New to Minds? Here are some Tips!
*Note - I am not a member of the Minds team, nor do I represent them in any way. I am simply very excited to see more people here, and want to help grow the community. Also, please be aware that the information provided is accurate at the time of writing and may be subject to change.
I spent quite a while today combing through comments on some of the posts from the official Minds team welcoming all the new users resulting from the 2021 #socialmediapurge
There were many questions that came up frequently, and I took some time to find answers for them and respond to the original poster.
I've compiled them all into this single post, so please feel free to Remind and share!
First, Check out the official Guide from the Minds team. This will explain a LOT of what you need to know to enjoy and get the most from Minds.
Next, Bookmark the Minds Help page. This should be your first stop if you need help with a specific issue.
Now you're ready to start seeing all the great content Minds has to offer!
There's a lot, so help yourself filter the noise by doing two things right away:
Add some tags related to topics that interest you
Click here to open your tags page
- Next, if you're on the mobile app, click "Manage Tags". If you're on the website, click the "gear icon" at the right to manage tags
- Add the tags you want to see more of (examples: science, technology, art, humor, freespeech, cybersecurity)
Now that you've added some tags, Minds can start to show you more content that you find interesting. You can always come back later and add or remove tags to further customize your feed
Decide if you want NSFW content blurred by default
On Minds, NSFW for content is basically content that "most" people would not want to view while at work. This includes posts containing Nudity, Pornography, Profanity, Violence and Gore, Race and Religion, and Other sensitive topics.
Users are encouraged to speak their minds, and are free to post almost anything, as long as it's properly marked as NSFW
Marking a post as NSFW doesn't stop it from showing up in other people's newsfeeds, it just blurs the post unless the user specifically clicks to see it, or has allowed all NSFW in their personal settings.
NSFW Content is not blurred in my Newsfeed!
Go here and make sure the "Always show NSFW content" is NOT checked
Now that you've got those two items set the way you want them, let's learn some more about Minds' content moderation
Can you get Banned on Minds?
The only way to get *BANNED* is by harassing other users, posting spam, or posting content that the Minds team has decided will result in an Immediate Ban:
- Illegal (terrorism, pedophilia, extortion, fraud, revenge porn, sex trafficking)
- Personal and confidential information (doxxing)
- Malware
- Token manipulation
- Impersonation
- Incites a true threat of violence
You can view the Minds Content Policy here
My Content was reported! Why? What can I do about it?
Minds thrives on Free speech and the sharing of information. But every civilized discussion (and society) needs limits.
In order to facilitate healthy discussion and prevent illegal activity which (apart from bringing bad karma), could expose the entire Minds platform to the same fate as some other #AltTech social media platforms, Minds gives users the ability to report content they feel violates the Minds Content Policy.
If this happens to you, chances are you simply forgot to mark your content as NSFW.
Minds reporting works on a 3-strike policy for the following offences, with penalties increasing for each successive strike:
- Untagged NSFW Post (three strikes required for each individual NSFW category)
- Harassment and Spam
Spam may result in an immediate ban if determined to be malicious or by use of a bot
You can appeal a Ban or a Strike by following the instructions provided in the notification sent to you by Minds. If you appeal a Ban, the Minds admins will determine if the ban will be reversed. If you appeal a Strike, a jury of 12 randomly selected Minds users will decide if the Strike was appropriate.
Read more about the Jury system here.
Some Final Tips and Tricks
That covers most of the concerns I saw, people worried that Minds would censor them, people concerned with NSFW content, and people wondering why it was so quite in their newsfeed.
Here's a few links and suggestions you may find helpful:
Join the official Minds Help & Support group
Join the biggest Minds User group to chat about all things Minds
FYI - Official Minds representatives are anyone with a green check mark next to their username
You can reduce the amount of NSFW content in your feed by:
- Adding tags for the content you DO want to see (see above)
- Using Discover to find and subscribe to content you like
- Subscribing to users you like
- Unsubscribing/blocking users you don’t like
- Muting or unmuting notifications on specific posts
Oh, and one more thing - many users are concerned that Minds is hosted on #Amazon servers (AWS).
The Minds admins are aware of the concerns, and are actively working to ensure any issues caused by the choice of hosting providers is minimal.
In fact I read a few comments that indicated Minds has always been designed to allow migration to a new host with minimal interruption and down time. Score one more for the #MindsAdmins!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you found this helpful.
If you did, please consider giving this post a Thumbs Up and Reminding it to your channel. I wouldn't be upset if you wanted to subscribe to me either...
Banner Photo by Issy Bailey on Unsplash