unused (i.e. signed up, logged in, never came back).

#WritingExchange is now on Mastodon v2.9!

Among other things, this brings an optional single-column layout, which you can set by unchecking the "Enable advanced web interface" option in your user settings.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/06/mastodon-2.9/

I've also updated our custom stylesheet here on Writing Exchange to keep the wider compose area in both the single- and multi-column views. (But let me know if anything looks funky.)

You can now prove your #WritingExchange identity on @keybase!

To do it, go to your profile on https://keybase.io, click "prove more identities" in the list of identities there, and search for writing.exchange.

Some neat things about our #WritingExchange Mastodon instance:

We have a public directory, where you can discover writers here:

https://writing.exchange/explore

(Anyone on our instance can add themselves from their profile settings.)

You can also browse our local timeline without being a registered user:

https://writing.exchange/public

#WritingExchange is now on Mastodon v2.8.0! Check out that new landing page (while logged out) 😍

This brings support for polls, the ability to feature hashtags on your profile, and a way for new people to directly request an account here -- among other new features.

Read more about it on the latest #Mastodon blog post: https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/04/mastodon-2.8/

Neat, #WritingExchange was mentioned as an instance worth checking out in this article:

https://www.techspotting.com/2019/02/23/mastodon-the-twitter-alternative-surpasses-2-million-users/

You can now add yourself to our public #WritingExchange directory! This is great for helping people from other instances discover who's all here, and who to follow.

To add yourself, go to Edit Profile and enable "List this account on the directory"

https://writing.exchange/explore

Thanks to our gracious host, @mastohost, our instance is now on Mastodon v2.7!

Some of the more apparent changes in this update:

- Public profile directory (https://writing.exchange/explore). This helps others (especially outside of our instance) discover who's here!
- "Mentions" filter in the notifications column

Read more about this update on the Mastodon blog: https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/01/mastodon-2.7/

#writingexchange

Btw, this isn't a new policy that you must constantly be active to keep your account here -- just a one-time cleanup. This won't affect any accounts that have been logged into at least once, even if they never posted.

#WritingExchange

I also want to make sure we continue to have room for new people interested in joining the community.

We started this instance back in May 2017, amid plenty of attention on Mastodon. As such, there are some accounts that were created but never even logged in to -- probably people just seeing what it all looked like.

So today I'll be clearing out any old (1.5 years+), untouched accounts.

#WritingExchange

As I've mentioned before, we're limiting this instance to 1,000 people, to keep the community fairly small and cozy (but not too small).

We're at 910 people today, so plenty of room to grow still! And if you know anyone who'd appreciate our instance, please feel free to invite them with the "Invite people" feature in your user settings.

#WritingExchange

Just realized I can add custom CSS through the Mastodon admin UI, so I've made a few visual changes to #WritingExchange:

- Wider columns
- Bigger tooting area by default
- Slightly bigger line height for text

What do you think? What other changes would you like to see?

We'll have some short downtime at some point within the next several hours while our host, @mastohost, upgrades our instance.

https://mastodon.social/@mastohost/100596000195801272

You can also keep an eye on our status here: https://status.writing.exchange/

#writingexchange

I try to keep things related to #writing or #WritingExchange here, so in case you want to keep up with development on @write_as and #ReadAs, I toot about it over on @writeas_dev.

Welcome to all our new #WritingExchange writers! 👋 Glad you've found our little spot in the fediverse.

If you ever need help, feel free to reach out to me or anyone else in the community. Also: an avatar, bio, and #introduction post will go a long way toward helping you connect with more people 😊

I should've done this much earlier, but I have the only bot in our instance, @readwriteas, posting *unlisted* toots now so it's not hogging up the local timeline.

Especially for new users, that space needs to be reserved for people.

#WritingExchange

Behold! A new custom emoji for the fediverse:

Now you can use it here on #WritingExchange. Thanks for the tip, @quimgil!