Meta: I wasn't on fediverse/Mastodon until the 2025 #OpenSource Initiative Board Elections.
It's been a journey learning this; I haven't used microblogging (I refuse to call it “social media” , but no, I won't correct you for not using the term I prefer) since ye ol' identi.ca & status.net. (@richardfontana pointed out: many people here weren't born yet when he & I used to debate there.)
Mastodon UX is surprisingly good, but, boy “DMs/privmsg is called “private mention”” is darn confusing.