Getting Started
===============

Choosing a server
-----------------
You have to make one decision to get on GNU social: which server to use. If
you're technically inclined and want to host your own then `you can do that`_.
For everyone else there are many choices available. Many of them are listed on
`this webpage`_.

If you don't want to shop around, these are some popular choices, particularly
for English speakers:

* `Quitter.se`_
* `LoadAverage.org`_
* `Quitter.no`_

For Spanish speakers, there're this choices:

* `Quitter.es`_
* `Gnusocial.net`_

There is a small advantage in choosing either a local server or a server where
you already know people. Every server has a user directory that lists all the
accounts registered there. This can make it easier for others to stumble across
you.

Although there are many servers not all of them allow members of the public to
create new accounts. The administrator of each server can turn this feature on
or off.


Registering an account
----------------------
In this example we will use `Quitter.no`_, which allows new users to register
freely. This server looks very similar to Twitter because it is using a plugin
called `Qvitter`_. If you don't like the appearance then you can simply pick a
different server.

It has a Sign Up section on the bottom-left of the home page. Enter your basic
information and click *Sign up to Quitter.no*:

.. image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup_small.jpg
    :alt: Sign Up section of quitter.no
    :align: center
    :target: ../_images/qno_signup.jpg

.. |qno_signup| image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup.jpg

You will be prompted for extra information:

.. image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup_details_small.png
    :alt: Sign Up Details section of quitter.no
    :align: center
    :target: ../_images/qno_signup_details.png

.. |qno_signup_details| image:: ../../resources/user/qno_signup_details.png

Your nickname is the main name for your account. You won't be able to change it
so choose carefully. You can also set a "Full Name" that appears on your
profile and alongside your notices. Don't feel obligated to use any real
information—anonymous and pseudonymous users are very welcome on GNU social.

A working email address is normally required for account verification. You can
use it to receive email notifications too.

Choose a good password. As always it is a good idea to use a password that you
don't use anywhere else. Free software like `KeePassX`_ can help you generate
and remember your passwords.

Press the *Sign up to Quitter.no* button. You can start using your account
right away but you should confirm your email address when the email comes
through.

Congratulations! You're on GNU social!


Publishing a notice
--------------------
Depending on which server you're using you might see something different once
you log in. Here are two examples:

.. image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_1_small.png
    :alt: Publishing a notice on a standard server
    :align: center
    :target: ../_images/send_example_1.png

.. |send_example_1| image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_1.png

.. image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_2_small.png
    :alt: Publishing a notice on a Qvitter server
    :align: center
    :target: ../_images/send_example_2.png

.. |send_example_2| image:: ../../resources/user/send_example_2.png

In both cases you have a text box to type a message. Click inside it, type a
notice, then click *Send* to publish it to your followers.


Favouriting, Repeating and Replying
-----------------------------------
After you have followed a few of your friends and interesting people on the
network you will see their posts on your "HOME" newsfeed. Below each post are
some icons that allow you to interact with the notice and/or the original
poster.

Clicking on the |reply icon| will add a post text field to the page and allow
you to respond to the post. Your reply will then appear as a threaded notice
underneath the original post, as in this example:

.. image:: ../../resources/user/reply_example_1.png
    :alt: Replying to a notice
    :align: center

Clicking on the |favourite icon| will add the post to your list of favourite
posts. This also pings the original poster alerting them that you favourited
the post. You can see your list of favourite posts by clicking on the
"FAVOURITES" link on the left navigation bar. If you are using `Chimo's Reverse
Favourites`_ plugin you can see who has favourited your previous posts.

Clicking on the |recycle icon| will repeat the notice so that it will be shared
to your own list of followers, and as such probably implies another more
explicit favour to the original post.


Hashtags, Mentions and Groups
-----------------------------
In addition to the above methods to interact with followers network, GNU social
also supports features you will find familiar with other social networks. You
can mention someone else in a post by using the '@' prefix. This example shows
how to mention someone, and how the post will look after you post it.

.. image:: ../../resources/user/mention_example_1.png
    :alt: Mentioning a user in a post
    :align: center

You don't have to use the full ``username@domain.tld`` format when mentioning
someone. If you leave out the full ``@domain.tld`` part of a user you are
mentioning then you are limiting the scope to people on your local instance and
your followers.

