First things to do after joining Kbin!

Before we get started here, please check out our guide here if you are new to Kbin and the Fediverse.

Recommended communities you can join to help you get started

To help you get yourself kickstarted into Kbin and the Fediverse, here are some of the best and most popular communities you can join:

• m/KbinMeta - We strongly recommend this community for every Kbin user. KbinMeta is a magazine for discussions about Kbin itself, run by Kbin's developers. This is the perfect place to provide feedback, ask questions or support, and engage in conversations related to the platform's policies, features and community dynamics.
  
• m/AskKbin - This is exactly what it looks like, if you were an active member at r/AskReddit, this will be your major destination to settle in when migrating to Kbin. This is your best place to ask and answer thought-provoking questions!
• m/RedditMigration - If you are one of those who want to completely forget Reddit when they migrate to Kbin, that's totally fine and you are more than welcome to ignore this recommendation, but if you are one of those who want to see Reddit burn with popcorn, then this is a great community, just for you.
•  m/tech - Are you a technology enthusiast? Or even just a tech-savvy? Then this is a great magazine for you, for discussions related to anything in the world of techology.
• m/Space - If you love space, or just find it fascinating, this would be your go-to.
• m/Fediverse - Now that you understand what the Fediverse is (assuming you read our guide, great for newbies), this is a great place to discuss and keep in touch with all the developments in the fediverse, in and outside Kbin.
• m/TodayILearned - Did you learn something interesting that may not be so widely known today? Feel free to share what you learned today with the others.
• m/Aww - Are you an animal lover? (Heck yeah I am), then there really isn't a better place than this magazine on Kbin, it's filled with everything that will make you go "Aww".
• m/Food - Do you love food? Love to explore different cuisines? You won't find a better place than this one.
• m/Gaming - If you are a gamer and love games, this is a great place to start, you can also subscribe to platform-specific magazines like m/NintendoSwitch based on your actual gaming platform, for all discussion related to gaming!
• m/OddlySatisfying - Looking to intake some of the satisfying things to watch in the world? There is no better place than this one.

There are many more absolutely amazing communities that you should explore, but the above is a general recommendation to help you get started, but keep in mind you are most likely to have specific interests hence take this as a starting point.

Note: Have trouble finding a magazine you are looking for? You can ask the others on m/FindAKbin to find out if the magazine you are looking for exists, if not, why don't you create one! If you don't want to create and manage one, that's totally fine as moderation is always going to be a responsibility that will require you to be more active, hence feel free to ask on m/AskAKbin, so even if it may not exist, a reader may decide to create one!

Magazines linked above are taking me to a different instance from the one I actually use!

The above list was linked to kbin.social, one of the many instances available on Kbin, if you are on a different instance, don't worry! Here is how you can find communities from another instance on your instance:

Now, for demonstration purposes, I will pick fedia.io, another Kbin instance.

Solution 1

If I want to find any magazines (AKA communities) on Kbin, the easiest way to do so is clicking at "Magazines" on the top bar where "Threads, Mircoblog, People" are also listed. Then simply scroll through the communities list to find the magazine you are looking for, or even better, use the search box to quickly find the magazine.

If you are having a hard time finding a magazine as explained above, or simply want to do it in a different way, then there is another solution.

Solution 2

Let's say you are looking to find m/AskKbin on a different instance from kbin.social, the link for m/AskKbin on kbin.social will look like this = https://kbin.social/m/AskKbin

Now let's say you are on fedia.io, just like the above link on kbin.social, you are going to make some modifications to that link: fedia.io/m/AskKbin = You are replacing the instance with the one you are using before "/m/InputMagazine"

Now, the last modification is adding this: @originalinstance

Since m/AskKbin was orginally created on the kbin.social instance, we are going to add @kbin.social to the end of the link, and the end result is this:

fedia.io/m/AskKbin@kbin.social

Easy isn't it?

Now, if you are especially an experienced ex-redditor, then solution 2 could be very appealing to you, as redditors like myself, have always been used to doing: reddit.com/r/InputSubreddit, this is a great way to quickly switch communities if you know their names.

There are some exceptions to solution 2 though, if you are on mobile, especially using a third-party mobile clients, then this solution 2 wouldn't work, as it only works on the browser, hence solution 1 is best if you are a mobile user unless you are using the web version of Kbin on mobile.

How can I tailor the content I see on Kbin's homepage to magazines I have only subscribed to, hence ones I am actually interested in?

This is ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT setting you need to change, and I just can't stress it enough. If you are like most users out there, then you will most likely want to view all the hot content from communities you have subscribed to, hence ones that actually interests you when it comes to your homepage.

Kbin although by default, sorts content on your homepage by "All", which is terrible for your homepage in my opinion (although it is subjective, hence ignore this if you actually find the current sorting to your liking) as it shows random content from all over the fediverse from any community out there, hence posts and topics in your homepage can end up becoming vast with wide-range of topics. This is also something that ends up alienating brand new users who may not know it is actually possible to change this.

Even back at Reddit, the algorithm starts showing you posts and content based on communities you have subscribed to when it comes to your homepage, hence if this is something you want, here's how you do it:

Click at your account name on the top right corner (desktop), then go to "settings". Under "Appearance", the first option should find is "homepage", and by default (at the time of writing this guide), the default selected option is "All", click at "all" and you will be given these options: "All, Subscriptions, Favorites, and Moderated".

Select "subscriptions", and tada! Kbin will now show content only from communities you have subscribed to across all platforms.

And if you want to continue to navigate "all" as well, the best way to do this is to do: "Instancelink/all". For example, if I am on kbin.social, i'd do "kbin.social/all", this is very similar to how we use "reddit.com/r/all". This way, you can use "all" whenever you need while having a more tailored experience on your homepage.

Done with our guide here? Check out our "How can I create my own avatar for my Kbin profile?"