The social network hashtag '#' prefixed before a word, eg #federated makes
keywords trend on your home feed and across the federated network as more
people use the same hashtag.

Groups are an optional part of GNU social. Each social instance can have one or
more groups based on a topic. Then local users of the instance as well as
remote social users can subscribe to the group. A group is similar to a user in
GNU social but you refer to a group using the '!' prefix instead of the '@'
prefix.

When you find a group on your local GNU social instance, or a remote instance
you can follow it in a similar way to following users, simply enter your GNU
social username when prompted after clicking on the "Join" button.

You can post a notice to the group by mentioning the group with a '!' prefix,
for example:

.. image:: ../../resources/user/grouppost_example_1.png
    :alt: Making a post mentioning a group.
    :align: center

Your post will then appear in your follower's feeds as well as anyone else
subscribed to the group who may or may not also follow you.


Referring to your account
-------------------------
For somebody else to find you on GNU social you need to give them two pieces of
information:

1. What server you're on — for example, *quitter.no*
2. Your account name. That's the one starting with an @ — for example, @fred

There are three different ways of referring to your account and they're useful
at different times.

Your profile URL
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you want someone to check out your account the easiest thing is to give them
a link to your profile. They don't need a GNU social account of their own. If
they have one and they want to follow you they will be able to do that easily
from this page.

To access your profile click on your name. On quitter.no it's in the top-left
and looks vaguely like this:

.. image:: ../../resources/user/qno_profile_link.png
    :alt: Link to your profile on quitter.no
    :align: center

On a more standard server you can look for something in the menu called
*Profile*:

.. image:: ../../resources/user/taslug_profile_link.png
    :alt: Link to your profile on a standard GNU social server
    :align: center

Either way once you get there your browser will be at a URL that looks similar
to this:

    ``https://quitter.no/fred``

Take that URL and give it to the person who wants to see your account.

Doing a remote follow
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Another way to describe your account is like an email address. You write your
username, move the @ from the start to the end, then write the server without
any https or slashes:

    ``fred@quitter.no``

This is what you need to type in if you are doing a Remote Follow—that is,
following someone on a different server from you. More about that in a later
section: :ref:`remote-follow`.

Writing notices
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you're writing a notice and want to mention another user simply tag their
account with an @ like this: *@fred - Have you met @sandra? She's a colleague of
mine*.

You might be thinking that the server part is missing. You're right! But GNU
social is clever. If you use an @ tag in a notice it assumes you must be
talking about someone you follow. It looks through its database to find which
account has that name and fills out the server part behind the scenes.


Next steps
----------
In this part you signed up for GNU social and sent your first notice. This will
quickly get boring unless you find some other people to follow. The next part
describes the different ways you can explore the GNU social network and see
what everyone else is saying.


.. _you can do that: https://git.gnu.io/gnu/gnu-social
.. _this webpage: http://www.skilledtests.com/wiki/List_of_Independent_Statusnet_Instances
.. _puedes montar tu propio servidor: https://git.gnu.io/gnu/gnu-social
.. _esta página web: http://www.skilledtests.com/wiki/List_of_Independent_Statusnet_Instances
.. _Quitter.se: https://quiter.se/
.. _LoadAverage.org: https://loadaverage.org/
.. _Quitter.no: https://quiter.no/
.. _Quitter.es: https://quitter.es/
.. _Gnusocial.net: https://gnusocial.net/
.. _Qvitter: https://git.gnu.io/h2p/Qvitter
.. _KeePassX: https://www.keepassx.org/
.. |reply icon| image:: ../../resources/user/reply.gif
        :alt: reply icon
.. |favourite icon| image:: ../../resources/user/favourite.gif
        :alt: favourite icon
.. _Chimo's Reverse Favourites: https://github.com/chimo/gs-reverseFavs
.. _Chimo de favoritos reversos: https://github.com/chimo/gs-reverseFavs
.. |recycle icon| image:: ../../resources/user/recycle.gif
        :alt: recycle icon
